new frontiers in cycling
We went for a long ride with friends a couple weekends ago (notable for Zion doing over ten miles in his second week on a two-wheeler!). At our turn-around point we did a little bit of off-road riding, to make it seem like we'd gotten somewhere. Most of the kids were unenthusiastic about the rough terrain, but Harvey—on his new-to-him mountain bike—found something to love. So he asked me if we could ride some trails together. Which we did Sunday afternoon.
on the trails
He attacked the climbs ferociously (as pictured above), enthused about finding the best line between roots and rocks, and worked on building courage for steep descents. (His mechanic gets most of the blame for his nervousness: in typical Archibald fashion, he only has one set of working brakes at the moment.) We did probably a mile in the woods, trying to find the funnest spots, and then maybe four more riding to and from the trail. Maybe more, who knows?! We were out for two hours.
I don't know how much time we'll find for trail riding in our busy schedule, but Harvey is already a fan. On our hike on Monday he noticed a particularly smooth, rolling section of singletrack and pointed out how much fun it would be to ride it. Yes, yes indeed.