Bike Month Day 14: Flat City & Bicycling's Contagious

Friday afternoon and evening Andrew and I were to bike home from his school, then bike to Garst Mill Park for Mark's U8 junior team tennis practice, then bike to the Salem Civic Center for Andrew's U12 jtt practice, then bicycle to Andrew's friend Brett's house to "pick him up" and all pedal back to our house together. But then Andrew tells me ...

"Brett wants to come over now and bike everywhere with us." I replied "Does Brett know all the places we're biking to?"

Andrew "Yeah - he wants to come."

I was thinking that couldn't possibly be true because while Brett's a great athlete I know he doesn't bike those distances regularly, if ever, so ...

Me "Let me talk to Brett's mom."

It turns out Brett did understand all the riding that was on the menu, as did his parents, and he did indeed want to come. And so he did :)

Heavy rain began right at the end of the U8 practice (which cancelled Andrew's practice - the longest leg of our planned travels) so Brett, Andrew & I just rode home in the downpour, soaked to the bone, laughing & smiling from ear to ear.

Once the rain had stopped they wanted to ride some more ...

Evening ride to Cave Spring Corner for fun & snacks. 

Saturday, our family schedule was crazy packed. And, as seems to be the case with every day of this Bike Month, it rained some more.

Mark's had some puddle fun while I watched ...

Andrew's LAX team play really well and finish their season with an exciting win!

which was followed by a team pizza party

Once we finally made it home from the day's events we were all in agreement that it was time for a family bike ride. 

As we were getting ready, Mark was riding the Wigglegoose around the driveway and took a spill. That's so common I didn't think much of it at first but then I realized the bike had a flat front tire.

Mark's BMX had a flat rear tire whose fix had been the object of my procrastination, so I decided to fix it ... but I made the silly mistake of not removing the little upholstery nail that caused the flat before installing the new tube. It thought I'd removed it the other day, but apparently I decided to include it's removal in my procrastination.

Mark's BMX suffered two rear flats and the Wigglegoose a front flat

So Mark was able to ride for 85% of our family bicycle ride, all of us zooming along Fleetwood and then splashing thru puddles on the Garst Mill Greenway ... then for the remaining 15% of our "ride" the boys took over the tandem, Lisa pushed Mark's bike with a flat tire, and I rode Andrew's BMX along side her.

Patches are in our near future ;)