Our Best Adventure

Not long ago, I had what I think may be the best adventure of the (my) summer. Selfishly, I wanted to complete a bike ride I started in my 20s. Now in my 40s, I had the great idea to finish it with my four kids.

The first day was a total flop. Our attempt to bike around Lake Dillon turned into a 20 minute ride in hail and thunder, followed by hours in a parking lot, regrouping and wading down the cliff into the Lake.

Then we ate beef jerkey and jello and stayed in a cheap hotel. Through the night, I tried to think of ways to convince the kids to just go back to Boulder, but woke the next morning with an optimistic, come-what-may feeling. So we hopped onto our bikes and rode the beautiful path from Breckenridge to Frisco.

Clara and Will rode on their own. June was in the trailer behind me, with John in the burley behind June. Our challenges included:

• deciding who would lead;
• deciding who would follow;
• a crash in the parking lot just before we started;
• finding shelter during a thunderstorm;
• convincing June to part with a 5 foot stick;
• one mile of desperate sadness for John;
• a few uphills;
• a few downhills;
• putting back on a shoe that got soaked from stepping into a wetland;
• cold rain.

Personally, my favorite part of the ride was a long, easy downhill stretch towards the end, when everyone was pretty tired but quietly biking along, in the zone, far apart but within sight of each other, through gorgeous aspens, with the smell of the rain. I felt so proud of them. So in awe.

We grabbed a late lunch in Frisco, then took the bus back to our car. They were tired, but proud, too. I am ready to make it an annual event.