E's ticket to ride

As we've written before, Elizabeth has gotten a lot more confident with her new bike. I've been dying to get out and ride with her, but the number of daylight hours where we're both home and I'm not busy with my fall endeavors is really limited.

So this afternoon, with a temperature in the mid-60s, Cate and Robert off to the children's theatre, Colleen playing quietly and mom and dad home, I looked at the clock at 1:30 and said, "Elizabeth, let's go for a ride!"

I have not been on a bicycle since we got here. (No worries, still maintaining my goal weight, going on more than six months now.) And I know Elizabeth has been out biking with her PE class. They've gone around both Lake Harriet and Lake Calhoun in one trip. So she's maybe even in better shape to ride than I was.

We went all the way around Lake Harriet, then up the west side of Lake Calhoun to Lake of the Isles, back down the other side of Calhoun to the house. Grand total of 8 miles. And Elizabeth kept up with me the whole way, though I took her smaller wheels and the fact that she is riding in fifth gear most of the way into account.

I can't wait for next spring, when we have good weather again and a lot more time.

I took this photo with my camera phone, hoping she was in the frame and trying to keep the phone steady. I showed the picture to Elizabeth at home and her response was, "Oh. That's what you were doing!"