Bike Ride at Wash Park

We had a great start to our weekend on Saturday morning at Wash Park, so much so I was on the verge of happy tears. This was the first free Saturday morning we've had in months and it was so nice to spend it in a beautiful park as a family.

For the past 9-10 months, stretch therapy and acupuncture have occupied most of our Saturday mornings because there just wasn't time to schedule them during the week. With summer here, we decided to move them to a weekday so we could do some other things on the weekends...that led us to Wash Park which is a really popular park near downtown Denver. We met up with Adaptive Adventures and the Children's Hospital Sports Program for a bike ride. We did one with them last summer and it went pretty well all things considered. I mentioned to Jake they were offering the rides again this summer and he said he'd like to try it again. 

We could not believe how much better he did this time. He had no issues holding on to the handle with his left hand and was even able to brake a little. It took a little work to get into a peddling rhythm, but once he got it, he just took off. As an added bonus, it was great therapy for his left leg. The really cool thing was they let Luke use one of their bikes too so they were able to ride together. Todd had also brought his bike and I figured he and Luke could go ride and I would walk and help Jake like I did last time. Things

didn't quite happen that way, Jake didn't need my help. The three of them were all off riding and I couldn't keep up on foot, which was actually really cool. I got to follow behind them watching them ride together and it literally filled my heart with joy. It was a gorgeous morning, the park setting was amazing and they were just two brothers cruising along....it all made me so happy. There were of course times when Luke turned into a speed demon, but then he'd stop, wait, and ride with Jake for awhile. Todd told me later (since I was out of earshot most of the time) that Luke would give Jake encouragement to get up a little bit of an incline or go a little faster, and Jake responded. They rode about 2 1/2 miles around the park and Jake was wiped out by the time they were done. He did tell me as soon as we got back to the car that he wanted to come again. Here is a really short video clip I was able to get after one of their stops http://youtu.be/AC5RcXsGL-I. 

Can't wait until next time when we can all ride together!