Dairy Queen is now Bossy's.

The plan for Saturday was to ride with the kids to Dairy Queen right off the MoPac and back home, but there is no more Dairy Queen. In its place is "Bossy's".

So we rode to Bossy's, enjoyed some chocolate soft serve ice cream cones, and rode back instead.

Obligatory "bikes leaning against the wall" blog post pic:

The pricing and selection at Bossy's seems to be on par with Dairy Queen, the logo and colors are all that's changed. We'll probably do this again.

My daughter likes to go fast. She is also becoming a bit of a show-off. How fast can we go up this hill? How fast can I go DOWN this hill?

On the other hand: my six year old daughter learned an important lesson about trail etiquette: always make sure you have enough room to pass, always pass on the left and always announce you're "on your left".

Long story short: she passed her little brother on the right and bumped handlebars. He faceplanted after trying to regain control of his high-centered-on-a-training-wheel bike.

Good thing he landed in the grass, though he still got a nosebleed from it. A few minutes of hugs and wiping blood and tears and he was back in business. He rode the last half mile like nothing had happened.

My daughter now understands that there really are consequences for ignoring the safety of others: she spent the rest of the ride passing walkers with a wide berth and announcing "on your left".

I breathed a little easier every time.

Proud Dad, Bike Dad

Last summer, my daughter just straight up told me she could ride without training wheels. And don't touch the bike, daddy. She can ride without any help.

To this day, I have no idea what triggered this in her.

I obliged.

Predictably, she fell.

Repeatedly.

I tried to help, she refused.

She ultimately decided that biking was "too hard".

She was scared of (falling off of) her bike for a year.

I tried to help her overcome her fear of the bicycle. She was inconsolable.

Today, she conquered that fear. I put my hands on her shoulders, I told her to "mash that pedal down, then put your foot on the other pedal, and then mash it down too!"

Once she got some speed up, I took my hands off her shoulders. When she realized I wasn't holding her up, she would stop and look back.

I explained she rode all that distance by herself.

I told her she can start without my hands on her shoulders.

This time, she believed me.

To this moment, I have no idea what triggered that in her.

She pedaled her bike all by herself. She declared "The bike is so easy!" so many times this afternoon, it makes a bike dad's heart a-flutter!

She is already making plans to go on a "long ride" to Dairy Queen.

4 miles is a "long ride" when you're six years old. It'll be broken in half by ice cream, so it won't be that bad.

The Antelope Valley Trail is OPEN!!!

My camera was buried under new innertubes from Joyride and sweaty morning clothes, otherwise I would have taken pictures of the super-clean and barricade free Antelope Valley trail. I'm going to guess they cleaned it up for the Lincoln Marathon on Sunday.

I rode a portion of the Marathon Route home (20th street, Antelope Valley, etc.), the temporary "no parking from 5am to noon Sunday 5-2-10" signs are up everywhere.

After dinner I rode with my son for a little more than an hour and a half while my wife and daughter went shopping. He's three years old and enjoys cycling almost as much as I do (or finds shopping as boring as I do...).

We rode roughly 2 miles on the MoPac together before doing laps around the playground equipment and picnic tables at McAdams park.

Ian really likes climbing the westbound hill on the way back from 56th street. A young couple remarked that I was "making him climb up the hill?" I pointed out that I have been told more than once that he doesn't need help. He's a little billy goat when it comes to pedalling up the hills.

When it was time to go home, he wanted to "go fast!"

I paced him at 7mph. I started laughing because he weighs 34lbs soaking wet!

Neither training wheel touches when he goes that fast. Hmm...

I have a feeling he might enjoy BMX in the coming years. He asks me to take the training wheels off so he can "do tricks!" like the kids we see on the makeshift jumps north of the MoPac near the 48th street bridge.

Mileage? Don't care. Too much good news today to ruin it with some numbers. If I had to guess it was 16 miles.