Surfcycles: What if you threw a ride and nobody came?

What if you threw a ride and nobody came?

Well in our case we ride anyway, and have a great time!

Earlier this week I posted a family ride on SoCalTrailRiders.org. I was trying to get people to bring their kids out for a fun morning in the dirt, because my kids keep asking why they never see other kids riding. I take my son Jake who is 11 and my daughter Ryan who is 7 out to do some trail riding every Sunday and they love it, most of the time. This morning Jake said he was to tired and did not want to ride, so he stayed home. He has been doing this more and more lately because all of his friends just sit around and play video games and I think he feels embarrassed that he does not have an Xbox, but he has a nicer bike than any of them. However, my daughter is always asking if we can go ride, she loves it, even on her purple Target Disney Princess bike. So I figured if I could get some more parents to bring their kids out, then maybe Jake will see that there are other kids his age who like to ride and both he and Ryan could make some new friends, it is always more fun to ride with friends! Unfortunately nobody showed so Ryan and I headed out on our own.

We rode Bommer to Fenceline like usual, but on Fenceline Ryan was able to open it up a little more than normal and was riding really fast, for a 7 year old. We then took Fenceline to Missing Link. Everyone we passed on the single tracks gave Ryan words of encouragement, lots of "Good Job!" and even some "Wow, your doing great." Which are all answered with "Thanks!" yelled over her shoulder as she passes. At the top of Missing Link we stopped for a little break.

After a few minutes of rest I asked where she wanted to ride, her usual answer at this point is back to the truck, but not today. Today she wanted to keep going. We went down El Moro Ridge and ran into another rider from SoCalTrailRiders.org and stopped to say hello, I should say I stopped Ryan continued to the top of the hill and waited for me there. Once I caught up we rode to the Lower Moro Camp Ground and stopped for a snack. Ryan and El Moro Ridge have a little history from a few weeks ago. Several weeks ago Ryan had her first crash on this section of trail and since has refused to go anywhere near it. When we got to the camp ground she asked, "Are we almost to where I crashed?" I said, "Nope, we passed it about a mile ago." She had a smile from ear to ear.

Snack time!

Here are some views from the camp ground.

Our route back was just the route there in reverse. We stopped again at the top of Missing Link and took another rest. Usually Ryan will walk down the trail from Missing Link because it is a little steep, I usually get to the bottom and then turn around to see her slipping and sliding down while walking her bike. Today I turned around, saw her on her bike, saw her take a huge breath, and then roll over the edge where I lost sight of her in the brush but a few seconds later she came flying by me going faster than I think she has ever gone before.

This is my smile after she made it down