I’m going to make a sweeping generalization about the human race.  It seems that, without fail, there is an inherent desire for all boys to challenge the boundaries of safety and fling themselves on high powered motorized vehicles.  Ryan made no such exception as he clamored for his chance to ride Papa’s “bike.”  After some internal debating, I decided it would be entirely safe for Ryan to ride the bike under the condition that Papa held him as I can barely use these things without killing myself.  I held steadfast to that rule until the end of our ride when we ran into Mom and Grammy.  Ryan pleaded to ride with Daddy and I couldn’t resist fighting the bright eyed request that seemed to say, “Dad, how cool would it be for father and son to ride one of these bikes, with the breeze in our hair and nothing but the fresh skies of Western New York in our way.”  We made it two feet before I decided to go up a steep drainage ditch and proceeded to slip backward and bounce us both on the seat at least a few inches (or maybe more) but luckily my Vulcan-like grip on Ryan and the break handle gave us all we needed to correct the bike.  At that point we circled back to where we began and Ryan found himself square in the safe lap of Papa.  I can make all kinds of excuses.   The grass was tall and hiding the severity of the incline, I didn’t really have a good start at the incline or… ummm… maybe I can find another one.  The truth is, I’m reminded of an important lesson.  Know your limitations and trust your instincts.  Ahh, who am I kidding.  The only lesson I learned here is to take those steep angles at higher speeds next time 🙂