Farewell Trusty Steed

I'd like to give a shout out to my MIL and say THANK YOU for the Schwinn combination jogging stroller / bike trailer she got for my birthday in the fall of 2002. It served us well over the past five years, and I put a LOT of miles on it. For most of our last shore duty tour in Virginia, I took the boys on a lot of bike rides and runs around the trails in Ashburn Farms. Eventually, ES outgrew it and started riding his own bike. For about the last year we were in VA, I was taking YB with me on my morning 3 mile run at least three days per week. Since we arrived in Hawaii though, I've only convinced YB to go for a ride in it 3 times. Now, like ES, he would rather ride his own bike. :-(

Here are some of the memories that were made possible by this wonderful contraption...

Family bike ride on the trails in Ashburn Farms, Virginia.

YB on the family bike ride.

During a jog on the Ashburn Farms trails,
we stopped to check out this baby box turtle.

Close-up of baby box turtle.

This is what they look like when they grow up.

YB and his girlfriend e, ready to roll.
Ashburn, VA, 2006

The after-ride refreshments.

YB in the jogging stroller with a geocoin
we picked up from a geocache during
one of our morning jogs.

The stroller was still in great shape, and it seemed a shame to have it sitting there in the garage not getting used. We decided to offer it up for sale. While it was sad to see this trusty fitness companion leave our garage for the last time, I am happy to report it went to a good home. My Eng came and picked it up this afternoon to use with his daughter. He's both a runner and a bike rider, so I think he'll get some good use out of it.

Thanks again to my MIL for this wonderful gift she gave us that served us so well. I'm sad that the boys have outgrown it.

For anyone out there considering buying a bike trailer / jogging stroller like this, I highly recommend it. Two pointers I would offer you:
1) Go to Home Depot and buy some of that foam pipe insulation and put it around the cross-bar on the back to protect your shins. This is especially important when you hit something and come to a sudden unexpected stop.
2) To help keep the stroller level while jogging, I hung an ankle weight from the bicycle towing arm that sticks out in front of the stroller (see the black ankle weight hanging from the arm in the first picture with the baby box turtle above). Just a couple of pounds will do. I found it helped to keep the stroller from tipping backwards, especially running on hills.