Our kids rule, but we already knew that.
Saturday I took the kids to Capital View in Frankfort to give Mindy some peace and quiet for a nap. She is still recovering from her spinal fusion on 10/28/11 so anything I can do to let her get good rest helps.
After riding down a straight trail to a dead end, and Molly getting scared from the 20-25′ dropoff, we backtracked to a turnoff and tried that trail. It ended up being true singletrack, winding back/forth, with roots and other stuff that the kids weren’t too keen on. After trying that for a while, I bushwhacked us out to the parking lot and found another entrance to the trail system which ended up being where I wanted us in the first place.
We ended up on some wide doubletrack with more gentle hills that the kids could practice on. They did really well and by the end even Dawson could make it all the way up. Switching him from the 14-28 freewheel to 9-speed with 32 tooth first gear was a good idea but I still need to get an 11-34 cassette on it for him.
After that we hit some easy singletrack for a while and came up on a few deer. The kids were mesmerized (and a little scared for Molly). We stayed in one spot for a good 5 minutes just watching and talking about them. We also had a great view of the Kentucky River and the Capital building.
On the way back to the car we stopped at the sinkhole for me to get some fun in dropping in/out of it. It’s about 15′ deep so you get a nice rush going down and a little bit of g pull as you bottom out. Ali video’d me one time and as I was putting the camera away, I turned around to see Molly dropping in. My jaw dropped, but I just watched and hoped she would make it and not get hurt. She made it about 3/4 of the way back up the other side before stalling and falling to the side which is a less painful option than going over backwards. I was in awe that she would even try and in how well she did because going down is very steep. She said later that she just wanted to go to the bottom and stop but that’s near impossible with the speed you pick up.
After the sinkhole we came up on a large pack of deer, at least 7, and had one less than twenty feet from us. Again, in awe of nature’s beauty.
The only thing that could have made the day better is if Mindy were recovered from her back surgery and with us. We’ll do it again soon and next year when she’s capable.
