RR:Dusting off the cobwebs

Silly little ride report follows:

I used to do a fair amount of riding, Weekend warrior type stuff, nothing crazy. But then, we had a
baby. Out the window went the extra time on weekends to ride. On weekends I took shifts watching the
little one so that Mom could get a break. She watched him all week, so it was only fair.

But that took the time away for riding. If I wasn't watching the baby, I was working on the house..
anyway, this isn't a whine report, so let me move on.

I have two other kids, my daughter is 18 and my other son is about to be
20. My daughter and I have been riding together since she was 15, so the baby threw a big wrench in
the works for more than just me.

The baby is now 20 months old, and time is a little more manageable. So I set a date with my
daughter to have a cobweb ride this saturday.

Early saturday morning I head out to the garage and pull down the bikes for the ride. My daughter
has a Haro Extreme. Mostly stock parts. I gave her a spare set of XT brakes that I had and changed
her off the stock tires.. nothing huge. I want to replace the stock 1.5" travel front shock it has,
but the money won't allow for it yet.

Anyway, I inflate the tires and check that the shifting is smooth. I adjust the brakes so they don't
rub. Lube up the chain with a fresh coat of Raceday. She had been taking this out for around the
town stuff now and again, so I will have to pay attention to truing the wheels soon, but not
yet.(The shop will have to do it, I haven't tried truing wheels yet)

I choose the GT XCR2000 rather than the hardtail. It has been so bloody long, and I want to take it
easy on my butt. Pump up the tires, play with the pressure in the Fox Vanilla RC and the Hydra-Air
front shocks. I weigh #265, and I'm off the weight/pressure charts that RockShox and Fox list for
their equipment on their website. I'm afriad that one day I'm going to blow one of them, but I set
them a touch higher than the manual says for a #210 pound person and take it for a quick spin around
the block to see if there are any other issues. To my surprise, sitting suspended for a year and a
half hasn't had the cables loosen on brakes or shifting.

So we load up the van and head north for a lightweight ride. I do martial arts during the week, so
I'm still in shape, but my daughter hasn't done anything more strenuous than walking for most of
that time. We go for Bradley Palmer state park, up US Rt1 in Topsfield, MA.

Bradley Palmer is mostly a horse & hiker kind of place. Wide trails, occasional singletrack, nothing
too steep up or down. The parking lot was fairly empty, with the exception of a half-dozen horse
trainers and some cars without racks. We pretty much have the place to ourselves.

It is a gorgeous day. Sunny, light wind, temps in the 60's. We go for a loop around the outside of
the park and ride pretty much side by side the whole time. It is great to be out riding, and even
better to be out with my daughter. I hadn't realized how much I missed sharing this with her until
we were out doing it again.

We got aquainted with log stairs again, front vs rear braking on descents *chuckle* and mud bogs
that swallow shoes. An hour and a half later we roll back to the parking lot muddy and with nice
smiles on our faces. My daughter is tired, I could still go, but that wasn't the point.

We penciled in time for each other in a few weekends to do more. We need to adjust her bike, maybe a
longer stem and some seat adjustments as she now felt a little cramped in the cockpit. Can't afford
to replace her bike at this time, which is what the Dad gene wants to do. It was just great to get
out and share the quiet and the scenery with her.

Riding is cool. Sharing riding is better.

WushuMoose