Tangled chain

Every time I take my 2 boys to ride along with me as I run, some disaster always sets in. Last week, my youngest son Happy Zach collided head on with a bush and did a polish wheelie-this is where the back wheel lifts up and the front wheel stays on the ground. I can remember 5 years ago when my oldest son Josiah was only 3 years old and he ran into a parked car, set the alarm off, panicked and started crying because he thought the police were coming.

My run last Friday was nearly as good. We started the run with a false flat tire. I took the tube out and held it under water and found no leak. This took nearly half an hour to accomplish only to find out the leak was caused by a sticking valve. As we were ready to depart, I found out Josiah did not have any socks on and Happy Zach had only 1 sock. One of them was also missing a bicycle helmet. After the boys got everything together, Zachary discovered that his chain had fallen off the chain ring and was tangled. It took another 5 minutes to get us on the trail.

It was a perfect ride. We rode in 70 degree weather all the way to the track at Mission San Jose with only 1 crash. I ran my 1 mile work out on the track and rounded the boys up for the trip home. There were no skinned elbows or bloody noses. As we started the trip home, both boys darted across the soccer field toward the running track. There was a 6 inch hidden drop off curb to the gravel track. Josiah flew over this and struggled to remain in control only to be thrown off his bicycle as he smashed side ways into the the 6 inch concrete curb on the other side of the track. He flipped off the bicycle into the grass and stood up proud as ever because he was not injured this time. I was happy as I would not be returning home with an injured boy again.

We made it home with no further incidents.