Giving up a part of you

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For those of you that don't ride bikes, just indulge me. This probably won't make sense to you. But for the rest of you, I'm sure it will make complete sense.
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I'm a multi-bike family. Yes, I'm a multi-bike family. I have a road bike, full-susser mountain bike, a single speed mountain bike and a half built beer fetcher. The road bike and full-susser are Titus hot toasty goodness. I love these two bikes. They see hours and hours of use. I've logged thousands of miles between them. But they have not been a part of the family as long as the single speed.

What is a single speed you ask? Why its a bike with no gear choices of course. The single speed is a surly 1X1. It is a steel frame that rides like butter. It wasn't my first bike I ever bought. It wasn't even the second. But it is the bike where the addiction truly set in. I bought it about a year after I really got riding again post divorce. This is the bike where the simplicity of being a kid again really set in. When I busted the fisher frame, this bike was the only one I had for months during the warranty process. This bike saw hundreds and hundreds of trail miles. It was used to go to the grocery store. It rolled urbans at UTA. It raced X-Bar. It rode through snow on Christmas morning. It was always ready to go. It just did everything it was ever asked to do.

Its crowning moment was in Terlingua. "Racing" Big Bend was an awesome experience. I use the term racing very loosely since I was just there to ride with friends and enjoy the beauty that is Big Bend. The surly did the half marathon and even scaled Tres Cuevas. During that race, I lost all the air pressure in the fork and finished more than the last half as a rigid bike that was riding lower than it was supposed to. Flying off of Tres Cuevas passing people who obviously thought I was crazy was probably one of the most fun experiences I've ever had on a bike. I love desert riding and the surly was the steed for the job. It loved me back as much as I loved it.

So fast forward to the last year. The surly has mostly sat. It sat there looking at me longingly begging to be ridden. Taken to Horseshoe to laugh at people with too much bike. It just kept sitting. I haven't ridden her now in months. Time has been very precious with all that life has taken. I spend more and more time on the road bike, which is good, but it meant neglect for an old friend. I was presented with an opportunity to pass the friend along to someone else for a pittance. I agreed.

I'm to deliver her to her new owner tomorrow morning, so I was cleaning her up and getting her ready for them to ride. She looked at me one last time and reminded me why I loved that bike. She was just so much fun to ride. I remembered Terlingua and all those other places that she had been. I remembered riding Horseshoe in the dark by myself on her. Cruising through the quietness of the trees. What a feeling she provided at times when I needed it most. I feel like I'm giving up a part of me. I know I'm doing the right thing letting her provide joy to someone else. But a little part of me is going away. There is a little innocence gone. The joy will never be forgotten and I will have a new steel fun bike very soon. God speed to you Surly. Provide your new rider with all the love and joy you gave me.

Camping

I have long been a fan of being outdoors. Most of my activities are geared toward it. Riding bikes being the largest. One of the things that has always gone with being outdoors and riding mountainbikes has been camping. When I was younger, it was something I looked very forward to. As I've gotten older, its been something that I do, but it had lost some appeal. That all changed on Friday night.

I took Jacqueline on her first camping trip. One thing my parents did not do with me when I was a kid, was take me camping. I always joke with mom that I learned to do these sorts of activities in spite of them. I did not want to have the same statements made to me when Jacqueline grows up. So on Friday, we set off for Lake Mineral Wells State Park to camp with other families from our church. She was excited, but probably not completely sure what she was in for.

We arrived prior to sundown and were able to set up our "campsite" as she called it while the sun was still up. I put campsite in quotes because it was just putting up our tent and unrolling the sleeping bags. But hey, she thought it was cool. As the evening wore on, she was all over the place. She played with all the other kids, made the adults take her on hikes in the woods, and stirred the fire enough to get all smokey. When I finally made her crawl into her sleeping bag, she collapsed and was immediately asleep. She slept hard all night long!

Saturday morning was brilliant. She and I hiked all over the place. We climbed on rocks, we threw stones in the lake, we followed trails with reckless abandon. It didn't matter where the trail went, we were going to follow it! It was amazing to see the world once again through those young eyes as she discovered all those things that I remember discovering myself a long time ago.

When we got home on Saturday, she was tired. We took showers and ate some chinese food and mostly did nothing the rest of the day. I put her to bed early that night and she was happy and content. She had survived her first camping trip and really enjoyed it. She told me that we have to go back and do it again. Yep, camping just became fun again.

Symphony Through The Eyes Of A Six Year Old

I took Jacqueline to the symphony on Saturday. We had a real night on the town. She has been bugging me for ages to take her to have sushi, so I took her to Piranhas Killer Sushi in downtown. She got to pick out my suit for the evening as well what dress she was going to wear. We were off to the lights of the big city.

Piranhas was brilliant as always. The signature rolls that they do are absolutely fantastic. She was so well behaved that a gentleman in eating by herself commented about how mature she was in such a setting. He was also astounded by her ability with the chop sticks. After a Volcano Roll, Salmon Roll and Cucumber roll, we were off to get chocolate. No trip to downtown is complete without a stop at the chocolate factory.

Six year olds love grandeur. They are amazed by the ornate. She loves Bass Hall, as do I. But its always much more fun to see it through her eyes. We played "I Spy." She informed me that Bass Hall is a great place for just such a game while we waited for the show to start. She enjoyed the music as well. The violin virtuoso that was in for the evening did a fantastic job with the Bruch violin symphony. At intermission, we snuck the rest of the chocolate we had while standing on the landing beside the Angels. Mendhelson's Scotish Symphony closed the evening. She couldn't stay awake, but it was definitely Daddy's favorite. I love French Horns and they are allowed to shine in this piece. What a great night to be a dad.