Father Son Manfest – Peloton of Two
My son needs to do a 50-mile bike ride for a cycling badge he’s trying to earn. Spring break is the perfect opportunity. This week, while his sister visits colleges with my ex-wife, my son and I are having a manfest.
No, we aren’t sitting shirtless, eating microwave meals and watching Craig Ferguson on TV. (It’s too cold to go shirtless just yet.) But we are having fun hanging out together.
And riding bikes.
My son has two bikes – a mountain bike hand-me-down from an uncle that is way too big for my son, and a BMX trick bike with pegs on the wheels. My son rides the mountain bike a mile to and from school on weekdays, mainly because it has a rack on the back where he can tie on his trumpet. The trick bike is a one-speeder for weekend fun.
Neither will help him go 50 miles.
Turns out Stanford University rents road bikes, and they had a small one that fits him to a T. It’s got 21 gears with Shimano components. It’s made from aluminum and is light as hell. Upon riding this high-end road bike for the very first time, my son exclaimed: “So this is why you like riding Tour de France bikes so much. This is AWESOME.” He loves accelerating from 0 to 60 in no time flat.
We woke up late today (as manfest participants are wont to do), ate a healthy breakfast, then geared up for our ride. We’d already mapped out a route – we would do “the loop” (an infamous cycling route in these parts), and tack on an out-and-back to Crystal Springs reservoir.
The day was windy and cold. Worse, we’d be pedaling straight into the wind for the first half of our ride.
I offered to take the lead and break wind for my son. (Yes, it’s a manfest week. But no, not that kind of breaking wind.) He could slide into my slipstream and keep up with me no problem.
But my son being my son, he wanted to do the 50 on his own effort. There would be no slipstream riding for him!
After a few miles of slow going, we took a detour to get out of the wind. Better, but now we had hills. More slow going. By the time we hit our first 10-mile checkpoint, we’d burned through an hour and fifteen minutes. That meant our entire 50-mile ride would take more than 6 hours! (A Tour de France rider can do 90 miles in that time).
We stopped for lunch, texted his sister (Things are going AWESOME, she said!) then got back on the road. At the 12.5 mile point where we could extend the ride to 50, or keep looping for 25, we made an executive call – today’s ride was a warm-up (if you can call cycling in cold wind a “warm” anything). We’d do the 50 miler later this week, when the wind died down.
Somehow, Baskin Robbins ice cream crept onto our return route. My son downed a 3-scoop banana split in no time flat.
Our manfest is off to a great start.
Ed. Note: read the follow-up manfest story about our father son 50-mile bike ride.
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Comment by debra
| April 15th, 2009
How great!! Sounds like you two will have a perfect father/son Spring Break. I can’t wait until my little guy is old enough for stuff like this…right now, it is a motivational endeavor to get him to ride his bike alongside me at the park so I can get in a short run. Though he carries my water bottle, we’ve not instituted the Baskin Robbins on the way home rule! : )
Comment by Writer Dad
| April 15th, 2009
Wow, I’m with Debra. My boy needs to ripen a little bit more, but you got me all longing like. Thanks!
Writer Dad´s last blog post..Welcome to the Inkwell
Comment by MindyMom
| April 15th, 2009
Happy Manfesting! Sounds like you are off to a great start and doing something very postitve and healthy as well as downing banana splits.
MindyMom´s last blog post..Pinch Me
Comment by T
| April 15th, 2009
How freakin’ cool that the university rents bikes?!?! How did you find out about that?
I had to giggle at the break wind comment. That’s too funny.
Oh I can’t wait to ride bikes with my girls. Cold wind or not, cycling makes me all Zen…
T´s last blog post..Well, hello there!
Comment by Andrea
| April 15th, 2009
Happy ManFest Week! It sounds like fun. Maybe I can throw some of my 79 degree weather your way. No wind, all sun. There’s nothing wrong with ice cream (I may say that because I ate dessert before dinner tonight) but still Baskin Robbins provides fuel right?
Have a great week riding!
Andrea´s last blog post..Sign Language Wednesday
Comment by CheeryWise
| April 15th, 2009
Wasn’t it a fantastic wind? I nearly blew over biking home from a meeting on campus. My daughter took the opportunity to drive over to the Baylands so she could really get blown away!
