Shredding the Jordan River Parkway

Tuesday evening my throat started to feel scratchy. Having overheard a friend at work complaining about his allergies I figured that was the problem. So that night I took some allergy meds and went to bed. Problem was, when I woke up Wednesday morning I had a full on sore throat. Today my body is feeling achy. Lame. This morning I took the precaution of transferring my pre-registration for the Solitude ICUP race to Snowbird. It's very cool that Ed allows such changes and is another small example of what makes the ICUP so good. Since I'm in the middle of a rest week I'm not super stressed about not riding but colds suck regardless. And missing the race at Solitude is a bummer as I've heard nothing but good things about the course. Of course, thanks to the Tuesday night series at Solitude I'll get a chance to race on the trails next month.

The one positive aspect of not feeling 100% is that it gives me a chance to ride easy with the kids. That and it forces me to take it easy for a while. Last night I rode 6.6 miles on the Jordan River Parkway with my son. We stopped a bunch to check out the wildlife (lots of different birds, small fish, beetles, dragonflies, etc.) and explored some side trails. I'd ask him if he was ready to turn around to which he'd respond "You decide Dad." So we kept riding until he finally said he was ready to head back. Another cool thing was discovering that his bike fits nicely on my Saris Bones trunk rack. This makes transporting his bike a lot easier and quicker than fitting it into the back seat. Tonight we may head out to 5-Mile Pass to see how he does on some more advanced terrain! I think it would be cool if he decided to try racing at the Solitude Tuesday night series but want him to make the choice. He's still riding a fully rigid, single speed Trek Jet 20 (he just turned 7) so I'm curious to see how he fares at 5-Mile.

If anybody has recommendations for a geared bike with front suspension that fits younger kids let me know. I'm ok spending a little $ but what I don't want to do is buy something only to discover the shifting sucks and the suspension fork is crap.