New bike

My daughter has all but outgrown her old 20" bike, I've raised the seat as far as it will go and she's still uncomfortable on it. Tonight my wife and I bought her a new one that she had been eyeing at Academy Sports. They had 3 of this particular model, and this one was marked down $15. The only reason I can find is that it had a scuff on the bottom bar where the decal is.

She really liked this bike the first time she saw it a few weeks ago, and decided it was the bike for her. I was concerned because it is a 26" bike, and that's a pretty good jump in size from her other one. Also the handlebars are much different on this cruiser than what she is used to. Turns out she can ride it like she's owned it for years. I had to tighten the seat post clamp to keep the seat from turning, but everything else seemed good.

Sorry for the blurry picture, our little camera weighs next to nothing and I still haven't learned to keep it still.

All smiles!

Frisco Greenway Trail ride

We took our first family trail ride together Saturday. We all had a lot of fun. This trail is an old railroad track that has been converted for walking/running/biking. It's the smaller of the two "Rails to Trails" projects in Jasper County at about 3.5 miles. (The other one, the Ruby Jack trail is about 16 miles long). I believe it was named for a mineral that was found while zinc mining in the area around the turn of the 20th century.

From the Joplin Trails Coalition website:

This is the first time I've been on the trail (any trail for that matter) and was absolutely impressed by how well maintained this is. The coalition has done a great job. There are park benches in several places along the route and the grass is kept mowed back on either side of the trail. I didn't get a picture of the benches, but here is a shot of the trail looking south toward Zora St.:

We started out heading north from the St. Louis St. trail head. We hadn't even left the parking area and my son's handlebars had fallen down to his knees. The neck bolt wasn't tight enough. It was at this point that I learned a valuable lesson: Always check your gear twice before leaving home, because my toolbox was still at home in the garage. I had no way to tighten it. Luckily it was tight enough that I was able to push it back up a little farther than the original spot and it stayed. I had him pull on it because I didn't want him to have an accident, and it stayed in place. We weren't going that far so we ventured out. No other problems the rest of the way.

It was pretty warm, 84 degrees by our vehicle thermometer. Luckily there was a breeze that kept blowing, so between that and the shade we found for our rest stops we stayed pretty cool. We only passed a couple of hikers along the way, but didn't see any other bikes. On the way back to the car we saw more people walking and some jogging/running on the last 1/4 mile so we practically had the trail to ourselves.

When I do buy a road bike, I don't think I'll get rid of the Raleigh. A road bike wouldn't do well on this trail (I'm guessing). It's smooth most of the way, but there were a couple of areas where the bike slid and bogged down in gravel and I think I might have had a problem if I were on a bike with a skinnier tire. Please understand that I'm not complaining, they have done an excellent job.

In Training

I've decided to try to ride in an organized one-day bike tour. It's a 110 mile total with smaller routes available. I'm signing up for the 30 mile route. I've been working out and riding both a stationary bike and my hybrid, trying to get prepared. I think it would be easier if I had a "road" bike designed for this kind of thing, but I'll just have to make due on the Raleigh. I realized I didn't have any pictures of it so I took one today.

 
I'll post pics of the ride and a report after it's over in July. Here is the website:
 
Tornado Alley 110

Family Ride

     We had our first family ride on Thursday 05/06. My wife, me and our 2 kids rode for about 35 minutes together on a concrete pathway the city built for biking/walking. That's not a very long ride to be sure, but it wasn't bad for our first one. We ended up running out of time and had to cut it shorter than I had hoped.

It also happened to be the hottest afternoon so far this year I think. The temperature gauge in the truck showed 89 degrees. Luckily we had a breeze that helped keep us cool. We're having to work hard to find time that we can all ride together, but are determined to make it happen. The path is on the other side of town and takes about 20 minutes to get there, but I won't ride in the streets when the kids are with us. Although I've never had a problem with vehicles (or their drivers) it's just too big a risk to take.

I bought a bike about 3 years ago in hopes of using it as a weight loss tool. Unfortunately, it has spent most of it's life in my garage. The upside is, I still have a brand new bike to use. I have decided to make a commitment to cycling on a regular basis. After a lot of thought I have also decided to make riding a "century" one of my long term goals. I doubt it will happen this year and maybe not even next, but I am determined to do it. I'm not looking to be the fastest or to set any records or anything, I just want to have the satisfaction of saying I did it. It's a personal accomplishment type thing I guess. I don't have a clear reason for wanting to do it other than I just want to do it. I don't know if that makes any sense to anyone else but I just have a desire to do it.