Comment by Frank Azzurro
| April 15th, 2009
Great lesson for me, a dad-to-be, in terms of what types of activities to prepare for down the road. I love the idea that you are showing by example how important it is to be engaged in outdoor/physical activity rather than just be a screaming parent at the hockey rink. families that stay in shape together grow up and breed children who will do the same in many cases! and it’s simply fun and exciting to do, which is all the reason you need to keep doing it!
corrupt.org/blogs/frank_azzurro/family
Comment by QTMama
| April 15th, 2009
I envy your year round bike riding weather, DH. :) It’s good to know that not everyone takes it for granted, either.
QTMama´s last blog post..I Kissed a Toad …
Comment by Shelle-BlokThoughts
| April 15th, 2009
K…I mountain bike, once in a while, and only do spin class for any experience in road biking…but that has got to be the coolest thing about a Dad…they always know how to have a good time.
I believe he earned that ice cream… :)
Shelle-BlokThoughts´s last blog post..VIDEO: Surprise! Look what I picked up at the Library!
Comment by Melifera
| April 15th, 2009
Sounds like so much fun! Last Friday my daughter learned how to ride her bike (I blogged about it;), and I’m really looking forward to when she’s able to take some long treks! Until she gets to that point, you can find me running alongside my kid as she coasts down the sidewalk on her bike…
Enjoy the rest of spring break!
Melifera´s last blog post..Need to get my taxes in, and other wretched stuff
Comment by Honey
| April 15th, 2009
Now that we live near a cool little downtown-y type area instead of a horrible subdivision near nothing, I am totally going to get a bike again! I had one when I lived in Flagstaff and rode it EVERYWHERE until it got stolen. I just want a mountain-type bike with some speeds – nothing too expensive, probably used, as I still live near a university and it will probably get stolen again at some point…
Honey´s last blog post..Can He Come Too Soon?
Comment by Mark
| April 15th, 2009
Sounds like a great time! It is wonderful that you are doing this together!
Mark´s last blog post..How Tall Is Your Wall?
Comment by The Exception
| April 15th, 2009
LOVE it!! Can’t wait to read what happens next!
The Exception´s last blog post..Move Over Chubby Hubby…
Comment by Janet
| April 15th, 2009
This sounds so fun! I would have stopped for ice cream, too. In fact, I’m about to have some now. :)
Good luck with the 50 mile ride later this week!
Janet´s last blog post..Hop Hop Hop!–Easter Weekend Part 2
Comment by justrun
| April 15th, 2009
That’s awesome!
I had no idea there were so many cool scout badges.
justrun´s last blog post..Not so stormy after all
Comment by katherine.
| April 15th, 2009
what a great time…I had no idea stanford rented bikes…although it is my understanding Hell is rather heavy…
which schools is your daughter touring?
katherine.´s last blog post..wordless wednesday ~ no thirsty dogs here !!
Comment by The Crash Test Dummy
| April 15th, 2009
Well, well, well, it looks like litmus test guy is pretty pop-U-lar. I’m honored that you have graced a few of my posts with your comments. Mahalo!
I checked out your bookshelf. Fun. I agree and I disagree. Have you read any David Sedaris? I’m recently hooked. I think you would like.
The Crash Test Dummy´s last blog post..Today I’m in a tender way . . .
Comment by dadshouse
| April 15th, 2009
My daughter is doing a New England tour – Harvard, MIT, Dartmouth, … yeah, she’s a smarty pants. Of course, I’ll be happy if she goes to Cal Poly. (I’ll move to SLO and do her laundry on weekends! Ha)
Tomorrow is our 50-miler. Wish us luck!
Comment by Vinomom
| April 16th, 2009
Sounds like a lot of fun – I need to plan a girls weekend with my daughter!
Vinomom´s last blog post..Following Up
Comment by ilinap
| April 16th, 2009
I love watching my son and husband go bike riding together now that Bird can ride a 2 wheeler. I don’t even know how to ride a bike. Will you still be my friend even though I am lame?