Is a Ride Worth a Venti Milkshake? Ask an 11 yr. old.

Mtn-Biker Man had recently been riding loops with Winston (dog) around the trails just outside LBA Park when he ran across "Tim," also out for a leisurely ride with his daughter. We got to talking and planned a ride in Ft. Lewis Area #19 with his son's Tyler and Alex today. [Pictured: L=Tyler, Tim & Alex = R]








We met up with Dr. Ron (@ Rt. picture) at the trail head (behind JZ Knight's ranch compound) and made our way out 7-8 miles toward Rainer then back. Here's what Tim had to say:
"It’s always a bit of a struggle to include kids into something strenuous, especially when they are so-so about the sport in the first place. There are only so many promises of milkshakes and computer-time that will get them up the next hill or past the upcoming mud-bog before they shut down in protest. Somehow within them they need that memory…that reserve strength of having survived something monumental in their experiences…to dip into and get them past themselves. I was mountain biking with the boys (15 and 11) on a trail wrought with ups and downs, mud and stinging nettles that required not only some physical toughness to endure the ride, but a mental toughness to continue on with out knowing when we’ll stop or where we were. (You have to appreciate the trust they [kids] put in us to make the right decisions and somehow pull us through it!!)"

Tim witnessed his youngest, Alex in one of life’s finer moments. Alex faced a predicament. While he was tired, frustrated in facing numerous hills, and not knowing what was ahead… he reached down and found within himself the endurance to continue and declined Tim’s help (with respect) with his bike up the hills. “Alex displayed, the positive attitude he wanted, to older bikers on the trip see . . . and he ended the long ride with some funny comments about how tired he was.”

Tim stated: “I’ll take some of the credit as I made it a point NOT to criticize his struggle and to express empathy for his pain…after all…we WILL be doing this again :) So I hope the lesson sinks in and he learns to appreciate his experiences as something to help him with future struggles. On the other hand, at 11, he may only remember that he was FINALLY able to drink a whole Venti vanilla bean milkshake by himself."

Mtn-Biker Man missed getting a milkshake himself and instead got more chores from the "Honey Doo" (word pun intended) list when he arrived back home.

Good having you join up for a ride Tim. And, welcome. (Tim's picture to the far right page -->)