First Ride in 50+ years: 2023 Update

[LukeTheJoker]

I notice your bikes match perfectly with the tables at DQ, coincidence or pre-planning?

Luke.

 

[MplsCoaster]

Thanks Jerry! Glad you guys are getting better weather too.

Thanks Dale and Great story! Glad to hear your sons were making your Dad's day

Hey Kingfish, your probably not missing too much with the fewer posts lately but glad to have you stooping by. You are right, Krystal is a lot like White Castle except no grits on the menu (ha, ha). I went to Krystal with my Uncle in Tennessee after the bar once (in the eighties). Same vibe, I think...

Hey Luke, I can't take credit for the color matching LOL. I can't even get colors to match on purpose

Thanks DJ Bill, Randy, Twister, Skipton, and Nagant!!

Riding Presence
Sorry about the delayed update. I'm shooting for the first of the month now so I'll see if I can get a little better at it.

So we are well into summer and it's great. We've been getting rides in when the weather is good. I've noticed (and my Wife too) that FIL is in his own little world more and more. Most rides are pretty quiet other than verbal riding instructions (when I'm not sure if he saw my hand signals). I noticed the same behavior in my Dad and Grandma after a while. He still rides great and has excellent balance. If I try to talk with him, he usually say, "Uhhuh". I'm pretty sure he didn't hear. When we aren't riding, I have to talk loudly very close to his ear. His attention to other people around him has dropped somewhat too, which my wife says that he has problems with focusing outward.

But it's okay because just like my Dad (in his later days), sometimes it's about "presence" and just being there or doing things together and not so much communication. So we'll see how long we can ride, for right now it's still good.

Thought I'd switch it up a bit with the photos. First the On-the-way shots:
Summer weather means shorts and a t-shirt, Yeah!

I can only imaging him thinking, That DQ is only a street light away, please hurry and change...

Now the DQ "Happiness" Shots:

I have no idea what he is doing with his tongue

Riding home...
It was a beautiful day, just perfect

We got a little rained on this day but it was worth it

This day we had a bit of an issue. I was trying to make it easier so FIL wouldn't have ot ride up the kinda steep hill. So we turned of the path early but the cars don't have to stop (but usually do). Well they stopped and I went across but FIL didn't follow. Not sure why not. I finally convinced him to cross the street (while the cars were patiently waiting, thank you). So I think I'll go back to the old route so there is less doubts about crossing. Live and learn...

My Sister-In-Law is in town and I think FIL will have plenty of opportunities to get to DQ. Once I get her bike done, we can all ride down to DQ together so I'm looking forward to that.

We canceled a ride today since it was 93F with heat index of 104F . It's suppose to be fun and healthy and I don't think it would be either today.

Thanks for Looking
Steve

 

[Junkhunter]

Wonderful.

 

[Dale Alan]

Thanks for the update,I always enjoy your posts. Good to see He is enjoying the summer,and DQ .I can relate to what you describe about your FIL,I often wondered if it was a hearing issue with my folks also. All you can do is enjoy them while they are here,and that is exactly what you are doing.Good on you guys for taking the time. My wife and I borrowed your idea.We now do a weekly ride with a trip to the ice cream shop afterwards. We load the bikes up and go to different towns/shops. My new favorite is a Mom and Pop shop with homemade waffle cones,I never realized what they were supposed to taste like. A far cry from store bought that is for sure.

Keep the updates coming,and thanks for sharing.

 

[kingfish254]

Looking forward to the FIL and SIL ride!

 

[MplsCoaster]

Summer Rides, Hits and Misses

Thanks for the likes Randy, Luke and Nagant!
Thanks JunkHunter, Good to have you on board!
You are right Dale, have to enjoy them while you can despite the issues. So glad to hear you are "copying me". I copied other people too. Most of the scheduled group rides around here end up at an ice cream shop . Mmmmm homemade waffle cones....
Hey Kingfish, it actually didn't happen . There was so much going on but SIL did get to have a lot of quality time with her Dad so that's the most important thing. We did get out with J though...

So summer is going fast in MN. It was a bit sad that my Sister In Law (SIL) wasn't able to ride with FIL but J (JerimiahIsRad) came in town later in the week and he got out with FIL and me. J rode the 24" Spaceliner and I had to put the seat up much higher cause he's grown so much (he's a teenager now). I think J enjoyed riding with his great grandpa. I think FIL liked it a lot too.

