Family Biking: Kids + leaves = fun!

Our Family Biking column is sponsored by Clever Cycles.

➤ Read past entries here.

Dry leaves, that is!

Kids, bikes, and dry leaves go together like hungry tummies and bagfuls of leftover Halloween candy first thing in the morning — great fun until those digestive juices (or rain drops) kick in.

Wet leaves are bad — they’re very slippery, and when they overtake the bike lane they’re a menace that’s hard to avoid, but crunching through dry leaves is our (yes, me, too) favorite thing about this time of year.

Of course it’s always wise to avoid any obstacle — dry leaves can hide all sorts of things like potholes, glass, sticks, caterpillars, and dog poo. But we’ve been enjoying the crunchy dry-leaf soundtrack the last few days. We didn’t encounter any real obstacles, though I fished a leaf out of a derailleur when we were already stopped for photo taking. It probably would have come free on its own. In fact, while I find the sound of a leaf caught in a fender annoying my kids make a game of it and refer to the ongoing hum as “an e-assist.” Repeatedly. Until I laugh with them about it.

Do you go out of your way to crunch through dry leaves? Or do you have any leaf horror stories I can add to my anecdotes of reasons to think twice about charging into leaf piles? Thanks for reading!

Note: disrupting neighbors’ carefully collected piles of leaves isn’t cool so look for blankets of fallen leaves or make your own piles to ride through.

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