Hauling a small child.

It's Tuesday and it was time to emerge from the week long lay-off.

We had all travelled down to Durango in South West Colorado for a week long break to help give Sam another railroad "fix". Alison and I had been on the Durango and Silverton railroad a number of years ago but we had travelled in the winter when the train runs only part of the line due to snow slides over the track. We had an incredible time and we were able to indulge ourselves in hours of steam trains, travelling and photography. Some of our family's favourite past times.
We also managed a visit to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. I set out at each overlook with a camera, two lenses and the old Manfrotto tripod. I hiked out both at altitude and relatively high temperature. I felt so good and was able to hike out with abandon. The hours pounding around the valley at home were perhaps starting to show results!
Well we made it home late Thursday night and Friday was a day off with a full and busy day. Saturday and Sunday were the usual work days and Monday was also filled with "stuff". Are you seeing a pattern here?
Well Tuesday opened with overcast promise. Around 3pm I packed Sam, the mountain bike and Sam's replacement trailer into the car and set out for new trails.
Just to the North of us to Bear Creek Park. It has a large lake behind a Corps of Engineers dam, playgrounds, a campsite, a stables and lots of trails.
We arrived and Sam was installed in his new trailer. This is SO much better then the old one yet was made by the same company and cost only $30 more. It has real 20 inch wheels and the interior fittings are better. The safety straps are easier to set too.
I helped Sam put on his new helmet, put on the seat straps and off we went.
It was mostly relatively flat trails with only a couple of off-road excursions along the way. The new trailer sits right behind the bike. Sam is pretty much at rear-wheel mud-in-the-face-level but there is a mesh cover that fits snugly over the front of the trailer. To supplement this there is also a clear plastic cover that clips and Velcro's over the mesh. It makes the trailer totally weatherproof. (And child throwing things out proof too).
We headed out towards the big dam and after a lot of huffing and puffing we reached the top of the dam. Unfortunately that didn't get us very far as the trail stops there. We doubled back and found the much lower trail that took us along the shore level of the dam. We found ourselves on the main road for one section of the ride, that's when we decided to go off road a little. The trailer was fully buttoned up and off we went. Sam was squealing with delight as we ran along the multi-use trails that were heavy with mud. The front of the trailer, the bike and parts of me were plastered.
At one point in the trail we stopped on a bridge over Bear Creek. Sam & I were watching the high water flow beneath us when I felt a sharp pain on my left ankle. Thinking horse fly or mosquito I looked down to see a half dozen wasps hovering around my leg. I spooked and jumped on the pedals. That was when the wasp on my left calf stung me. Two stings, great. Fortunately Sam was safely enclosed in his trailer.
We made it to the end of the trail without further stings! We had made such good time and had covered the ground so quickly we headed for a second tour of the lake. We got to the foot of the dam and I glanced behind me to see a small child sound asleep in the trailer with his helmet still in place.
I took pity on him and turned the bike around and headed back to the car. We had covered 9.6 miles in 1:08:10 When we got home my BGL was 126. Not stellar but before the ride I was 146. Aside from the sings, a ride that will be repeated.