Keeper of the House Adventures: I Want to Ride My Bicycle

Sunday, May 25, 2014

I Want to Ride My Bicycle

Bicycle bicycle bicycle
I want to ride my bicycle bicycle bicycle
I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride my bike
I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride it where I like

When D was a little girl learning to ride her bike--she became a complete and total crash dummy. King Ralph would hold onto the back of her bike seat balancing her just so, while I ran along side cheering her on. When King Ralph let go of D's seat, setting her sailing unassisted down the sidewalk...losing her balance meant she would literally jump off her bike, diving into the grassy easement. She always got back up, no tears, scraped and bruised, but back on that bike--because she had a mission to master.

Last Sunday King Ralph, Princess A, D and I loaded our bicycles on the bike rack for an hour long car ride till we arrived at the Weldon Springs Trailhead. We rode eleven miles of The Katy Trail, stopping along the way to enjoy the views and entertainment along the trail.

We enjoyed the Missouri River.

D, in her beautiful operatic voice stood at the river's edge and sang the song Oh Shenandoah.

Because...well...it's what she does!

We rode on to the eleven mile mark, stopping like all the other trail riders

at the

I shared a nice shandy with King Ralph, while Princess A had an IPA (her favorite), as we listened to a local artist sing James Taylor hits...we sang along with him.

Then hiked our bikes around the corner and up the steep hill to the Mount Pleasant Winery...

sipped samples of reds - taking the final sample to the patio deck, where a band was playing Beattles tunes...that many of us sang along too.

After several hours of enjoying the beautiful day we started back the eleven miles back to the car.

Like we always do--a cam timer family picture to mark our adventure.

(On this family adventure we are missing our M)

It was a great day! A great family day!!

Which brings me to why I told the tale of D's learning to ride a bike.

Six miles from the end of our twenty-two mile round trip ride, an old man with a bicycle bell, ringing it like a wild man and riding up on my tail quickly, ran me off the trail. I tried to get over as fast as I could, only to clip the back of King Ralph's tire. Down I went! Legs into the gravel trail. Face into the gravel trail. Just like D I got up. Bruised. Scraped. But I got up to wear the marks showing I took one for the team. I got right back on that bike and rode the last six miles.