Coooool Rider. A Cool Cool Cool Cool Rider

To be a coooool rider, a coooool rider.
If he's cool enough,
He can burn me through and through.
Whoa ohhhh
If it takes forever,
Then I'll wait forever.
No ordinary boy,
No ordinary boy is gonna do.
I want a rider that's cool.

Yeah, that’s right.  I just went all Grease 2 on you.  Michele Pfeiffer and everything. 

We recently became a bike family.

My dad is a major bike dude – with the stretchy pants and clicky shoes.  He rides for thousands of miles at a time, I’m pretty sure.

Last month Mimi got on a bike and started riding, like she’d been doing it all her life.  She was the first.  Things have snowballed since then.  Jude could not contain his jealousy and jumped on Mimi’s too small bike (pink and purple, he didn’t care) and took off.  We went back and forth with training wheels and now, after using the greatest invention in the world, he is a full time peddler.  Thank you like-a-bike.  Training wheels are for sissies.

The two of them ride all day long in our court with their friends.  I have to bribe them off their bikes. 

After hearing the bike riding enthusiasm around here, my dad sponsored a bike for me!  Now nearly everybody in my extended family has bikes and my father’s fondest wish has come true:  FAMILY BIKE RIDES!!

 

At my house we had three peddlers and one Silas chasing behind like a red-headed step child.

So then Silas needed transportation.  I don’t believe in bike riding if I can’t take my minions with me.  It should be a family experience otherwise, to me, selfish.

I know nothing about bikes other than how to ride one.  Can’t fix anything, don’t know when things are wrong, don’t know how to attach accessories,  have no interest in learning to change a tire, I know nothing.  I’ve brought these bikes in about once a week to the fix-it guy for tire problems, etc.

To solve the Silas problem I headed over to Any Mountain and picked out a $45 child seat for the back of my bike.  Mimi dragged it across the store while I wheeled my bike into the fixer-guys.  They said they could put it on for $15 and in an hour.  Party.  The Jungle is next door so the kids and I went off to play.

An hour later we were back and very tired.  The thing was on.  The store was crowded my kids were being naughty.  There were three people in line behind me.

“That’ll be $249.87.” 

WHAT THE WHAT??  Uh, that POS costs $45!  Apparently, NO, that is only the visor attachment.

So here I have a serious installation on my bike, three screaming kids and a bunch of people watching me.

And therefore I BOUGHT THE DAMN THING.

Yeah, Silas.  Looking Cool.  I guess.

And then I went to my car and cried.  I can’t handle that sort of pressure.  Sorry children, we will not be eating this week.  Silas must sit on the bike throne.

The offending item carrying my super stoked Silas.  I’m not even convinced of it’s safety.  Doesn’t he look lumpy and lopsided?  Arg. Whatever.  Taking it back would be too hard.

Well there’s only one real way to consol yourself when you get locked into buying a stupid $250 bike carrier thingy. 

You buy cool helmets to coordinate.

If we’re going to go down we’re going to do it in style.

These are some Cool Riders.