Another reason why we love where we live!

Earlier this week, I wrote that we really love where we live.

I wanted to touch on this subject further.

We've got some trails around the lakes behind our street that are great for hiking, running and mountain biking. Those who know me well know that cycling was a huge part of my life growing up. It kept me in great shape and was an escape from the day-to-day pressures and routines of life and damn near killed me in college. Once I moved to Boston, I stopped doing it.

When Sophia said goodbye to her training wheels this June, Sandy and I decided to get mountain bikes of our own so that we could take advantage of this and, as a family, this is something that we could all do together. Plus, it would get me back on the bike which is a part of my life that was missing. We realized really quickly that Sophia's Barbie bike just wouldn't cut it on the trails and she got a mountain bike of her own. (Seth and Kurt at Serious Cycles in Plymouth really set-us up well on bikes and gave us some great deals. If you live around here and need a bike, make sure you go see them!)

Since then, Sophia and I have done our best to hit the trails every chance we get. The picture below is an aerial view of where we live so that you can see how close this is to us and the route we take.


Sophia has done a great job of mastering the bike and the trails. Lately, we've had a lot of rain and this has produced some huge puddles for us to ride through. It's a blast!

We are so fortunate to have such a great resource as Morton Park so close to us. It lets us block out the outside world and spend that precious time together that we will have less of when Sophia gets older.

It's so amazing to see Sophia grow-up and to be able to hit the trails together and talk. We have great conversations about everything you can imagine. Some serious, some not so serious. Sometimes we don't talk much and focus on riding fast and hard. Sometimes we sing. Usually, at the end of the ride we talk about what was good and bad about it. The bottom line is that I get to share my love of cycling with my child and pass this on to her while at the same time I get to see her think ahead about how she is going to handle the obstacles ahead of her and execute her plan to make it from start to finish. Sometimes things don't go according to plan and she falls or has to get off the bike. Sometimes everything goes right and her feet always stay on the pedals. Two things are for sure - no two rides are the same and she always finishes. She's too young to realize it but she's gaining skills and confidences on that bike that will help her get through life. I am fortunate that she wants to do this with her old man. As Sophia gets older, I hope that she will continue to want to ride with her father. I have the feeling she will and, as she grows and faces new things, I hope that we will be able to hop on our bikes, hit the trails and talk. Maybe sometimes we'll just ride and sing.

We are truly blessed.

I have included a few pictures below from tonight's ride. If you come to visit, bring your bike and we'll hit the trails together!