Riding Warm-Up

I just took Julia for her four-year-old doctor's check-up. It's hard to believe that she's not a baby or a toddler anymore (though she looks like one when she sucks her thumb and holds her blankie).

We just switched her to a bigger bike and she loves it. She's timid on the hills but the school parking lot is a perfect warm-up before we head to the sidewalks in the village. Big sister, Ava, gets a little bored biking in the parking lot, but put her on a scooter and she has a blast while getting some good exercise cruising along.

It's April school vacation for us. Though it hasn't been balmy spring weather, it has been drier than predicted and so we've taken advantage of a dry and empty school parking lot.

New Season, New Sports

 In one week I've gone from watching a confident five-year-old snow plow down the ski trails to seeing that same kid wobble on her two-wheel bike and tip over into a mud patch. 'Tis the change of seasons here in Vermont. I'm not naive enough to think that winter is actually over, but I'm anxious to get my running legs back and to get my girls ready to bike without giving me a heart attack watching them swerve all over the road. 

Bring on 50 degree weather and dry roads and we're back to biking. Well, the girls are. Me, I'm just aching from bending over giving them a "starting push." The stress of watching the bike and rider careen along ahead of me is bad for the back and exacerbates the tightness. The sidewalks with all the slopes and cracks aren't exactly conducive to a new bike rider either.

We're probably going to need a few more parking lot training sessions like this one before I let Ava bike alongside me on a run.