Break My Body

For those who don't know what a glutton for punishment Emily is, let me brag a bit. I traced the path below on GoogleEarth that Emily will do on her bicycle a couple times a week WHILE TOWING GRACE IN THE TRAILER!!!!!! This path is only about 5.5 miles but it weaves in and out, up and down the foothill neighborhoods of Provo. STEEP STREETS! Our car has a hard time with many of them (not saying much, but STILL!) And she's not content to ride up once, rest a bit and ride down, she'll ride up a street, then down the next, and back up the next street. It keeps her busy for about an hour.

The other week, she was up at the top of the ride (can't get any higher in Provo on pavement) when a wheel to the trailer came off. Crrrrrkkkkkk. She looked around for 20 minutes but could not figure out where the wheel went. Her dad picked her up and took her home. On my lunch break I decided I needed some exercise so I rode up to go look for it. Woooof.

After 20 minutes of scrounging yards and bushes and trees, I found it just around the corner from where she lost it. Good thing it didn't roll itself all the way down the street, it has like a 12% grade or something. Imagine the speed and air it would have caught if it had made it even halfway down the street before launching off a bump or curb. Wahoooo!! It would've been cool to watch.

So I did the awesomely unnerdy thing and strapped the wheel to my back with my belt through the spokes and rode down like a scared little girl clutching the brakes on my bike. I rode up and down from the Y trailhead today with a bit more confidence.

Here's the bike Emily rides (except its a few years older and the paint job is gray and no flowers. A Trek 7000 . Emily got it brand new a few months ago even as a 2005. Trine has the same bike from 2006. In case anyone sees Emily and thinks she looks amazing like I do, this is why. She wants to try for a 100mi bike ride in September when the weather's a little cooler.

Here's the trailer, not the smallest or lightest, but its solid and tough. The KidaRooz Bike Trailer. Not the most professionally built, but we've been very pleased with it and it was worth the money. Real smooth and easy to use. The biggest downfall we've had with it is that the clamp doesn't like my bike frame much because too much jostling and it detaches (we've put the safety strap to good use). Emily doesn't have the same problem. (And the wheel falling off might have been a user issue :-)