Bike Riding With the Boy

I went bike riding with my son earlier this evening. I'm guessing we rode maybe 5 miles. He has been too young to go on bike rides. He is nine years old now. He has mostly ridden his bike around the front of the house, back and forth.

I've always enjoyed bike riding, although lately I haven't done much of it. I took the bike out of storage not too long ago. I have it in the living room of our apartment to make it easier to take out on rides; but, I often get home so late that it would be dangerous to ride in the dark. I do not ride as often as I would like.

Circumstances today made it so that my family and I were home around 5 pm. It was the perfect opportunity to go on a ride with my son. He and I have the only bikes; the toddler has her Dora bigwheel; but, that's not adequate for more than puttering around outside on the sidewalk.

My main concern was that temperatures were still in the upper 90s. Fortunately, there is a big park about 1 mile away from our apartment. From previous bike rides, I know that there are water fountains with cold water. So, I planned to ride there, drink water, and then ride around the park.

When we arrived for our first water break, Magnus was flushed. I may possibly have been the same. We drank and then went off to explore the park with our bikes. It's a relatively new park, which means that there is very little shade; all the trees are still young.

The park has playgrounds, tennis courts, shuffleboard, basketball courts, baseball fields, and a track that may be nearly 2 miles long. They even threw in a duck pond and exercise stations. We discovered all this by riding everywhere.

We stopped at the exercise stations and have come to realize the bad shape our geeky ways have left us. Once upon a time, I could do nearly 30 pull-ups. I could barely do one today. My son did not fare much better. We did better at push ups and sit ups.

We stopped at a water station after completing our exploration and sat for a bit to cool off and rest.

On the way back, we took a less direct path, through the country club roads. Although it's a bit more circuitous, it's safer than the main road.

Just a few moments ago, my wife commented that I wore him out. She hasn't heard the boy snore since he was a baby. I am proud, not so much that I wore Magnus out; rather, I am proud that this may be the beginning of a new activity my son and I can do together. I think we both can stand a little hardening up of our physiques.

Today was a good Dad day.