Road (1) Trip: The Boys

With The Wife working her occasional Sunday afternoon The Boys and I headed out for a little bit of urban cycling education. I attached the trail-a-bike to the tandem and we rolled out with the goal of surprising The Wife at work and begging for a ride home.

The Boys had strict instructions to follow closely behind me - which is funny - because I had attached the trail-a-bike to the tandem...oh, I already said that.

It ended up being a 10 mile ride mostly on the streets of our fine city. We made a couple stops to enjoy cold beverages. A highlight for us was a picnic table placed atop a picnic shelter in one of the parks. Kids these days.

On the way we talked about which red lights we stop for (all of them) and which red lights we ride through (the ones that don't change for bicycles). We talked about getting stopped by Officer Pottebaum and that we'd happily pay the fine and just as happily ask that he fix the traffic signals.

One particular teachable moment - The Boy 7 asked if he should get off and press the button. "NO! You must stay on the bike. If you don't the car behind you might run over you."...as the car behind us rolled by in the space I'd left for it to perform it's right turn.

Kinda funny that the expectation (Officer Pottebaum) is that cyclists will disembark their bike to push the button at these signals.

I caught myself in an incorrect answer to The Boy 7. He asked why that car behind us sped up and then slowed down. I explained that the driver was trying to turn right but couldn't because we were in the way. EHHH, wrong answer. The driver was trying to turn right but couldn't because we were here first.

We got an education in riding in a strait line - "we're on the white line, off it, on it, off it, where'd it go?"

It was indeed a beautiful MinusCar day for a dad and his The Boys.