DQ tasted GOOD and J talked about how he is riding with kids in his neighborhood (in Oregon) and how the new bikes are junky and he likes his old bike and especially the coaster .

The guy in the background came over and talked with us about the new/old style light on FIL's bike. He has just started riding again in the last few years and was looking to customize his new cruiser bike. Told him about RRB and he sounded excited and we both thought we would see each other again on the streets

Had to stop by the park to get a nice shot of the "boys"

FIL had a kinda no-speed wipe-out right after the pic. Not sure what exactly happened but I took the lead and J followed and I think FIL tried a fancy mount (like J) to get on his bike and he got just kinda tangled up. I got him up and untangled and he was okay and wanted to keep going. I held on to the bike for a bit (slight uphill) until he was super stable. I'm going to have to watch him a little closer now.

I think FIL was trying to do what J did the whole time. When we got home, I opened the gate and J rode through then FIL. FIL tried to open the gate further while riding and almost did a low speed wipe out but I caught him. I decided to have him walk his bike in from now on...

Anyways, it was fun to see a 70 year difference in family riding together! It was a Hit!!

So we headed into August and it was hot and really windy so we took the car. It seems like he likes riding in the car better than he used to (though he likes bikes better). I think he likes getting out of the house either way.

Got this funny shot of some Dad taking a picture (out of frame) and telling his kids to say "I Love Ice Cream!". He kept trying to get all three together but one would start eating and the other talking and then...

This is the first time I'd seen a kiddie Sidecar, pretty cool! Dad was feeding his young kid who was distracted by all the action around the DQ

FIL and me took a drive around and I tried to talk with him since it was a little quieter in the car than on bikes. I showed him something and he replied "Oh Really?!" and then I showed him something else a little later and he said "Oh Really" so I thought I was engaging in a conversation with him. But a little later I asked him if he wanted to go down to the LockAndDam#1 on the river and he said "Oh Really?!" and I knew it was just a response... Anyway, we took a few nice shots closer to the water on the Mississippi. It was a beautiful day and I think FIL enjoyed getting out.

It was "Miss" for a ride but a "Hit" for a beautiful day.

Next week had good conditions and no one around to distract FIL. We had a ride without any incidents so that was a "Hit".
I just take a bunch of random shots now so I hope some will turn out. In this one I have no idea what is going on. Something with his hand but he didn't mention any thing. I'm a bit concern about his focus while riding so I'll have to watch that.

Life is good with a DQ and a bike!! It's definitely feels like summer is starting to wind-up though. You can see the oak tree behind us dropped several hundred acorns (a late summer thing). I have to watch out for FIL slipping on them so we walked our bikes for a bit before we saddled up.


He looked pretty happy to be out, and going down hill

Shadows are getting longer earlier around here

Last Sunday was a miss. Hot and rainy (?!) so we took my Wife's car and drove around a bit afterwards but none of the other pics came out. Kinda a "Miss" day other than DQ

So I hope everyone else enjoyed riding this summer. FIL and I sure have. We'll have to see how late in the fall we can go before the leaves start falling and getting wet. Hopefully we have a few more good rides left this year.

Thanks a lot for looking
Steve

 

[jerrykr]

Once again, thanks for the update. What a way to enjoy life!

 

[Rebel_56]

I love reading the up dates on this. I hope you guys have weeks and weeks left of good riding weather.

 

[old_goat]

That is a wonderful story Steve.
I don't know how i missed it earlier..

 

[Duchess]

This is a great thread! My grandfather is 102 and he grew up in an orphanage where the nuns used him as farm labor, so he never had a bike. He recently mentioned regretfully that he never learned how to ride, but it's unfortunate that his balance is too bad to learn now. I wish he told me earlier. Maybe I could have gotten a couple of pictures of him on the Iver Johnson that's only about a year or two older than him.

 

[MplsCoaster]

Bike Hero Birthdays

Thank you Jerry! You Betcha!
Thanks Rebel56, we did get in more riding
Thanks Old Goat, glad you enjoyed it!
Hello Duchess! WOW 102! That's awesome, sorry to hear he didn't have the childhood joy of riding. What a great pair of centurians: your Grandpa and Iver Johnson! Don't give up hope though. We have a lot of those 4 wheel bicycles for rent at the parks around here. Maybe you could find one locally and get him on those just to get the vibe. No balance required just maybe a few extra pedalers on the 4 seat version. Thanks for writing in

Thanks for all the "Likes". There are appreciated

Well we got some bonus days of summer in September. And then there is the birthdays, but I get to that later. So we did a fair amount of riding in Sep. Labor day we got a ride in and it was really nice!! As I had mentioned before, he hasn't been talking much while we ride but I can still tell he enjoys it.

