Look! It's my dad riding a bike!

My dad also came down for a visit this weekend and of course I asked him to go for a bike ride. I've asked him before and the answer was always no, but this time he decided to go for it. He rode the hybrid and he wore a helmet, which made me happy.

We rode Saturday and Sunday, both times meeting Sam downtown for breakfast. My mom also came to breakfast on Sunday. Here's Sam and my dad on Saturday:

And here's one that my brother might like better...

I tried to explain to my brother and my dad the concept of bicycle driving as opposed to bicycle riding, because I think it's the best way to approach biking on the road. I don't think I did the greatest job, considering that I kept remembering one more thing I had to tell them and then a few minutes later would remember another thing I needed to tell them and so on and so on. In a nutshell bicycle driving, or vehicular cycling, can be understood in this statement from John Forester, who originated the system: "Cyclists fare best when they act and are treated as drivers of vehicles." Riding with them made me realize how much I've learned about safe bicycle operation over the past year or so.

This is not to say that they don't know how to operate bikes or are dangerous or something! Not at all. Just that riding with people who don't do bicycle driving makes me realize how much safer and effective it really is-- for motorists and bicyclists.

So my dad and I rode down by the meadow reclamation area both days. For someone who hasn't ridden a bike in about fifty years (according to him) he did a lot better than I did when I started riding again after a long time away from it! We rode a little over eight miles on Saturday and eleven miles on Sunday.

There was a fishing derby going on own at Lititz Run today. I had hoped we could take a break there and rest for a while, but all the sitting areas were taken-- unless you wanted to sit in the damp grass. I sure didn't want to sit there and my dad didn't either, so we just walked around and watched for a little bit and I took this picture of some cattails:

My dad said he wants to ride again when he comes for a visit. It'll be fun!