I wanted G to see Kila romp in the moonlight on a golf course. Its something I’ve wanted to share with her as soon as she was old enough to pull it off. That kind of joy is so healthy, for both of them. All of us. When I broke it down logistically, it really wouldn’t be too hard to pull off – lights, blinkies, snacks, fluffing that morning, a healthy dinner, a mile on a bike lane, an MUP, then the cart path. Shutting down my light on the golf course left G with only her petzl. I explained how she shouldn’t worry – the surface and the width would be completely consistent with what she was experiencing right now. When we finished, she was rolling by the moonlight.

G cracked off the 2 mile approach, followed me in the dark down a single-track with no pause, and hopped off when i told her to push up the big hill. Go straight, turn, left, right, stop…3 days of getting her ass handed to her on skis made her suddenly sooooooooooooooooooo much smarter on the bike. Where she could do something about it. Thinking and flowing and taking instruction. I had a feeling it would go that way, which was why i invited her. The day we returned from our snowboarding trip, I did a track stand throughout the light at Bell and Thompson Peak, something I’d only ever managed for 20 seconds. I went up Tom’s Thumb, cause anything less seemed flat after 5 days of snowboard dreams. On the descent i discovered how to continue steering through the last quarter of a turn. In retrospect, its hard to imagine how i’d missed it for so long, how i’d turn and lean and then hope the last part of the curve worked out. Pump track or snowboarding? Who cares! I came down East End more in control than ever before.

The snow transformed G too. Full of poise and power and confidence, it was the best ride we’ve ever shared. Sometimes I’d jack both brakes cause she rolled underfoot, but i just told her to keep paying attention and enjoying the ride. She is so fun and so funny when she’s on her game. She led, I led, Kila led. We had a beverage stop at the lake. We walked off the carpet of green into a wash, explored down it chasing birds out of tress in the darkness, then back up to our bikes, calling out lines and grades and required foot positions she learned on the climbing wall. There is a 40 foot descent back onto the MUP, that transitions from paved to packed with gravel in between. I asked her to take a moment, to think about which line was best, and then to go.

Is it selfish to be so happy i have a great riding partner, held captive for the next 13 years?