Thursday, October 8, 2009

Fact: Mountainbiking is more fun than working.


I had a day off work on Thursday as it's school holiday time and after shipping The Midget Assassin off to daycare the boys and I headed out to Woodhill for a ride in the forest. Spring in Auckland has been very wet and I was determined to make the best of an overcast but dry day. 

We normally ride with other families in our street but it was nice for a change just having the three of us. It would be better still if the girls could join us but at three The Midget Assassin is still on training wheels. As it happened we met up with some friends at one of the trail-heads and rode with them for a while.

Someone needs a bigger bike

Thing-One led the way on the structures

I managed not to hurt myself...

but the youngest rider preferred dancing.

When I mail-ordered the last parts for the Cross-Check I got some flat BMX pedals for the Pugsley. Most of my riding is around the neighbourhood or along the beach and I don't need to be clipped-in. It's nice just jumping on wearing whatever footwear you happen to have on at the time. The Crank Brothers Mallets I had on there are a platform style with the "eggbeater" mechanism in the middle, but they were never comfortable with casual shoes as the eggbeater sat proud and you could feel it through the sole of your shoe. The new ones are Magnesium Wellgo MG-1s and they are very light and comfortable. Not so good on the fast and bumpy stuff but it was nice not being clipped-in when riding the structures.

There's always a groan when I say we're going cycling. I live in hope that with dad being such a fanatic the habit would catch-on but the boy's bikes sit in the garage for weeks at a time until I bribe them into a ride. Once we actually get going however they never fail to have a good time so they might pick-up the habit when they get a bit older. 

When I was their age my bike and skateboard were tickets to freedom and I couldn't wait to hit the streets. I would ride just for the sake of it with no particular destination in mind - I still do!

3 comments:

Doug said...

Same here, when I was your boys' ages my best friend and I lived on our bikes all summer long. We'd spend everyday, all day on our bikes exploring every corner of our small world. As we got older the bikes allowed our world to get bigger as we ventured further and further from home.

Mel said...

Me too. I rode everywhere and anywhere. And I too live in hope that my kids will pick it up. They both love it so far, but I feel my girl might be a bit more gung-ho than my boy!

coastkid said...

my earliest thoughts are my dad talking of the stableisers when i was nearly 5,was never off my bikes growing up,flats are handy on the pugsley,a must for riding slimey shoreline rocks when you may need to dab quickly