Moving to Columbus has thrust me head first into family life. Thankfully, my girlfriend has been more than understanding that this big of a change shouldn't have to come at the expense of all things that I loved about the bachelor-esque lifestyle I'd been living up until about a month ago. For example, if I have a place to go or an errand to run, the bike is still my preferred mode of transportation regardless of distance or load factors. Having a child thrown into that equation changes things. Taking a child literally along for a ride is much different than 2 adults deciding to just go somewhere, of course.
I'm not sure how it happened, but somehow we ended up with a trail bike from our daughter's Grandparents (I was out of town when they dropped it off), and it's a decent enough compromise for long rides such as the one we decided to take on the 4th of July:
Nifty, right? It's a bit cumbersome to attach, and the pedals don't actually do anything, but toting laundry around on a bike trailer the last 3 years has more than prepared me to be Bike Dad, I'd say. At any rate, as I mentioned above, we decided to test it for the first time on the 4th of July to take a ride into Downtown Columbus. It was a hot day, with temperatures well into the 90's. We were well prepared from a hydration standpoint, and I wasn't concerned about the sun being an issue because most of the ride would be on a shaded trail.
EXCEPT...parts of the Olentangy Trail were closed due to firework activity. In the middle of the day. Look, I get it. Safety comes first. But, did they really have to close the trail at 7AM on the 4th of July? I mean, it's not like it's a holiday and anyone would want to ride their bike or anything...
To make matters worse, the detour wasn't well marked at spots, and we had to stop at least 3 times to make sure we were going the right way. In full disclosure, these frustrations coupled with the 90+ degree heat and knowing we also had a child with us actually made me ready to go home and get in the car. We ended up riding on, and soon after we found an oasis of sorts in the form of a lemonade stand:
And suddenly everything was good again. After a brief break, we ended up back on the trail, where we eventually found another oasis:
I don't know who or why someone left a case of cold bottled water at one of the trail heads, but I was sure thankful they did. We had plenty of water, but a little extra never hurts. Side note: I couldn't take many more pictures other than at stopping points. Riding with an 80-pound child with free will is much different than towing 300 pounds of dead weight laundry, as I'm sure you can imagine. I needed my hands on the bars at just about all times.
Anywho, 10 miles later we had reached our destination in downtown Columbus, the Doo Dah Parade:
We paused for a victory photo before getting into the festivities:
Essentially, it's a political satire parade from my understanding. Any parade is really just an excuse to drink in the streets and have a good time, which was most certainly the case here:
Again, my apologies for the lack of pictures. Due to the earlier delays with the detours, we missed most of the actual parade, but as my girlfriend had been meaning to go for the last 3 years, at least now she can say she saw it. I had a pretty good time, and I'll definitely go back next year if we're in town.
The parade also includes a before and after block party, where we saw a couple of the art cars on display. Imagine trying to drive one of these things:
They provide for some unique photo opportunities:
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles figurines are very near and dear to my heart, as is this figurine of my favourite member of the Legion of Doom line:
Neat. We hung around long enough to eat some lunch and relax a bit before heading home. By this time, clouds had moved in, so other than a little fatigue in the legs, the ride home wasn't nearly as oppressively hot. In total, we did 22 miles on the day round trip. Not too shabby for a first family adventure, right?
Needless to say, we were all pretty pooped by the time we got home. We had plenty of time to get cleaned up and take a nap before fireworks, which we did not ride to (ha!):
So now that we know we can do it, maybe this will become a family 4th of July tradition? Who knows? One thing I do know is that there will be plenty of family bike rides to come...
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