Re: First Ride in 50+ years, don't steal the vegetables
Thanks Guys! My FIL on JUP kinda reminds me of his old MCs
It’s about a 1000 feet across the Mississippi River in Mpls,
The current eddys and varys so there is someone who drowns swimming across every few years...
Ken, I wish my Dad was around and able to ride too
My Father In Law (FIL) lived an active life and it's seems to be paying off for him at ~80 years old
So last Sunday was only 72F and spotty showers, so much different than 2 weeks ago at 92F
He seemed revved up and shot out of the garage after we pumped up the tires
Think he may have had a scheme going because in all the enthusiasm, I forgot to have him put a helmet on.
My main concern is his stability more than an collision
He seems very stable and is good with cars driving around but I told him he should put it on next week
He got talkative after a while. He may have said 1 or 2 standard lines but no repeats
He was riding quickly again so it good to see he wants to do more than just cruise
We got our DQ treats and he got a large cone for a price of a medium, bonus!
Talked a bit with a fixie kid who had a nice bike ( and a nice guy), he liked our bikes too
My FIL chimes in, “I’m 80 years old and they won’t let me drive a car any more but I can ride”
The guy said that’s great! I thought: There IS freedom after they take the car away…
So I asked if he wanted to go home a different route, closer to the river and the community garden
He said sure so we took off. He mentioned once that he didn’t know where he was but kept checking the street signs and mentioned his address. I said I knew the way home.
We stopped at the Longfellow Community Garden (est 1942) and hung out a bit
Thought maybe some of the gardens might jog his farming memories
Not so much because he was amazed people didn’t just steal all the vegetables
He said; “Let’s get a picture of me pretending to take some squash” Always the jokester :lol:
So we hung out and he gave me a play-by-play of an older couple playing Frisbee
He was so engrossed that I asked him a couple of questions (loudly) and he was unresponsive
My wife talks about needing to have him look directly at you to focus and communicate well
I’ve seen it a bit before so I’m glad we found hand signals and loud talking to communicate while riding
So we headed back and he seemed in a great mood even though the day was kinda dreary
We hung out a bit and talked about the lawn and when it was time to put the bike away,
He starts booking though the grass, he is getting better every week
One other thing happened last week,
He said his standard line about owning a HD and Ariel square 4 MC but added he was riding someone else’s bike.
I told him it used to be his daughter but now it his
BTW: he hasn’t responded to “Dad” for quite a few years
I tried to make sure this week that he knew that the bicycle was his
So when he said “I used to own a HD and Ariel”, I added “and now a JC Higgins too”.
We’ll see if it sticks…
We went about 5 miles (vs 3 miles normally) and had a great ride,
Plan on switching it up to another DQ farther away next time
Please tell me if my posts are getting too wordy,
I’ve got the “gift of gab” and sometimes it just too much :lol:
Thanks for Looking
Steve
Thanks Guys! My FIL on JUP kinda reminds me of his old MCs
It’s about a 1000 feet across the Mississippi River in Mpls,
The current eddys and varys so there is someone who drowns swimming across every few years...
Ken, I wish my Dad was around and able to ride too
My Father In Law (FIL) lived an active life and it's seems to be paying off for him at ~80 years old
So last Sunday was only 72F and spotty showers, so much different than 2 weeks ago at 92F
He seemed revved up and shot out of the garage after we pumped up the tires
Think he may have had a scheme going because in all the enthusiasm, I forgot to have him put a helmet on.
My main concern is his stability more than an collision
He seems very stable and is good with cars driving around but I told him he should put it on next week
He got talkative after a while. He may have said 1 or 2 standard lines but no repeats
He was riding quickly again so it good to see he wants to do more than just cruise
We got our DQ treats and he got a large cone for a price of a medium, bonus!
Talked a bit with a fixie kid who had a nice bike ( and a nice guy), he liked our bikes too
My FIL chimes in, “I’m 80 years old and they won’t let me drive a car any more but I can ride”
The guy said that’s great! I thought: There IS freedom after they take the car away…
So I asked if he wanted to go home a different route, closer to the river and the community garden
He said sure so we took off. He mentioned once that he didn’t know where he was but kept checking the street signs and mentioned his address. I said I knew the way home.
We stopped at the Longfellow Community Garden (est 1942) and hung out a bit
Thought maybe some of the gardens might jog his farming memories
Not so much because he was amazed people didn’t just steal all the vegetables
He said; “Let’s get a picture of me pretending to take some squash” Always the jokester :lol:
So we hung out and he gave me a play-by-play of an older couple playing Frisbee
He was so engrossed that I asked him a couple of questions (loudly) and he was unresponsive
My wife talks about needing to have him look directly at you to focus and communicate well
I’ve seen it a bit before so I’m glad we found hand signals and loud talking to communicate while riding
So we headed back and he seemed in a great mood even though the day was kinda dreary
We hung out a bit and talked about the lawn and when it was time to put the bike away,
He starts booking though the grass, he is getting better every week
One other thing happened last week,
He said his standard line about owning a HD and Ariel square 4 MC but added he was riding someone else’s bike.
I told him it used to be his daughter but now it his
BTW: he hasn’t responded to “Dad” for quite a few years
I tried to make sure this week that he knew that the bicycle was his
So when he said “I used to own a HD and Ariel”, I added “and now a JC Higgins too”.
We’ll see if it sticks…
We went about 5 miles (vs 3 miles normally) and had a great ride,
Plan on switching it up to another DQ farther away next time
Please tell me if my posts are getting too wordy,
I’ve got the “gift of gab” and sometimes it just too much :lol:
Thanks for Looking
Steve