Tuesday 13 December 2016

Adventure 19 - The one where only half the family went on a bike ride

Where: Around Town (Town, being Subiaco). 
When: December 2016
My Adventure Companions: Mini Monkey and Velcro Dog
"Can I go on the bike with Mummy?"
The idea of going on a bike ride as a family has been on the radar for a long time. However, until now, we’ve never had the equipment to do it. However, when the Giant Baby was due to start at a different day care center from Mini Monkey, I made the decision that I would cycle him to day care  and then on to work. This would save us messing around with buses and means I get some regular exercise forced into my day instead of trying (and likely failing miserably) to do exercise for the sake of exercise after the end of my day, which I don’t really enjoy. The Giant Baby loves his bike rides and gets very excited when he knows he’s going out.
As the forecast for the weekend was looking pretty toasty, I decided Giant Baby’s morning nap time would be a good time to take Mini Monkey out on a bike ride to explore the neighbourhood. I also needed to take Velcro Dog for an outing and because I am a multitasking queen I decided that this was a perfect opportunity to try to tire her out a little.
However, prior to this weekend, neither Mini Monkey nor Velcro Dog had ever been on a bike ride. To prepare Velcro Dog I taken her out on our own a couple of evenings with the bike the previous week. She’s pretty smart and used to running with a pram so it wasn’t a stretch for her to understand what was going on. For Mini Monkey, I rigged up my hydration pack to the back of the baby-seat, fitted the Giant Baby’s helmet to him and off we went. We did a lap around the block to make sure he was enjoying himself before picking up Velcro Dog and setting out on our ride proper.
The route I picked had everything a little boy could want to see: diggers, bull dozers, rollers, compactors, trains, boats, busses and more. One of the things I really enjoyed about the ride was being close enough to Mini Monkey to have a good chat. Giant Babay and I don’t normally chat (mostly because he’s only 12 months old and doesn’t actually talk yet) but we make silly noises at each other so I always wonder how much he can hear from me. Velcro Dog mostly behaved herself but as the sun started to climb became very aware of the heat on the section cycle path we were on so I turned us around earlier than I had anticipated to spend more time on the more shady section closer to home.
On returning home we discovered a few things:
  •  Mini monkey had drunk his body weight in water
  • That Velcro Dog needs more. Apparently, like me, hills are her nemesis so the nice flat route I had picked out hadn’t even dented her enthusiasm!
  • Mini Monkey loved the bike ride so much so that he has requested to go again multiple times
Websitehttp://www.cycleperth.com.au/cycle-routes/trainline-rides/fremantle-to-the-city 
Opening Hours: Always open
Cost: Free

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