Flat Tire

Today was an unseasonably warm day in the Bay Area. I was getting excited to run with my shorts and enjoy the sunshine with my 2 boys.

It always takes us about 10 minutes to get everything ready for our adventure. Today was not different. I even pumped up both of the boys tires to give them less rolling resistance-IE faster speed!

We had our first collsion just after we crossed the rail road tracks. I just finished reprimanding Josiah for not watching out for cars. I asked him to take the lead and rear ended his brother. I thought we were doing good since we had only 1 accident in the first 12 minutes.

With no more accidents, I thought we were zipping along quite good until I checked my watch and noticed that we were a good 3 minutes behind schedule at the first timed spot. Warm weather and tires pumped up. What could be the problem?





I reminded the boys to hustle since darkness still happens at 5 PM. We made it to the picnic spot with Happy Zach a good 4 minutes behind us. I asked him what was happening and he said that he was tired. I was confused. Tired from what? Usually they tire me out.

My wife packed at least half a dozen assorted bagels ranging from chocolate chip to cheese. This is the boys favorite part of the entire trip. The boys were not satisfied with eating just one bagel at a time. They managed to bite into every bagel while I ran an extra lap around the pond as they devoured their food. Both of their faces were smeared in chocolate.

I wanted BG to take photos of us, but his hands were covered in chocolate. Boys!!! Happy Zach offered me part of crushed chocolate bar. I politely declined and ate a few remains of the bagels.

As darkness was enveloping us, I told the boys to pack up and leave on the double.

Happy Zach was still dragging behind. I took an extra lap and told the boys to meet me at the gate. When I hit the gate, Zach was struggling up the hill. I asked him what was wrong. He had this sad look on his face. He pointed to his bike and said it was not working. After inspecting the bicycle, I realized that his tire was completely flat. Poor little guy must have been riding a few miles on a half inflated tire.

I had BG bring out the tire repair kit. Both boys were chattering like noisy chipmunks. I explained to them that I needed silence as listened for the leak. Between them talking up a storm and bumping into me, I manged to compete task in 12 minutes. I told my wife that I would be home before dark. It was almost dark and we had 3 1/4 miles to go. Would she notice that we were late again?

We managed the last 3 miles with no wipe outs or flat tires. The hardest part is crossing the rail road tracks. We have to lift each bicycle over the tracks. I have the train schedules memorized. We love to be around the passenger trains as they scream by us filled with people. The boys usually give their arms the whistle pull and the engineer responds with a "toot toot!". We missed both the Amtrak and Ace Train. We made it home.