Got to DQ but the Open sign wasn't on so I think they weren't open. Everybody needs a holiday once in a while. Did Plan B and got some ice cream sandwiches (made with choco chip cookies) and went down to the park by the river. FIL was not too impressed with the treats but I thought they were pretty good. Lots of people out riding and many stopped at the hand-pump water fountain (behind us).

We took our normal river road route home and enjoyed the warmth and sunshine

After a cold and rainy weekend, we got summer back, Yeah!! Riding in a T shirt in Sept is pretty awesome in Mpls Even the plants went wild this year as you can see in the crazy tall flowers on the boulevard. A few years back the city started saying that people shouldn't have to use water and mow the boulevard grass and that people can choose to grow more weather tolerant plants. Here is what happens when they get mega rain and sun LOL

FIL started talking more this day and so it was kinda interesting. Without any prompting he said "The sunshine feels really good" . It totally made my day!! Got an artsy shadow shot shortly afterwards.

Got to DQ and ordered up the usual. There is a guy on the right that liked our bikes, he thought they were repops at first, but I convinced him otherwise. After talking a bit, he said he was a hot rodder and described his cool machines. I told him I liked them too but now I'm going with the less expensive rat rod bicycles (LOL)

Always kind wondered how FIL was doing at the bottom of the hill when he was going about 15mph. It looks like fine, but I need to keep checking.

No incidents in the last few trips and I try to monitor his mounts and dismounts a little better just in case.

So here is the Bike Hero Birthday spin. FIL turned 84 last week and still is riding. Happy Birthday FIL!! I hope I'm so lucky!!!

I also have to give a big shout out to my Friend's Dad "Buzz" who turned 90 last week. Happy Birthday Buddy!! He still rides but I'm not sure how much anymore. He was riding several thousand miles a year up to a few years ago . He credits his good health to riding and he is another one of my bike heroes!!!

So kinda as a FIL Bday tradition, FIL and me went to the MN Antique and Classic Fall Ride last Sunday. My Wife was out of town so it was just him and me (which is sometimes kinda a challenge). It was another gorgeous day in the low 80s!! I promised FIL DQ afterwards or I'm not sure if he would have wanted to go for sure. I think he forgets what its all about, but after he is there, I think he enjoys himself. He was checking out the beautiful paint job Tim did on his bike (super sweet!!)

FIL hung out by RRB member BogMonster and Crew with their herd of aluminum Silver Kings/Hawthorne's (5 of them!!).

Once about 40 bikes showed up and we all stopped gabbing (ha, ha), we took off on our 5 mile route. Really fun to ride on some of the old wooden bridges.

What a great day and a cool site to see a bunch of people enjoying their old bikes in this older part of Mpls. The first timber and flour mills were built along here on the Mississippi River.

We had a bit of an incident but not a wipe-out (thankfully). This part of the trip has the orginal cobblestone street and it's really bumpy. FIL hit enough of them and his feet came off the pedals and I heard a yelp behind me. The bike kept rolling straight and he got his feet back on and he wasn't going too fast to begin with but it was a bit scary. Then he just kept plugging along so I decided not to make an issue out of it. This shot was shortly after things quickly calmed down (pheww!) . I don't think it was too much of a big deal but it took him by surprise. The roughness of the cobblestones made the pic OOF.

We parked on the stone arch bridge again and it was awesome! This is the same spot I took the picture of 56T for the calendar. Lots of people out enjoying the weather and lots of them really liked our old bikes. It's like a rolling museum.

Heading back FIL lost his footing slightly on a bigger hill. He didn't get upset but I think I'll mount some larger BMX pedals that will keep his feet planted a little more. The Plymouth bridge is always fun (shot below) but on the downhill, FIL just coasted and wasn't slowing down. Then I panicked a bit and tried to yell for him to slow down but he couldn't hear me. At the bottom he braked just fine but it was a bit scary.

So we all parked our bikes for the contest and FIL started talking out how more fun his Harley and Square Four were than bikes. So I showed him the Wizzers a few people brought and he thought the were really cool (yeah, but he can't have one). The motorized blue bike on the right is the first bike he has voted for other than his own, NICE.

Nickinator's Mom, Darcy won the grand prize. She said she was going to send the prize picture to the original owner and said it would make her really happy!!

