I'm going to look at a Specialized Ariel Sport bike tomorrow; I've been searching for a commuter/hybrid/gravel ready bike with mounts, etc for months. This has hydraulic disc brakes and a front suspension fork, big tires. There are a few other bikes that meet my requirements, but they either do not come in an x-small size, or are out of stock in that size. Found a new 2017 one at Belmont Wheelworks... it was in their "kid's store!" So, tomorrow, when it's 92 out in the afternoon, I will go down there to test it. DH convinced me to look for something that would give me something different than my 2 road bikes, one of which has a rack, so the ability to go on dirt roads/double track was the thing that made this stand out. We actually have some dirt roads in surrounding towns.
I will report back tomorrow. We are going to ride early in the AM, to avoid the heat. Took a short, 2 mile walk around 9 AM, before the tornado/flash flood warnings started going off. We just had torrential rain, but there was a tornado west of here. Spent the rest of the day celebrating my granddaughter's 2nd birthday, with a family lunch, after which, we went to the local farm to see the chickens and goats.