fun in threes, sometimes fours
cycling
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.
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.
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...
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.
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?
Starting to ride to work more. Those morning rides are usually fine -- slow, but lovely. Afternoon, though....
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.
The forecast called for rain by lunchtime, so the Boy and I decided to get a morning ride in before the predicted afternoon of rain. We headed out toward the area of the village known as "Wild," but we came back along tractor tracts and dirt roads through fields.
One of the oddities of riding in rural Poland is the "Warning: Cows with Square Udders Ahead" sign. It has also given rise to a new danger for E as a cyclist: the unexpected blobs of cow blessings on the road.
Along the way back, we discovered yet more abandoned houses, but different in a significant way: these are not unfinished houses that the owners abandoned to move to the States. These are lived-in, likely-loved houses that have simply outlived their usefulness. To renovate them makes little sense to the owners: they're too small, and to renovate them would cost more than just building a new house.
In the afternoon, once it was raining and rather cold, we headed over to the aunties' house for name day celebrations. In loving yet typical Polish fashion, the aunties served a virtual meal even though Babcia had begged them not to. It wasn't a formal meal. It was just enough snacks and cakes to make a meal.
