Ride with Daughters to Grocery Store
Took the daughters out for a ride to the grocery store to buy supplies for dinner. My oldest is now so confident in her cycling that she “4 miles is nothing, I can totally do that! I rode 6 miles!” So we set up the half bike for the youngest and headed out with oldest riding solo.
Although my oldest was very confident, I was a little nervous, because unlike last week, where we had a wide two lane road to ourselves (closed to other traffic) in this case we’d have to ride along the Burke Gilman trail. The BG trail is a great cycling trail, but near our house it is quite busy with lots of fast cyclists and runners and walkers. I was a little nervous that my oldest would be nervous and have a hard time with the traffic. The great news is that, nope… she’s 100% confident. In fact, I might say she’s over confident… but maybe I’m just being a protective parent.
The best and worst part of the ride came at about 1 mile from home, when we were crossing a busy intersection and my oldest was riding toward a blind corner on the trail. I could see another cyclist approaching at top speed, and I knew the cyclist couldn’t see my daughter on her bike. I yelled to my daughter to stop, which she did, but unfortunately she stopped rather suddenly, and actually took a tumble and skid to a stop with her bike on top of her. The bad part was my daughter got a bit of road rash with scrapes on knees and elbow. The good part is that she insisted that she was not going to end the ride there, and that we’d all be riding on to the grocery store and back home again! She was not going to let a little scrape end her ride!
When we got to the store, we got some bandages from one of the clerks, and patched her up in a jiffy. The sterile swab to clean the wounds was the worst part of the experience.
After completing our shopping we made it home safe and sound with no more bumps.
At dinner, as we discussed my sister’s successful mini-tri practice, my oldest daughter announced “Dad, didn’t you say they have kids triathlons? I think I’d like to do that! I’m a really good swimmer, and I can ride my bike 6 miles, and I can run all afternoon! I think I can do it!”
Oh boy!
Logbook Activity
- Type: Cycle
- Date: 07/06/2008
- Time: 17:00:00
- Total Time: 00:40:00.00
- Distance: 4 miles
- Average Speed: 6 mph
Superb! Makes you feel like a Bad Parent whenever they have a fall like that doesn’t it? But just so proud when they get back up & insist that they’re carrying on!
My Daughter’s also up for a kids triathlon, but has to wait ’till next summer - they don’t allow entries below eight years old here. That’ll give her time to improve on her swim - a bit like me really
the one in Issaquah that you and I are doing has a kids section. The kids start right after the sprint ends. perhaps the two of us can do our first tri on the same day!
http://www.buduracing.com/pdf/2008%20kids%20triathlon%20082308.pdf
6-9 year old will do 75 yard swim, 2 mile bike (2 laps), and ½ mile run. When the last 10-
12 year old has completed the swim and bike leg, we will start the swim for the 6-9 year
old group. Boys will swim first then the girls.
@Sheba — yeah, I saw that one… and in fact floated the idea to daughter and she loved the idea. But I am worried that the timing might not work out… I don’t want her to have to do her triathlon without you and I there to cheer for her… and depending on when we start our triathlon we might not be done in time… When does the Friends and Family wave start? If it starts after 7:00 am then it will be close.
We are also looking at a race on Labor day that has a kids mini-tri as well. Would you come out to support her if she came out to support you?
brad, in case they want to try their hand in running…
i take my kids to club nw’s all-comers track meety on wed. nights. besides field events the kids events are the 50m, 100m, 200m & 1 mile. my 23 month old did the 50 last week (barefoot as i thought she would trip in shoes) and had a total blast. they have a full schedule of adult events if you want to jump in. jason y. was there last week running the 200 & 800
check them out here:
http://www.clubnorthwest.org/CNW/Events/AllComerTrackSeries/tabid/68/Default.aspx
@Andrea, thanks for the tip! That sounds like a lot of fun!
they claim that the kids don’t start until the sprint tri finishes. but I would come see her at the labor day one too, that might be a better plan. I agree that I wouldn’t want to miss her if we were still finishing.
Awesome story Brad! That is so cool that your daughter wants to do a kids Tri! After seeing how long each of the events are for the Kids Triathlon, I think that should be offered to the very beginning women (as I would be in that category!! lol)who want a shot at doing a triathlon without dying the first time around!
Best of luck to all of you!!