First REAL ride of the season

Made some time yesterday to go for a real honest to goodness road ride! Most of the time I'm just going for little rides with the kids (and we got caught in the rain a few weeks ago) but I called up my friend JM to do something Monday morning since it was a holiday.
We headed up 611 out of Easton, did about 13 miles up to a little hamlet called Flicksville, so we got about 26 miles in total. The route takes you along a fast moving creek and a railroad track on a curvy road. Wasn't much traffic and the hills were tame.
Sorry I didn't bring my camera so this a non-visual blog update. But you can google the route and imagine what it was like, I guess.
The Surly was performing well, especially considering all I did was put air in the tires and haven't done any mechanical work on it. I made two adjustments while on the ride; I moved the saddle back about 1/4", and tilted the brake levers down a few degrees.
Adjustments I made last season to the cleat on my right foot were sucessful, because I didn't feel any pain in my right knee.
My hands, however, were an issue. I took my gloves off a few miles into the ride because my thumbs were tingling. I was also getting some tingling in my palm below my pinkie. I think some new handlebars will be in my future.

F I N A L L Y

The day finally arrived. Child #2 faced her fears (namely, wobbling) and rode her bicycle for the first time today! REALLY riding, no training wheels!
I told her we were done with messing around with training wheels, done with the trailer bike, and she would learn this year!
We did have to resort to a threat, sort of. She really wanted a new soccer ball too, but she wasn't going to get one until she could ride her bike. She's a determined little thing when she sets her mind to it, so we made a visit to Target right after her riding session and got her a soccer ball (with pink stripes on it, of course).

I think it's going to be a fun summer.