Monday, May 30, 2011

Maddie's first solo HD trail ride

I think Maddie was about 4 years old when she rode the front of the Xtracycle on the trails. We'd coast down from the Bernard/HD put-in and pop out at 25th -- that's the standard "coaster" route. She loved it. I remember her squealing with delight as we swooped along the trails the first few times. After a while the novelty wore off. We probably took our last ride there when she was about 5 or 6 on the funny tandem.

So this morning, on our way home from the Rocket on 43rd, I was surprised when she wanted to take the trails home. I've made a point of not pushing the trails on her. She knows I ride them all the time, but she's been pretty vocal in her fear of the "big drop," whenever we walk the trails.

We took the top-top trail, which is really just a bunch of trail chunks that peel off the side of the shoulder on High Drive, dip down a few feet off the side, then pop back up after a while. When we got to 29th, we took the mildly-technical descent to the top trail, then popped out at 22nd.

She did really good. I think she's gaining some confidence from her time on the pump track. I know she is actually. At each bail-out junction our trail ride, she opted to keep going. Cool.

Most of these pictures were taken over the shoulder, so they're blurry and lame. But they rule. I'm proud of Maddie. Hence the dork pic of me at the end.

5 comments:

Stine said...

Yay!

Owner 2 said...

A significant milestone - congrats

Jason said...

good job maddie.

Beth Mort said...

You are makin me a little teary here John! She's growing up so fast!!!!

jimmythefly said...

Awesome! I bet the pump track helps a bunch. I recall as a kid I used to goof around on my BMX bike on some local trails. Looking back on it as an adult, they weren't really trails, just a BMX jump zone with table tops and stuff and lots of dirt to ride around on, back behind the Omaha water works.

I think that sort of unscripted, non-goal-oriented just messing around on bikes is a really good thing. If it didn't teach me handling, at the least it taught me how to bail out and not get hurt!