I just finished cleaning up my shop from a visit of about a dozen children yesterday. I organize an athletics group for homeschoolers, in which we do the common team sports, but also hikes and, of course, bike rides. We usually take a break after Thanksgiving through the holidays, but I had an idea to have a “Christmas Pub Party” to play darts, table hockey and karoms, with beer (of the root variety), other sodas and snacks. I figured we usually get right into our sporting event when we gather, and it would be nice to simply socialize for a change.
I assumed that the basement would be the “safest” place for a bunch of young children with drinks and snacks being carried around while playing games, with a cement floor that’s easy to sweep and/or rinse off. I spent the weekend decorating and setting up, being sure to move and conceal all of my tools, etc. - away from little curious hands. I also hooked up some speakers downstairs so we could have some holiday tunes to accompany the fun. Everyone had a great time and was well-behaved, but I had definitely made the correct choice for location – what a mess kids can make!
I always end up laughing at my attempts to “keep things simple”, as far as food goes, at such parties. I will buy plenty of chips and pretzels, and without me even suggesting they do anything, guests will always bring something (for which I am grateful, don’t get me wrong) that is obviously better than what I had provided. I will end up having plenty of my snacks left over for days afterward. Luckily I can usually avoid eating them with the voracious appetites of my two boys helping the junk food to disappear!
Carrick and I had fun riding into Philadelphia last week, although he wouldn’t listen to my advice about dressing warmly. I understand that he didn’t want to have to carry anything if he was warm and wanted to peel something off, but personally I’d rather sweat a little than risk shivering all through a long ride! While it was a beautiful day with sun, it was only in the low 50s. The Wissahickon Trail is also mostly in a shadowy ravine, and the wind picked up along the Schuylkill River in the early afternoon. To his credit, he didn’t complain about getting chilly until we were about ¾ finished, but I could tell he was making a real effort not to show me his discomfort. No kid EVER wants to admit he was wrong to his parent!
I don’t remember the Wissahickon Trail being so rough the last time we rode there, maybe four years ago. However, that trip we were on mountain bikes, which probably rode more softly with their suspension than did the cyclocross bikes we took this time around. Carrick’s old Schwinn badly needed the derailleur tension adjusted to take up some of the slack in his chain. He was having trouble with inadvertent shifting caused by the chain jumping on and off the chainrings due to the bouncing on the poor trail surface.
He enjoyed the flat paved surface of the Schuylkill Trail into Philadelphia, and often sprinted past me to show he had some “pop” in his legs. I would playfully ease up alongside him while he was panting and calmly ask, “Yeah, but how long can you hold that speed?” He has ridden with me long enough that he is an expert at not being impressed by his Dad’s ability, but he is also smart enough never to mention the word “old” whenever we exercise together!
Since I will probably be taking a break from writing until the New Year, I wanted to give a little Christmas gift of some of my favorite cycling links (besides the ones regularly listed at the bottom of the page):
Map My Ride - an invaluable resource for recording your workouts and finding
new routes plotted by fellow cyclists in your area
BikePedia - the bicycle industry encyclopedia, containing over 200,000
components, accessories, etc., including complete bicycle
specifications dating back to 1993!
Park Tool Co. - simply the best bicycle repair toolmaker in the business; even if
you don’t buy directly from their site, you can use it as a guide
before you search eBay or Amazon for the tool you need
Sheldon Brown.com - Don’t be thrown by the late Sheldon Brown’s kooky looks,
this is an outstanding site to answer any and every
question you have about bicycle repair and
maintenance, developed along with Harris Cyclery
in West Newton, MA (of which Sheldon was parts
manager, webmaster and technical consultant).
GrahamWatson.com - The world’s best cycling photographer has hundreds of
photos available in his online gallery, contemporary and
vintage (my favorite) subjects. If you are looking for a
very special gift for your cycling nut, this may be the place
to find it!
MERRY CHRISTMAS (or whatever holiday you celebrate)
and Happy New Year to everyone!
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