Troll Commute

Perhaps it's because I love this bike. Perhaps it's because I got a new Revelate frame bag. Perhaps it's because my other bikes are all in a mess right now. But for whatever reason, I commuted to work on the Troll today. Was it miserable, clunky and slow? No way! It was a blast to ride. My time was only about one minute slower than usual, too. I was cutting through fields and exploring new territory the entire way. And with the new Revelate bag, I may be doing more commutes like this. I'm looking forward to it.

Get out there.

Sunday Mornings

Yesterday, I began the day on the trails with Jason. As a pastor, I feel it a HUGE blessing that I am a worshipper of God and not a worshipper of Sunday mornings. Most folks in my profession have crazy weekend schedules. And I'm blessed that I don't. That being said, I have to share that a Sunday morning on the trails is a pretty worshipful experience for me.

There was a crispness in the air, beauty in the sunrise and an aliveness in the earth at it transitioned from night to morning. For me, that's a great time to connect with my Creator. Outside makes a pretty awesome church, if you ask me.

Get out there.

Picnic Time

During lunch today I had to go from Campus A to Campus B. Stopped at the Arboretum for a little lunch break. Not a bad way to live.

Get out there.

Wet, Wet Rides

Last week I was caught in the rain three different times on the bike. This week's been the same thing. Water, water everywhere. It sure makes for some green photos, though!

Get out there.

Family MTB

Yesterday I took the photo that you see directly above this sentence. It's one of my favorite photos I've ever taken of Clive. Recently, he's been obsessive over mountain biking. He's been on legit trails a couple times and, as seen in this photo, we just found a spot in out neighborhood where he can rip up some dirt. This is the best shot I got on my iPhone. But he continued to get some great air for a six year old on 16" wheels wearing flip flops. I'm a proud dad.

And since I had planned on taking today off, we woke up, ate some breakfast and headed back out on the trails again.

This was the first time my daughter has been on any type of dirt path on her bike. She did really well. But I have a feeling her passion for MTB will not be near as much as her little brother's.

And then, of course, I had the four-year-old on the trail-a-bike behind me. Jury is still out on this thing. Honestly, it's pretty miserable when being pulled by the LHT. It's better on the Troll. Much better. But it's not easy. It pulls all the weight off of the front wheel. So dropping into granny gear is impossible. I washed my front wheel out twice today in a granny gear. I finally gave up on gearing it low and just stood up and leaned over the bar to climb.

Another issue is the wobbliness of the whole thing. I will say that I'm probably spoiled by the Xtracycle. Admittedly, I've got a tasmanian devil of a child back there. But I never feel like I'm going to wipe out on the Xtra. This rig, however, requires a lot of attention and concentration. It's just really unsteady. On the other hand, I don't think the Xtra would be a good option in the woods like this.

We were out for over two hours today. So at the halfway mark we hung out at the creek and tried to catch minnows and crawdads in a fish net. That's always a good time.

Trips like this are great. They're not technical. They're not much of a workout. But being able to weave something I love into our family's lifestyle is pretty awesome. My dream would be to take Clive, the oldest son, on a bikepacking trip. He loves camping and out of the three kids that went today, he's the most into riding dirt.

It's nice to have some new MTB buddies!

Get out there.