What A Ride (So Far)!

Today is significant.  Both kids rode 25 miles yesterday (Rancho Cucamonga-to-Claremont) and another 25 today (Santa Fe Dam loop).  They've actually been averaging 40 miles per week since mid-August but they decided to go for a 50-mile weekend.  So I started looking at some old photos of both kids, who had been around bikes since the day they were born.  As soon as they could put on a helmet, basically, they were on the Burley trailer being towed by their mom (November 2001). 

Maura taught Sam to ride without training wheels as shown below in our driveway in Pasadena.  This red bike would be handed down to JJ a couple years after this photo was taken as Sam migrated over to his first BMX bike.

One of the nicest bike trail, albeit short in distance of only 2 miles, is the path from Duarte to Monrovia along Royal Oaks Drive.  As with most kids, there was this fascination with all things off-road so they would venture off the paved section and take this short mound of dirt about halfway on the trail. Below, both kids are riding, or at least attempting to ride, their BMX bikes while their mom encourages them to  go hammer those tiny gears.  They reason for this climb?  Of course, the downhill on the other side.

The first time I took both kids to Sante Fe Dam was in 2008.  We drove from Pasadena and parked off Live Oak and just did the short 6-mile loop at the top of the dam.  Although they were riding the same BMX bikes, you can tell they had grown a bit -- different, slightly larger helmets.

Sam now rides Maura's Trek Madone 5.2 road bike as he is tall enough to ride the 54 cm frame and of course, he is loving it.  Ultegra and a carbon frame and Bontrager Race-Lite wheels while JJ now rides Sam's road bike, a 2011 Specialized Allez.  Both kids, however, still ride with their sneakers and just regular pedals.  I told them that as soon as they get 500 miles under their belt, they're getting Shimano- SPD shoes.  The only drawback of this is that both kids have been eating a ton -- especially Sam, who's 14 and normally eats a lot anyway just being a teenager.  Add a 50-mile weekend and his 20-mile weekly commuter miles to school, and I'm looking at a very hungry, growing kid.