Why do you ride a kid's bike?

Hey all,

Welcome to my 2010 blog adventure. The basic idea of this blog is to chronicle my attempts at trying to recapture my youth by relearning BMX, skateboarding, snowboarding and surfing, all with the general hope of impressing my 3 young children. I am also quite keen on avoiding a mid-life crisis. Or maybe this is my mid-life crisis? I guess if this experiment fails, I can just go out and buy a Harley Davidson or something.
Anyway, I will soon be turning 39 years old. Crap. That's getting up there. Everyone I know who is around my age is very serious. The people I work with are very serious. I don't fit in that well.

"When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” (bathroom stall, Perkin's Family Restaurant just off route 81)

That just does not sit well with me. Or at least, it never really happened for me. I don't feel that old. I still haven't hit that point where I don't feel like a young punk kid. Having my own kids has made me sort of feel even younger. I get to play with all kinds of toys. I get to buy any toy I feel like. My kids are reaping the benefits of this. If a toy looks cool or fun, we own it. Dirtbikes, atvs, electric guitars, XBOX 360, PS3, Nintendo DS, snowboards, skiis, you name it. I just think of what I would have wanted if I were still a kid and I go get it. Just because other folks my age have given up, embraced the coffin, and stopped being active, doesn't mean I have to.

But I do have to wear a suit and tie and go to work downtown like all the other schmoes. Can't be helped. We need money to pay for toys. And I can also be serious if I need to be. Here's a pic of me concentrating really hard while looking at a laptop. This is what I look like when I'm posting something. I'm very serious. Note the crows feet, the droopy eyelids. That's what you get for being old and serious. Don't get old kids. It isn't pretty. Gray hair is not optional. It comes standard when you hit about 35 or so.



I have three awesome kids aged 4-7 who are still young enough to think I'm cool.
Here's a pic of the whole family taken by papparazzi while we were on vacation. (I have no idea who the really old dude in the white T-shirt is but if anybody out there does know, tell him to stay out of the frame next time.)



We live in the country on 2.5 acres. My wife is very understanding and I have the green light to do pretty much whatever I want with the yard.
My goal is to build a BMX track, hit up a bunch of local skateparks and next summer (2011) build a 4-6' halfpipe.
For starters though, let's clear some things up. I haven't ridden a BMX bike in 20 years. I've mtbiked lots and while it's time on a bike, it's not bmx. I bought myself a skateboard and rode it a little bit in front of my house. I hadn't skateboarded in 20 years either.
The goal is to get my kids engaged in cool sports that will keep them fit and entertained.
I also want to see if my old bones can handle learning some new tricks.
So, I've ordered up a new BMX bike from Joe Mamma's here in Ottawa. I will be picking it up in the next few days. The BMX track is coming along slowly because it's just been me and my shovel. Seriously, small chilren are useless when it comes to hauling large amounts of dirt.
Here's a quick pic of a small table jump when I first filled in the double. The little track is just not suited to MTBikes. The jumps are not big enough yet. I'm riding on a .243 chromoly hardtail in this pic.



I'm going to do my best to capture my progression and post up lots of pics and videos of the carnage/results. And hopefully get some feedback/advice from folks nice enough to help me out.

Hopefully I don't get hurt too bad.