Let The Sun Shine Again

Yesterday was a glorious day spent with my family. After last week, I definitely needed some family time. We decided to head down to the American River bike path near Folsom Lake. It's a great paved trail perfect for hauling a bike trailer. It's also the course for the Helen Klein 50 miler in November.

Crossing the American River

I was looking forward to an easy recovery ride and Pat wanted a good workout so it was decided he'd pull the trailer. It worked out perfect, pulling 75 pounds definitely adds to the workout. Sara fell asleep so we decided to go a little farther before turning around. We made it just over the pedestrian bridge before heading back to Hagan Park which is right along the path.



Once at the park we let the kids loose to frolic on the equipment and meet other little kids. It's a lot of fun to sit back and watch kids interact, first shy and then in no time they're new best friends. After having some lunch and about an hour of frolicking, we loaded the kids up and headed back to the car, about an hour away.

Caitlyn helping little sister up the steps

Lunch Break

It was about that time Pat decided to really put the hammer down. He's stronger than me and can travel faster and the kids loved it. He'd stand and mash the pedals on the uphills causing the trailer to rock back and forth then rocket on the downhills (it's a pretty flat course so the hills are very short). The girls would lean forward and press their faces against the mesh panel and squeal and laugh. I enjoyed watching them from a view that I normally don't see when I'm pulling the trailer.

Sara's scrunched down napping

Before I knew it we were back at the parking lot and my computer read 28.5 miles so for a final 1/2 mile we rode criterium style around the parking lot in opposite directions eliciting more squeals of delight from the girls. It was a perfect day. The temperature was about 68 degrees F, sunny, and no wind. About a total of 2 trees are blooming and I intended to get a picture of one of them but we were hammering and it was just too much fun to slow down and fumble with the camera.