First Family Night Ride of the Year

This post is about the first night ride with the family. The one thing about a group ride is that it is takes some organization and time intensive in getting everything loaded and unloaded on the vehicle.

You have to make sure you have everything that you'll need for the ride. Forgetting one crucial item can make or break a ride.

• Bikes
• Trailer
• Bike kid seat for the second bike
• Bike pump
• Bike car rack
• Bike shoes
• Helmets
• Water bottles
• Baby supplies
• Bike lights
• First aid kit (get the extra large band aids)
• Bike emergency accessories (extra tube, tools, etc.)

All of these items (except for the first six) fit quite nicely in the back of the trailer. It takes about 45 minutes to an hour getting everything ready and loaded.

Instead of doing the normal route of starting at Newtown Ohio I decided to move it up to Milford Ohio. This shorter route (20 miles) would give us enough time to play at the park and eat at the local restaurant in Loveland. We left Milford around 7 PM and arrived at Loveland, Ohio at 8 PM.

We kept a speed of 9-12 mph on the way up to Loveland, Ohio.

Shawn would look back and see where his mother and sister would be.

Maya looking back as my wife pass us by.

At the playground I attached some lights to the trike, one main light in the front and two on the child seat arm bar.

In the trailer I attached a small tent light, so that the kids wouldn't be in the dark on the ride home. It gave enough light, but not too much to blind them or prevent them from sleeping.

Jack wasn’t in the mood that night in getting his photo taken at the restaurant.

Maya actually finished off her bowl of fruit and cheese sticks.

A view from the restaurant patio (The Works), looking at the parking lot and the bike trail in the background.

Back at Milford.

June Night Ride

June 30th, the last day of the month and one of the most perfect days this year. Low humidity, sunny and temperatures in the mid 70's was the menu of the day. The only downside was that it was on a work day and I was at work. Riding after work means that my ride would be a night ride.

I decided to do a long ride. My plan was to ride past Loveland and turnaround at South Lebonan, Ohio. This route will make my total ride to about 45 miles.

I'm not satisfied with the quality of the video. I may re-encode it later. It's about 5 1/2 minutes long.

Roadies keeping a pace of 18-20 mph.

Past Foster's Road the pace quickened when a couple of roadies pasted me and I trailed behind them.

The two roadies turned arounded past the Peterson's Ammunition Factory. I trailed another roadie up until I reached my own turnaround point at South Lebanon, Ohio.



What's in my cycle bag? Bottled water, two bananas (fuel for the ride back), sunglass case, fanny pack to hold my keys and wallet, and the normal emergency tools and extra light equipment.

Light coming from my secondary bike light.

Just as it turned dark and 7 miles from the car, my main bike light ran out of juice. Luckily, I carry a backup or secondary light. It's not a true bike light, but it puts out 600 lumens and lights up the trail well enough like my primary. My secondary light is reviewed in one of my older posts.

2 hours and 57 minutes I arrived back at the car. At 45 miles the ride became my second longest ride of the year and most liked.