Bikers in action

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A new era has dawned at the Renaud Empire — the bike era.

I collected a few used bikes from various neighbors since the tornado last year, including one for Jadzia. I oiled it up and added some training wheels, and since then she has been doing a little bit of biking on our street with me.

This evening I took her to the Ferguson-UMSL “Ted Jones Bike Trail.” We got on halfway at Woodstock Rd, and we rode all the way down to UMSL. Along the way, Jadzia got a bit feisty and would speed up and try to pass me at times (I was deliberately going very slow for her). I was really pleased with how she did.

We passed through a tunnel under I-70 and crossed a bridge over S. Florissant Rd. Then we came to the end of the trail, where it goes downhill to the UMSL entrance under the MetroLink tracks.

Jadzia wanted to go down the hill, but it was a bit too steep and fast for her. When she tried to turn around, she lost control of the bike and fell. Nothing serious, no big scrapes, no blood. I was pleased about that.

But on the way back she was scared and didn’t really want to ride. She was pedaling very slowly. So slowly I could hardly keep my bike balanced!

But we did make it back to the car; just a little later than intended.

Overall, the ride was a great success, and I think Jadzia forgot some of the fear once we were home and she could brag to her mam{a’} that she had ridden all the way to UMSL and back. It was a lovely evening!

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