Adventures in Trail Riding

For the last couple of weeks, I have been building up a bike ride the kids and I were planning to take.  The weather is now consistently warm and the canal path has finally opened up after the floods and we had decided this was the week to go!  So, yesterday the kids and I got through school work quickly and set off the get the bikes ready.  We filled the tires, adjusted helmets and tightened training wheels.  I had put our bike trailer in the consignment sale this week and bought a toddler bike seat and attempted to put that on my bike.  The goal was to be on the trail by 10am.  At 11, I realized I most likely needed a new part for the seat and we needed a helmet for the littlest so we went to the store that has it all....Wally World.  They didn't have what I needed, but we left with a bunch of stuff anyway.  We then went to the bike shop by the house and they asked me to bring in the bike and seat and they would fix it right up.  By now it is noon.

At 1:30, after nap time we loaded up everyone with promises of glorious bike riding and headed to the bike shop where we all learned my bike won't accept a bike seat.  We tried several.  Something about the back breaks being in an odd place.  If I did find one that fit, Edwin, since he weighs so much, would make the bike off balance.  Well, at least it was a cheap second hand! We ran home and got the Bob and took off my bike and headed back out, talking and laughing about how much fun we were going to have.  When we pull up we see Police barricades at the canal, which is not open no matter what I had read in the paper.

But this Mama said, "No worries!!  We passed Harbinson Forrest and they have off road bike trails, won't that be super fun!!"  Cheers of "YES!!" and "You are awesome!"  Came from the back and off we went.  Okay, maybe not those exact phrases, but they were excited!  At 2:05pm we were stepping off/riding onto  the trail.  In the parking lot I had checked the map quickly and saw a trail called Firebreak Trail that made a loop which started and ended at the parking lot, and was 1.5 miles.  Perfect for us!!

Almost as soon as we started, I realized this was going to be a challenge for my training wheels little lady, but it was only 1.5 miles and surely the graveling part of the trail was going to open up to packed dirt and pine straw.  In fact, we went over several wooden bridges, so I wasn't too worried!  She fought through and I pushed and after about 30 minutes I was pretty sure we were "almost done."

Super cute wooden bridge
 

At hour 2, her bike chain got hung up on a rock and came off.  An easy fix, if we weren't in the middle of the woods.  I put the bike on top of the stroller and we trucked on.  She and I even ran together for a bit because she was so much faster off the bike vs on the bike and her brother had taken off down some crazy hills!  And you know what, "we were almost done," anyway so it wasn't too bad. 

There were some pretty crazy roots during hour 2.

At hour 3, we stopped for snacks.  I wouldn't say the trail was packed, but about every 15-20 min we would see either runners, dog walkers or other bikers.  It was fun.  Everyone always commented on how good we were doing.  I will say, that by hour three I was beginning to wonder if we had taken a wrong turn, but every sign said we were on the right track!  Our snack conversation went something like this....

Daughter:  "I'm a fancy lady, Mom.  I'm really into things like gymnastics and dance and art."
Me: "Oh yeah, I like those things too."
Daughter: "I'm just not really cut out for this.  Biking and running and doing races just aren't my thing"
Me: "I like races and biking."
Daughter: "Yeah, well, you are just really not a fancy lady."

I had to turn my head because she was so serious and I was about to lose it.  This is the girl who had just "popped a squat," yet, she was the fancy one ;)

Our snack break

It was time to move on.  I was super glad I had given the kids water to carry on their backs and had packed enough snacks to keep them fed and energy up.  It was 5:00pm by that time.  Surely, we were almost done.  20 minutes later, we had to cross a stream.  This was when I almost lost my cool.  What kind of trail had we gone on?  This was definitely not an easy, 1.5 mile trek.  I was starting to really wonder if we were almost done.  The girl child started declaring that she was quitting.  I told her Harlows don't quit and she said they can decide to never do something again.  I will admit I was getting scared she was going to require carrying and that kind of terrified me.  I wanted to quit too.


This is how the broken bike got back to the car...you know the last 2 hours of our trip!

At 6:15pm, the trail opened up into a clearing and my children ran to the car and started hugging it like they had been in the woods for 4 weeks, not 4 hours.  I admit I was pretty happy as well.  As we were leaving there was a box that held trail maps.  This is where I learned we had actually completed 4.4 miles on a Moderate trail.  The Firebreak trail also interconnects the ENTIRE trail system, which is why it is so long. 

I am pretty sure that we made memories yesterday.  My children are fantastic at remembering the awesome times where Mommy got them lost, made them walk 10 miles up hill both ways, or took them on an adventure that didn't quit pan out the way she said it would.  But it's okay.  At least they know I'm not perfect.  And at least they knew they were safe.  I'm pretty sure the oldest will always be double checking the trail length and difficulty from now on.  It may be a bit before I can convince the fancy lady to go with us again, but she sure did make it fun!  I think we all embraced the chaos and that in and of itself is an important lesson to learn.  Next time however, we will be taking the .7 mile, hard packed dirt and pine straw, Discovery trail.

My finger got a little in the way, but for the hardest parts they worked together to get his bike over the gravel and large roots!