The first was on October 1st. There was a bike ride for the Boy Scouts that Chris found out about through an Eagle Scout newsletter he gets. We had been looking for *something* to train for to get us motivated and this seemed to fit the bill. It was on a paved trail that we've done before and really like. It started and ended at a model airplane field - with lunch provided. There were 12, 25, and 50 mile options and it was family friendly. It was perfect - except that we didn't actually end up training for it. We also couldn't find someone to watch Alex (mostly because I lost track of time and didn't start looking until late and also because it started really early!). So we decided to try Alex out in the trailer along with Jacob. Putting both boys in the trailer meant that someone needed to pull about 65 lbs worth of boys - not including the weight of the trailer. We put the helmet on him to make sure it fit and that he'd keep it on. Overall he handled it MUCH better than Jacob did the first time we put it on him. There was no crying, just attempts to take it off. And after a few minutes he gave up and was completely over it. Chris's parents drove up from San Diego to join us and a friend of Chris's and his wife also participated. We got everything ready to go the night before so we could be out the door first thing in the morning. Unfortunately, we forgot Alex's bottles in the fridge which made for an interesting morning. Luckily the ride was not too far from home and Chris's mom was kind enough to run back and get the bottles for us.
While Chris had not exactly been training, he has been riding his bike home from work a couple days a week. I, on the other hand, had to get my bike out the week before and make sure I still remembered how to ride it. I decided to do the 12 mile ride (which ended up being more like 14) with Chris's mom. Chris did the 25 mile ride (which ended up being more like 27) with everyone else. Our routes were the same except that at the first water station, we were to turn around while the other riders continued. So we all rode more or less together to the first water station which was at a playground. Chris pulled the trailer and when we got to the playground we let the Jacob run around a little bit and Alex went on the swing and the slide. Everyone else continued while Chris's mom and I stayed at the playground with the boys. But it was going to take awhile for everyone else to get back so we headed back and I pulled the trailer. I had never pulled the trailer before. If the ground is flat, it's really not that different. However, I was surprised by how little incline or decline it took to make a huge difference. Going up, obviously, was a lot harder pulling the trailer. But if there was even a slight downhill I could get going pretty fast! In any case, we all made it to the end and enjoyed a nice lunch at the model airplane airport. I was quite proud of myself - and pleasantly surprised at the lack of soreness afterward. When we got home all of the adults were more than ready for a nap, but the boys had been stuck in the trailer most of the time and were ready to run around. Oh well.
Last week was the second event - except this time it was just Jacob. Jacob's daycare had a Trike-a-thon for St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital. It was on the 21st and while Jacob doesn't normally go to daycare on Fridays, we went over so he could participate. They rode in circles around the parking lot and I had to bribe Jacob to stop so that they could open up the parking lot again. He went for an hour and a half with only a short break to drink some water and a juice box. Pretty much all of the other kids had gotten distracted or gone home by then, but Jacob was having too much fun. Since then, he has been very disappointed that he can't bring his bike to school. It was not all that well organized from a fundraising perspective - I only received the envelope the day before the ride itself - so we didn't do much with pledges (just our own donation). But at least now we know for next time!
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