There were some other RRB members there including first timers cthomps (Sweet Leaf BO10) and his wife. He brought an awesome pair of bikes and they tied each other for 3rd place. Congrats!!! #25 had grey metal flake paint job and orange powder coated skip tooth chain (too cool!!)

I have to give a shout out and big Thanks to the organizers for another great ride!!! They have some videos of past events on their youtube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpawW-VzqN-0LH-EDNmB_TQ

So goes another month and I'm glad we got more warm weather and riding in. I did talk with my Wife about the incidents during the Fall Ride and we are not sure if FIL will be able to ride it anymore. He thinks like a kid but an accident at his age could be pretty bad. We think that the normal DQ runs with the flat (non big bumpy) streets should be okay but we need to keep monitoring him. I think the bigger pedals may help but any type of "suggestions" we make to him will quickly be forgotten. We may be thinking of having him wear a helmet again but he really hates it and it won't help his limbs from injury if he falls. We always have the next option of a 3 wheeler but that will be another adjustment and probably not riding up any bigger hills (slower but lots of pedaling). We'll play it by ear but for now he is still okay.

Well, on to October and Fall riding until the wet leaves get too crazy.

Thanks for Looking
Steve

 

[Onewheelsqueel]

 

[deorman]

Maybe a bigger rear sprocket is in order. Slower, easier, more brake leverage.

 

[Dale Alan]

Great to see he is doing well .I was just thinking of you guys the other day while I was at DQ after a ride.Probably for the last time this year,they close for the winter soon. Thanks for sharing.

 

[kingfish254]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to FIL AND FDB!!!!
Looks like y'all had a great ride. Glad that FIL adjusted well to road conditions. He is lucky to have you all looking out for him and getting him out there too.

 

[aka_locojoe]

Happy birthday to FIL.

 

[pick]

Happy birthday to FIL.

+1

 

[MplsCoaster]

Autumn into Winter (I was going to say Fall but I didn't want to alarm anybody )

Hey Everybody,
Thanks for the likes and BDay wishes
Deorman, you're right and I thought of that too so a while back I switched him to a 46/22 combo, unfortunately it wasn't a matter that he couldn't slow down that day, it was that he wouldn't...

Well, it's been two months already since the last post
Things have got really busy with school but we still try to get out. Now, I have to remember what we did and when .

FIL is still doing well and way into football at a crazy loud TV volume .

Back in mid October, it got up to 80+F (which is really rare), so we had to ride while a lot of the leaves weren't down yet. FIL was happy to get out and about.

DQ was hopping and FIL was checking out the goodies.

Enjoying the warmth and a cool treat

Sharing ice cream is "for the dogs". We had a good laugh at these two trying to get in the last licks.

The bike path was packed but we worked our way home for the last ride this year.

Swapped a few breakfast preps for dinner and Sundays afternoons started being "study at school' time s we missed a couple of weeks. But my Wife went out of town so weekend breakfast/dinner duties made a good time to get to DQ. Getting darker much earlier.

Getting down to business

Took a cruise to get FIL out of the house a bit and took some pics of the sun already setting just past dinner time. FIL didn't seem to interested in the views but he was patient with the time I took to get the right shots.

Lake Nokomis

Downtown Mpls in the distance

School was getting crazy busy by mid-November so I swapped in a Saturday DQ trip. Left school a little early but it was still pretty dark by the time we got there.

Which brings us to today. Got my homework done early so wanted to celebrate with a DQ, Yeah!! Had a little bit of light yet so we took the long way to DQ. Tried a "unselfie" angle but it was OOF, oh well...

The sunset looked cool over by the river so had to stop on the way (with permission)

We have to go to the Grill and Chill now that our favorite DQ is closed for the season, but it still made FIL happy even with less Strawberries and a funny face

FIL seemed to enjoy the Christmas lights that go up instantly after Thanksgiving

We also saw a bike ready to go for winter with studded tires on it already. I've got mine almost ready for snowy school commutes (wide knobby tires and no studs for me) especially since we are supposed to get 7-10 inches in a few days

So I'll try to keep up a little better but I can't promise too much, sorry. We'll keep trying to get out and ice creamed and will keep you posted...

Thanks for looking
Steve

 

[Dale Alan]

Good to see an update,I really enjoy following this thread . Glad your FIL is doing well and still enjoying his ice cream . Thanks for sharing.

 

[pick]

You have to be the best SIL (son in law) on the planet! Hats off to you my friend!