Week Ending 21.Aug.16

We celebrated the return of the industrialized school system for Charlotte. As you can see she is pretty happy to be getting back at it. Usually she has a pen, toy or a piece of children’s silverware (aka ‘shiv’). The school doesn’t laugh too much when she has a childs butterknife in her hands, how could this sweet face be a threat? Thankfully to cannibadiol (CBD) her seizures are controlled and her immune system is resistant to infections and she was able to actually start attending school. She is constantly moving and being in school is a different environment for her to experience and be mentally stimulated. Several people have intimated how having special needs children in the classrooms leads to acceptance and understanding, removing the fear and stereotyping.

One of the keys to staying happy for us is to get out for some physical activity. Sully and I work together to make sure we each get our own solo training time but it is also important to include everyone in getting out and participating together. Using a child carrier, weehoo or the buddy bike allows all of us to get out and have fun. Using the unschooling method every moment in life is opportunity for teachinmg moments and big boy suffered a flat on our ride. He took it all in stride and walked about a mile back to the car, singing along with a great attitude.

One of our passions is climbing and the staff at CityRock is very welcoming to us being there with Charlotte on our back. We stay away from lead belaying when we have Charlotte on our back to avoid system shocks though. I am slowly recovering from my ankle sprain but still primarily a belay slave for Sully. Charlotte is holding her pen (shiv) and getting ready to stab me in the neck.

I was able to get for some riding this week. I haven’t ridden stumpy for awhile and the rain the day before put Cap’n Jacks in great form. I had to give my baby some love! Most of the riding has been commuting to work a Niner RLT9, hitting some gravel roads and trails. I bought the Niner with hopes using it for gravel rides and som bikepacking but the 1x11 didn’t work for me. I changed the gearing from stock with a 38 Wolftooth front and 11-36 rear cog. Unfortunately Niner spec’d the ’15 model with a road rear hub and derailleur, limiting what you could do with the cogset in the rear. A friend also bought the same bike last year and had to rebuilt the rear wheel for a mountain hub and derailleur. I thought about doing this but I didn’t think the bike would still meet all of my needs for a commuter, bikepacking and gravel riding. Sully loves the bike and thankfully the fram size I bought fits her very good. All it took was trading the shorter stem over from her other bike and it is good to go for her!

I had been looking for awhile to see what would better suit my needs and decided on the Salsa Deadwood 29er+. Looking forward to some painfully good times on this new beauty we named Copper.. Stay tuned. Yeah, I have a sweet sense of fashion..