A Special Tribute To A Ridin' Buddy: Part 1

I started writing more about the people I know from cycling last year.in these end-of-year posts  Usually these posts are about people I have ridden with, or knew through cycling. This year I wanted to dedicate a couple of special posts to one of those people. My "ridin' buddy". Obviously, he was much more than just a ridin' buddy, but I think you all will understand. As you may have guessed, this is about my son, Jacob Stevenson. He died August 2nd of this year due to unknown causes.  I wanted to share my times riding with Jacob and those memories with you all in these two special tribute posts. 

Jacob on the day he learned to ride his bike

I was blessed to have a child who wanted not only to spend time with his Dad, but liked bicycling. Well....mostly he liked bicycling. There were some tough times in there where he would get very frustrated and want to give up. 

I cannot recall when we purchased his first bicycle, but I do remember it was a Trek with 12" wheels and it also had training wheels on it, of course. Beyond this, I barely remember even having that bicycle around. I know he outgrew it fairly quickly though. 

His next bicycle was an all black 18"er of indeterminate branding. I cannot tell from my old images here what it was exactly, nor do I even remember it. Obviously it had training wheels to start out, but at around seven years old he learned to ride without the training wheels and it was "on" from this point. 

Maybe it was because he knew I went on stupid-long adventures by bicycle, or maybe he was just wired this way, but he loved to get me out on the bicycle and go somewhere. Anywhere. One time, when he was around seven or eight, both Mrs. Guitar Ted and my daughter went shopping. Jacob then realizing it would just be us guys piped up and said to me, ""Dad, let's go! Adventure awaits us! If we don't go now, adventure won't wait."

Sometimes his clarity and directness was astounding for a kid his age. And yes - I went on that adventure on that particular day along with several other days as well. 

When Jacob was young he would often ask for rides on this "two-seat bike", as he called it. Image by Mrs. Guitar Ted

When Jacob was young, all the way up to his graduating from 5th grade, he would often ask for rides on the "two-seat bike", as he referred to my Xtra-cycle Schwinn Sierra. He caught on pretty quickly to the fact I could ride a lot further than he could at the time. So, Jacob would sit back there and goad me into riding further and to places he hadn't been to in Waterloo by bicycle. 

This ended when he got around on his own bike well enough I could convince him to ride his own bicycle, but he still insisted that I pick him up from school with this rig right through his 5th grade year. I recall on his last day of 5th grade picking him up and telling him he'd better remember this ride because it wasn't going to happen ever again. 

I probably said that more for myself than I did for him, if I am being honest. 
 

Jacob, his new Mongoose, and family friend Dee Dee who gifted it to him on his eighth birthday.

Jacob's next bike was a 20" single speed Mongoose department store bike which our family friend at the time bought him for his birthday. She did this without consulting my wife or myself, seeing as it was to be a surprise and all. 

Well, that it was. Not a good one either. This sort of bicycle is really not what kids need. Heavy, weird, twitchy geometry, and over-geared. Jacob had a really hard time keeping up on rides especially if there was anything resembling a hill. He'd pitch a huge fit, throw his bike down and refuse to go anywhere. It was almost as if a mule had possessed my son at times! 

We worked through it, but that bike! It was the one Jacob crashed on and the handle bar end punctured a hole in his pelvic area just below the belt line. Even though handle bar plugs were in place, it pushed a quarter-sized hole there with a flap of skin attached with a fair layer of fat underneath like the lid of a half open can of tuna. 

I had him pull his pants down so I could determine what was hurting him and when he saw the wound he blurted out through his tears, "Is that my guts coming out!"I literally had to turn my head away from him to choke back my laughter. Of course, he was traumatized and it was a serious thing, but that moment was really funny to me. He ended up with a few stitches and was fine in the end. But that bike!

A new bike for Jacob's 9th birthday.

I determined Jacob needed to get off that 20" Mongoose and get a decent bike he could actually have fun on. So, since I worked at a Trek dealership, I got him a 24" wheeled Trek MT-200. A seven speed bike which was much lighter, easier to ride due to this and its geometry, and one which would serve him well for several years. 

I do have to tip my hat still to this day to Jacob because he found a needy kid in our neighborhood who wanted a bicycle badly. Jacob asked if we could give the old Mongoose bike to him, and I was proud to help him do this. So, the Mongoose went to a good place in the end. 

Night riding was one of Jacob's favorite things to do on a bicycle. 

 

Once Jacob was accustomed to his new bike we went further afield. 

During this time I was able to accommodate Jacob with gear like backpacks, gloves, and different saddles and grips to keep him happy and wanting to ride. His worldview was becoming larger. At one point, not long after he got the new Trek, he was remarking on the geared drive train and what it could do. He stated, "Dad, this can go up hills with these gears. It's a "hill bike"! I said, " Yeah, it is. Well, actually it is a mountain bike." To which he gasped at, then said, "I could go up a mountain?!" 

It's an amazing thing to live life through the eyes of a child.  

Sometimes we pushed the limits of those 24" wheels!

This was the start of many rides with my son which were a lot of fun. I was pushing him to go further afield and try new things, and he responded pretty well. There were times he was extremely frustrated with me, but a few days would pass and he'd ask to go on another ride. So, he kept at it, and I kept accepting his invitations to go on these adventures whenever he wanted to go. 

Gettin'aero!

 

Here he said "This bike isn't strong enough" for the rough grass. LOL!

That Trek MT-200 was an awesome bike, but it was becoming apparent Jacob was frustrated by its limitations and he was getting to a point where he was going to need a new bike soon. I had some ideas, but this was going to be a really big deal, and it took quite a bit to pull it all together. 

Jacob's one and only gravel ride. It was nearly a disaster!

 

Jacob took the opportunity to ride through puddles whenever he could.

The plan was to get a new Salsa Mukluk frame and fork in a size Xtra-small. Juuuust small enough that I could make Jacob work on it. This was going to be a huge challenge as I did not want to tip Jacob off on this birthday/Christmas gift. This bike would also be kind of a demarcation line between his early cycling days and his latter ones. So, with seeing the story this far, I will break for now and Part 2 will pick up the story with the Mukluk.