IARide4Fun

Well on Saturday my youngest and I did a charity ride. This ride was the ride that got me started into biking. I did it back in 09 with some of my in-laws and wife. It was a great first ride. It was relatively flat and short.

Fast forward to this year. The good was that my boy finished. It was his first ride and on a new bike. I was really thinking since he didn't do any training that he wouldn't make it. But age was on his side (11 years old). He did great. He was fine up until the last 3 miles. But I kept his confidence up, encouraged him, and was patient. Things that I didn't do the first time and are probably why my wife doesn't want to ride bikes.

Now the bad. This ride was only 22 miles, so I decided to ride back. There are quite a few people that do this. Well, that is where it went ugly. By the time that I headed back, the masses of riders were heading out. That wasn't the real problem. The real problem was the horrible motorists. Getting impatient and passing groups of riders with me heading back. Twice I had to leave the road to avoid getting hit.

I think the priceless part was there was a group of riders, a car, and more riders. A rider at the front losses her beer and just stops right there. I am not sure how no one got hurt.

Next year, if we do this ride again, I will have to pass on riding back. Or start at the finish and ride to the start and then ride with my boy back. I really hope we don’t do this ride next year. The reason for doing this one is that I missed the first two this month because of other commitments that came up.

I guess as my riding experience has increased, my tolerance for this type of ride has decreased. But riding with my boy and him completing it will be the memory that I will remember.