Sunday, February 22, 2015

Wheels Off The Ground



I mentioned in a previous post, that since the kids were into scootering so much I was thinking about getting a scooter of my own just to keep up.   You thought I was kidding about that, didn't you?  Not to worry, so did I at the time.

However (and surprisingly), where I would normally just talk about something of the sort, and then be distracted by many other of lifes important things, I actually did something about it this time. I got myself a scooter too.  It's pretty cool.

After a quick bit of reseach on adult scooters, I found that Razor made an adult version, called the A5 which would be ideal for a guy of my physical dimensions.  Another quick search, this time on Craigslist, found 1, count em, 1 A5 scooter available for sale used in all the Seattle Metropolitan area.

But, it was at a steal!  $25 and a quick side trip on the way to Lukas' skateboard lesson later, and I had myself what proved to be a nearly brand new adult sized Razor that I could use to ride around with the kids.  Of course, it took me a few days before the opportunity presented itself, life's 'important things' not having gone away in the interim.

Lukas and I had only had an initial break in ride through our local business district, which was fun but pretty short, when an school mandated off day gave us the opportunity to go for a real scootering adventure together.  We decided on a newer park in another part of the city.  One with a kids playground, zip lines, and a few miles of paved paths (including a few higher hills that provided a good downhill cruise).

The park also had a brand new skate park, complete with deep bowl.

Lukas and I had a blast scootering around at top speed along the paved paths, and cruising down the weaving downhill sections.  It was the perfect place to go and enjoy some father/son wheeled bonding time.

Then, after riding around the paths for a while, we came upon the skate park.  It only had a few skate boaders in one section, with the deep bowl empty and inviting.  "Follow me Dad!" Lukas called as he immediately rode his smaller Razor over the steep edge of the upper bowl.  Yes this was a multi-tiered deep bowl.

I hesitated for a couple of moments, then thought "What the heck, I have my helmet on." and rolled my A5 over the edge.   The result?  Well, it was so steep that I instinctively leaned backwards which caused my scooter to jump out in front of me and it sent me flying onto my water bottle.  Yeah, I had a water bottle in my back pocket.  In retrospect, it probably saved my tailbone from a good buising.

But, I was okay, and I popped up and followed Lukas over the next steep decent into the lower bowl where we had enough speed built up to ride the edges a few times before rolling back up into the upper bowl.  It was a lot of fun!

We continued to ride around the skate bowl for a few minutes before getting out and breaking for lunch in the car.  It was all worth it when Lukas turned to me while eating his sandwhich and let me know "I'm really happy right now Dad".

I responded with an "I am too buddy.  I am too!"

After lunch we scootered around a bunch more, Lukas hit the playground, and we finally decided to call it a day after one final trip to the skate bowl.

The only drawback?  It's been days now, and my legs are still pretty sore.  Especially my left shin.

Being in your late 40's and riding around on two wheels with your 7 year old: Priceless.

3 comments:

Post Post Modern Dad said...

Very cool. Back... what... 15? years ago when scooters got big (again) I looked and looked for an adult size one and could never find one.

Larry said...

Other than that spill, it sounds like fun.
One more use for water!

Ashley Beolens said...

My other half was brought a scooter as a joke, and I love riding it with the kids, so much easier to keep up as well :)