Julian has a new ride...

So I spent a too-large portion of my day yesterday picking up Julian's new ride from REI. A "Weehoo I-Go", which is a recumbent trailer bike that lets children pedal too. This thing is sweet. Today, we HAD to go for a test drive.

Cruisin' the parking lot. Julian thinks this is great.

He's still a little too short to pedal yet, even with the seat all the way forward on the adjuster rails, but that will change quickly, as everything concerning children seems to do. We started out having no idea where we should go, so we left the parking lot and I just followed my nose...

Checking in with the crew just after the River Crossing Bridge.

... toward the mountains, naturally. We crossed the Bitterroot River and followed Blue Mountain Road for a little while.

The winding Bitteroot River.

Looking out over the valley.

We stopped at Maclay Flat for a quick pit stop and learned, rather unfortunately, that there are no bikes allowed on the trails. So we rolled out toward Hwy 93 and got some lunch. The way back home winds through quiet neighborhoods and along urban trail, right along the Clark Fork.

Almost 40 degrees out, the river is still quite frozen.

We stopped under one of the several bridges for a photo-op.

Rene looking out at the river.

This was architecturally appealing. Stone arch and frozen river.

Here's Melissa, and Julian displaying some mud splatter he's managed to collect along the way.

All told, 18 miles on a Sunday afternoon, and a good time had by all. The Weehoo I-Go is a fantastic product, a little heavy, but handles well and is easy to pull. The seatpost hitch puts a little more side-loading on the bike than the skewer hitch on the old 2 wheel trailer... will take some getting used to, but it seems solid and predictable. We're looking forward to putting some serious mileage on it this year, on road and off.

Now, he just needs to grow into it a bit so he can pedal... he needs to help me up those hills... yes, I will probably have to bribe him.