Yes! I can participate in this thread!

I took my two boys (9 & 12) and went out to the W&O Trail. It's a trail here in VA that used to be a railroad line, and they paved it and converted it to a great trail. We hadn't been out there before, and we thought it was a great day for a ride.

Since I was on my road bike and the boys were on mountain bikes, it wasn't a speedy ride, but they did manage to keep it at a good pace. We went 15 miles. Pretty good, considering my older one hasn't done much riding to speak of (other than neighborhood stuff). My younger son is a "doozer" (Fraggle Rock reference for those who remember). He's always on the go, and has done a few rides of 10+ miles with me.

It was a beautiful day and we saw 4 deer together eating. One was rearing up on its hind legs to eat leaves out of a tree--the boys enjoyed that!

I also found out that I "hate" my Performance gel chamois shorts. That chamois isn't comfy at all. Glad we weren't doing a longer ride. So I'm on the prowl for some other shorts. I have some performance tights with a different chamois that I like, but it's too warm now for long pants.

We were also doing a recon for a Boy Scout bike ride. I think this place will be great for that. The troop hasn't really done any biking, so we can start out easy and see if any of them are interested in more trips.

I want to go back again without the boys so I can do a longer ride! But it was fun sharing the day with the boys.