A Summer Evening Bike Ride

Growing up, I spent the entire summer on my bike.  

As little kids, I remember my friends and I would pretend our bikes were cars and we would whiz around our dead-end street until the sun set and our parents hollered it was time to come in.  As a teenager, my bike allowed me to connect with all my friends who were spread out over the Kennebecasis Valley.  I loved the freedom it offered and the bragging rights I earned by saying "yeah, I biked here on my own".  Ahh, the good ol' days!

For my kids, growing up in a rural area, living on a "country highway", they do not get to use their bikes very often.  It's the one thing I do not like about where we live. Sure, they buzz around our driveway a fair bit, but this is not as exhilarating as riding around the neighbourhood on your own looking for trouble, and so they quickly get bored with their bikes and abandon them in favour of a backyard game of football, soccer, or baseball.

With summer soccer over, we found ourselves last night with an evening free and so we decided to pop across the river to visit Grammie and Grampy.  Then I had a great idea!  This would be a perfect opportunity to go for a bike ride, to show the boys all the best biking routes in my old neighbourhood, and to give them a taste of what my childhood was like.  Unfortunately, my back has not been 100% this summer so I opted to walk and Zoe came along with me.  It was a beautiful evening!  As Zoe and I chatted, the boys zoomed ahead of us.

And they're off . . .

Taking a little break from all his hard work.

Here is the big hill I would go down with no hands and NO HELMET!  How did I ever manage to survive my childhood?

Avery thought it looked too steep for him so he started halfway down.  Kids of the 21st century . . . what wimps!

Near the finish, Elliot decided we were too slow for him and headed back to Grammie's on his own, where he bumped into Grampy coming home from work.

Now, when I was a kid, my dad would jump on his 12 speed and take us on biking adventures, but not these days.  These days he only rides a Harley!  Nonetheless, the boys convinced him to go for a spin around the block with them.

They are quite the gang!

Here are Zoe and Avery trying to keep up with the speed demons, Grampy and Elliot.

When we made it about halfway home, guess who came zipping up behind us?

According to Elliot, riding with Grampy was "epic awesomeness"!

Then it was Avery's turn.

Avery was a little nervous so he gave Grampy strict instructions not to go fast!

By the end, he was no longer scared.

Not being one to get left out of the action, I demanded a turn.  This made the boys roar with laughter!

All I have to say is "Wow"!  Now, I understand why so many people love motorcycles.  It was a blast!  Mr. Level-Headed, I have figured out what we can do when the kids grow up: join a bike gang.  You'll love it!  I promise . . . tee hee!

As you can see, our bike ride down memory lane took an alternative route, but, hey, times change and they do say the future always gets brighter.  Except in our case, the future got a whole lot faster!

Thanks, Grampy!