matching tracksuits

fun in threes, sometimes fours

cycling

Thursday

Today was a day of yardwork. "Think of all the time we spend with just maintenance," K said as she looked at what I accomplished today. We're not really getting ahead with our yard with a day like today: we're just maintaining a steady state.

I turned this, for example,

into this. To do so, I borrowed my neighbor's massive trimmer that theoretically allows one to trim the top of such high bushes without a ladder. Theoretically.

It's also heavy. My shoulders ached after just a few minutes of work. That's why I took it back after finishing the first two shrubs and used our own, light electric trimmer to turn this

into this. The growth on those shrubs -- what are they called again? I can't even remember what's growing in our own yard -- has been phenomenal. I have to trim them several times a year.

I continued with the electric trimmer to turn this

and this

into this. The trimmer has its advantages: it's light and, well, I guess that's its only advantage because it's terribly stressful (perhaps not terribly, but it is an added concern) to make sure one doesn't trim the power cord along with the shrub. Not that I've ever done that. Countless times.

In the evening, another bike ride.

Ramp

The Boy decided he wanted to build a kicker ramp to practice jumping.

"Will you help me?"

"Of course, but that means I'll help you -- you'll do it, I'll just coach."

So the Boy measured the wood,

cut the wood,

created the curve of the ramp, and

screwed most of it together.

When it came time to jump, he got a little nervous. "It's a bit higher than it looked in the video."

He'll get it, though. I have no doubt.

Saturday

We took a bike ride this morning.

In the evening, the Boy went for a sleepover, the Girl was at work.

We went out for dinner.

New Bike

We finally got K a mountain bike so she can actually ride with E and me on trails. It took a while to get the seat just right...

Sunday Here and There

Spring 2024 Tournament Day 2

Today was the final day of our short spring tournament. They boys played their hearts out, and they had a good time -- the results (0-1-2) weren't as important.

It was a bittersweet afternoon, though: it will be the last season this team is together. There are always some new members each season, but this team has had a little core for the last three seasons, and now it's all over. Several of the boys (E included) will be too old to play on the fall team, and the coach won't be working with U12s anymore: he's moving up to the 18s travel team.

Coach M was a great coach, the only coach the Boy really wanted to play for, and we're going to miss him.

In the evening, we went on our first ride of the season.

Except for L: she doesn't like cycling, which is a shame.

Family Ride

It's been a while since K joined E and me on a bike ride. (What about L? When it comes to cycling, forget about L: biking is not her thing anymore, and we're not going to try to force that on her. )

We headed south to Hickory Knob State Park, which has a six-mile bike trail that winds along beside a lake. Only 300 feet of climbing, so it seemed like something K would be comfortable with. After all, she's on a suspension-less hybrid bike with 32mm tires: it's not going to do well at a lot of the places E and I like.

We got started, took a few pictures along the way, found a turtle in the middle of the trail (rescued it), rounded a bend in the trail to discover huge, dark clouds just a few hundred feet from us.

We knew it might start raining: it was in the forecast. But we hoped it might hold out, that we might survive with a few sprinkles.

Within a few minutes, it wasn't sprinkling; it wasn't raining; it was a monsoon.

What else could we do except continue pedaling?

Out of Shape

Starting to ride to work more. Those morning rides are usually fine -- slow, but lovely. Afternoon, though....

First Day Out

We had our first day out on mountain bikes today. It was a beautiful spring day with temperatures in the sixties.

It had rained a bit yesterday, so the trails were a bit muddy at times, but nothing too awful.

Overall, we did 11.59km.

Bike Ride to Bory