Past years we’ve spent Labor Day Weekend listening to amazing music at the local major music festival, Bumbershoot. I’ve found two of my current favorite bands going there the last two years. Why didn’t we go this year? Well, not because of the baby. I have to admit it was my own fault. I kept forgetting to buy the tickets, and then Labor Day was upon us. No new bands for us this year I guess.
Missing Bumbershoot does not mean the weekend was a loss by any means. We fit in plenty of fun together, including getting together with some friends from the new parents group we participated in last winter and having some fun playing one of our favorite card games one evening. The highlight of the weekend, though, was our first big fun ride as a family.
I’d been working on planning this ride for about two weeks. Part of the impetus is that I’m participating in a big event next week that involves up to 30 miles on my cargo bike, plus 16 round trip to and from the start (more on that later). I knew I wanted to get in at least one major ride before that, since I’ve hardly been on my bike since last August prior to these last three weeks. Added to that, the rainy season is headed our way and my wife’s work picks up big time on Wednesday. This was some pretty good encouragement to make sure we got out this weekend.
We’ve always liked going on rides with our friends John and Rachel, so naturally I coordinated with them. The thought at first was to do the approximately 45 mile route to and from Red Hook, one of the major breweries in the area. I started thinking about that, and really evaluating how I was feeling while riding, and frankly I wimped out a little. Plus, it’s Labor Day so every third person in Seattle will be doing that ride. It would be so busy we’d never get seated to have a beer. And if you can’t have a beer on a ride to a brewery, what’s the point?
So, instead of Red Hook I suggested Seward Park. It’s just over half the mileage of Red Hook, and the ride is, honestly, prettier. So, I may have wimped out a little, but it was still a significant ride for me. This marks only the third or fourth time I’ve biked over 20 miles in one day in my life, so I was prepared for a challenge.
The ride was as beautiful as I remembered. A significant portion follows the edge of Lake Washington and most of the rest goes through a lovely residential neighborhood. Lots of good scenery to appreciate. The park itself is wonderful, with sweeping views of the lake and abundant trees.
We left the house right at nap time, Hoping R would sleep on the bike as she did last week on our errands. She did. Unfortunately, after only ten or fifteen minutes we noticed that her helmet was slipping badly. Not wanting to leave her in a dangerous situation we bit the bullet and stopped to adjust it. She was not happy when we woke her up and proceeded to scream the entire time we were adjusting the helmet. However, her helmet now stays firmly in the right place, essential for everyday biking on the street.
R was awake for the rest of the ride to the park, but in much better spirits than when we woke her up. She laughed, babbled, and squealed most of the way. Once there we sat and ate a leisurely lunch, enjoying the view and chatting about life. We hadn’t seen John and Rachel in awhile, so it was really great catching up with them.
The ride back,felt faster than the ride there, as is often the case for me on outings. I’ve never understood that quirk of travel for me, but it happens when hiking and horseback riding as well. I don’t complain, since I’m usually getting worn out by the end, so having it feel shorter is quite welcome. This time R fell asleep and we didn’t have to wake her. She dozed for probably thirty minutes. Not enough to be a proper nap, but enough we were less concerned about bedtime getting disrupted.
Just before John and Rachel split off from us to head home John was so kind as to snap some pictures. These are our first, but not last, real family biking photos. I’ll definitely cherish them.
In total we rode 28 miles, had one diaper change and one meal for R, and had a ton of fun. I hope we can make this into a regular part of our life, even once the rain starts in earnest.