Ridin with Josh

I've had good intentions to add content, but...... I don't have a good excuse. Here is a short story about a recent ride Josh and I took on 8/2/2009.



Josh: "Dad, I want to ride to Eric's house tomorrow."

Dad: "Josh, you know it is far and up a massive lung burning, lactic acid generating, you are gonna whine the entire time type of climb....." [I've taken the liberty to add in how my brain interpreted his request]

Josh: "I know, but I want the challenge"

Dad: "Let me ask mom if I can take you on a 1:45 min ride on the road in the pouring rain"



I knew Josh theoretically could do it, we've been mountain biking all summer and we've already done several 15+ mile rides on/offroad. He just finished a week of mountain bike camp and got a new mountain bike a few weeks ago (an upgrade to 21 speeds from 6 speeds - wahoo!)...... I'm semi-confident he could do it (I just kept telling myself, maybe Nicole will put the kibosh on it and be the evil parent). No such luck....



(the next day)
"I'm ready" says Josh. "I'm almost ready", I said as I grabbed my cell phone unsure if I'll need to make emergency call to pluck an 8 y/o boy off the road. We saddle up under grim and threatening clouds and head out to our friend's place on top of a mountain in Etna, NH. About an hour into the ride it starts to rain. I try to block it out and hope Josh doesn't notice. "Dad, its raining". No response, I'm hoping it is just random things kids say. "I like the rain". "Huh?" I guess given all the rain we've had recently he has gotten to embrace it instead of despising it, this is a welcome relief and we continue pedaling on. We finally make it to our friend's place (ahead of mom) and Josh is pumped. He spends the next hours riding with his good friend Eric in the pouring rain. They even left a nice rut at their place as a memento and I'm happy to point it out to Eric's dad as I'm getting in our car.



This climb is phenomenal, it is one of the staples of my riding diet and I ride it to work almost everyday in Lebanon, NH. There a few cars, great road surface, dirt roads, lots of wildlife and even a small waterfall. In fact, the day that Josh and I rode, we saw a bear and cub cross the road about 50 yards ahead of us! In the early morning with low hanging fog, I end up riding above the fog for a few miles then descend down into work back through it. It is unbelievable..... I look forward to sharing it!

Josh and his new bike. This was taken on one of our mtn bike excursions. This was the day after he finished mtn bike camp and was eager to share ALL the trails with me on the same day.