This week has been a time of great change, and in the middle of the hurricane, MEATengines collaborator, and my kid, The Clairebarian, has turned double digits. 

She is going to write something about the route she picked for her birthday ride so I’ll not go into great detail but just say that she chose a proper undertaking, was grinding the climbs, surfed the greasiest roots & rocks we have seen this summer, and sh*t talked her old dad like she was born* to do it.

*{She clearly gets her penchant for sh*t-talking from her mom}

I know. I am not the first parent to wish that time would slow down. Just a little. Even as I enjoy watching Claire progress in life, school, hockey, and on her bike it is impossible not to feel a light pang for simpler days when she was my little kid. You know, rather than my “I am a pre-teen now.” But, then, <<insert your preferred cliché about time>> right? At this point, I am told, by several folks, that I should just be happy she still wants to ride bikes with me! Ha.

Anyway, HBD to our seriously sweet and silly kid and my favourite writer. Looking forward to all the great reads and rides in the year ahead.