Parental visit

My parents drove to Vermont from Columbus last week. ( We did stuff. )

Backroads bike ride

After my parents left, we took the bikes out for a training ride. ( St. Albans to Swanton and back. )

A useful craft for cyclists

There was an issue during the bike trip on Sunday. I made B be in charge of navigation, thinking that his need for control would enjoy it. But I hadn't factored in the "must ride and not stop" mentality. Since we were working from the book and not paper or maps, consulting the directions meant stopping. And there were a lot of turns at the very start of the route. So there were some less-than-relaxed moments to start out. We went about .6 miles in the wrong direction, which wouldn't have been so bad, except that it was up a steep hill.

I remembered the convenient map/cue sheet holders that we'd had on our Freewheeling Adventures trips and thought I'd look into buying something for our next trips. And since the next trip is soon, I looked on-line this week for sources. And I found instructions for making map holders that was really easy. I made two of them yesterday. I already had the gallon zip bags and clear packing tape. I got the velcro ties and a six-pack of plastic canvas (from the needlepoint section) at evil WalMart. The only modification to the project that I did, was I made the mesh 10.25" x 6" to accommodate a folded sheet of paper easily. I had to move B's bike computer, but mine was in a good spot. So now we're all ready to hold maps and cue sheets in plain view while we ride. Awesome!

We leave Friday morning for the VerMontreal trip (we'll see how long that link lives). I'll have all the details of it next week. Hoping for no rain, as these will be "must do" rides regardless of weather.