We went out on the Xtracycle Edgerunner this weekend for a small exploratory ride. I wasn’t feeling very good after a big allergy attack. But getting out of the house and not riding too hard made a difference. When we got home I felt better.

We went north west with the goal of checking out Westover Park. While there we discovered an entrance to the West Ellerbee Creek Trail. We stopped and got a better look. Then went on down this short stretch of the trail. The boy remarked about the sun shining through the trees making cool shadows on the ground. At the end of this part of the trail we found a small field. Got to take the Edgerunner “off road”. The big knobby tires did well. Even with the boy on the back. He likes the bumps. 🙂

Then we turned around and went south back uphill ending up at Oval Park. The boy eagerly spent an hour looking for bugs to put in his mason jar.

Check out the rest of my Father & Son Bike Diary posts.

Another fun outing last week was the first father and son bike ride where we both had our own bikes. A big milestone! On previous rides we’d been together on the cargo bike or he rode his bike with training wheels and I walked.

I love taking him to ride his own bike. I usually feel safer being on foot so I can help him cross busy streets, deal with intersections, and cary the bike when we need to hustle or he gets tired. Slowly we’re extending the distance he’ll we’ll ride and walk. But this time he insisted that I ride my own bike. A silver commuter bike I’ve had for years.

Our ride motivation this time was going to Loco Pops. It’s our awesome local paleta store. They’re latin america style ice and cream popsicles made with fresh ingredients. These pops are special to me because Loco Pops helped cater my wedding & the boy LOVES them. We have a long father and son tradition of eating them together. Going on bikes to get them was the new part. It’s a desert that has taken over Triangle and our hearts in a big way. I love it so much I’m the Mayor of Loco Pops in Durham! (A silly but fun Foursquare thing.)

The boy did great on the ride! I was super impressed with his skill. But he’s still learning to bike in a straight line for a long stretch. The only thing I kept harping on was staying on the right side of the road. It’s so fun to just wander all over the small back streets in the neighborhood. There are few cars and lots of pedestrians and bicyclists. But I know how irresponsible some drivers are.

Not long after I told him not to ride on the sidewalk we were forced to. Loco Pops is on Hillsborough Road. The part we had to go down is long and straight where cars go way faster than 35 miles an hour. So as we got off the neighborhood street I advised my son to ride up onto the sidewalk and keep an eye out for people walking. This time of day the sun is low and we were headed due west. But it all worked out fine. It’s sad that there isn’t more room for bikes on this street. Even if there was a big lane I’m not sure I’d take my son on it until he’s done with training wheels and very confident on a bigger bicycle.

For the past few weeks I’ve been ill and super busy. This included a rather long weekend trip to buy a new used efficient gas car. The Mercedes Benz 240D finally died. Well it blew a gasket making it too expensive for me to repair. I’m pretty sad about it. Especially sad about the end of my biodiesel mission to stop buying gasoline. It really sucks how expensive it is to be environmentally responsible in a culture that requires you to drive for work.

After I finally finished the antibiotics and had my son for a weekend we got on our cargo bike named Wilson. Our rather short trip was to a park playdate with his friends from daycare. It was fun. We’re fortunate to live in a City with a grid. So we could take one road east up and down some good hills to get to our park destination and return home for lunch.

Again we received many compliments and questions about the Xtracycle Edgerunner. I discussed the pros and cons of other solutions with another dad. I find the enclosed little trailers for kids really cool. Other travelers on the road can see them. But as this dad pointed out these kid trailers are just nylon and a bit of aluminum. To some extent I feel safer having my son right behind me on the same frame. The Xtracycle certainly does handle really well. Especially with a little extra weight. I give credit to the wheel length. As the boy says, “This is a LONG bicycle.”