Father's Day

[eprovenzano]

  Happy father's Day to all the father's. 

Due to busy schedules, I don't get to ride with my son that much anymore.  He plays high school baseball.  We finished the school season, now he is in a summer league, and when that's over, he will play fall baseball until the snow flies.  Also he recently turned 16, so for now his jeep is more important than the bikes...  As he has been a baseball nut, playing since he was 5, I've always used the bikes as a diversion to get him away from the baseball diamond and to make sure he has fun doing other things.

On Father's Day, we said no matter what, we are going for a ride...  The weather was the only problem.  It was HOT....  We only lasted a couple of hours, but I appreciated being to watch my son as he's grown.  When he got his bike, he was 14 year old boy, and weighed 150 pounds.  Now he is 16, weighs 205, and is no longer a boy. It was a great day just to hit the trails, spray each other with mud.  I know he wanted to go "hang" with his friends, but at least he took some time out to make fun of the old man. Especially when I didn't see the ditch, (weeds concealed it) and when over the bars...  The only thing that I hurt was my pride.

As we returned home from the ride, he asked if I would wash the bike's, as he had to get a shower, and meet his buddies, I knew he went just because I wanted to...  Of course I said get a shower and go.  Just remember guys, they grow up fast, and rides like I had should be cherished.

[FuriouSly]

   I hear you on that one.  My son is turning 16 this July.  He is no boy anymore either.  I remember his first MX bike, a 1998 CR80RB at 13 y/o and 150 lbs.  Now he is young man turning 16 that weighs 220 lbs at 6 feet tall.  Luckily for me he loves hanging out with mom and dad still.  We still ride a bunch, but he doesn't like riding his tricked out Banshee in the desert anymore, only the sand dunes.  Too many rocks and generally too hot, since we ride the dunes when the weather is cool.  They grow up fast and have to get into the real world faster than I thought.  Enjoy your time with your kids, don't punish them in ways that keep your family from hanging out together (taking away the dirt bike during family functions), and remember that they may look like grown ups ( 6 feet - 220 lbs at 16) on the outside, but are still just children on the inside.

HAPPY FATHER's DAY  you DAD's

[5dracing]

I had a really good Fathers day weekend. I spent the day Saturday riding around to several bike shops in our area with my daughter. We were searching for the perfect helmet for her to use on her (new to her) street bike. She turns 16 this coming Sunday and asked me for a bike for the street several months ago. I gave this long and hard thought until one day when I went to the garage and swung a leg over my bike and sat there and thought to myself " I can't be a hypocrite". So within a few weeks I found a good starter bike for her. Its an '82 Yamaha Exciter 185, 2500 original miles. It was a MSF parking lot bike. She found a really cool full face helmet that has a flashlight and cooling fans built in. On sunday my son spent the morning with me and the afternoon with a friend whose dad was in South Carolina.