Friday Night Cuties

I endured a fairly stiff headwind last night.  The wind was briskly blowing  north but of course I was heading SOUTH.  It wasn't too cold so all I had to do was chug along in lower gears to get to the Hahn Arroyo intersection where I turn east to get back to the car.  This is where you appreciate houses and trees that block the wind.  Pedaling along out in the wide open spaces is great, with no wind or a tailwind, but when the wind is howling I always rejoice when I get closer to wooded areas or housing areas that block  it.
Of course in the housing areas is always where you meet more "other people".  Teenagers with their baggy pants slouching along, the shy lone walker who never looks up or responds when I say "HI" as I pass, etc.  Last night I saw saw a cyclist wobbling along toward me, on the wrong side of the trail, so I pulled over to stop and wait for him to pass, to FORCE him to move over to the right side of the path with reduced danger of colliding with him.  Well, he turned out to be the "Dad" leader of a small pack including his wife and 2 kids, all on bikes.  The kids were a 5-year old or so boy, very wobbly on his bike, obviously new to the biking world.  Behind him, there was the Mom and a VERY tiny little girl on a very tiny bike with training wheels, with the girl blocking my passage - stopped in the path - and her Mom encouraging her to "Get out of the Way, so this guy can Pass Us!!"  For a nickel I would have kidnapped this little cutie, training wheels and all, but the Dad/Mom combo might have put up too much of a fight.  So I settled for stopping, way over to my right, allowing maximum room for our wobbly little girl to pass, with me complimenting the her on how good a rider she was, what a nice bike she was riding, etc.  It was obvious she had been trained well since she never looked at me or responded to my comments, eyes straight ahead, almost radiating "...I'm not Supposed to Talk to Strangers..."
I wish I had taken pictures of this little tribe of Native Americans, but I didn't even think of dragging out my cell phone fuzzy-picture-generator until I was well past them.  I'm going to train myself to be quicker on the draw with the camera mode.  Sometimes, as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.

Evening stats from the GPS:    Total Distance Miles:  7.85
Overall average speed     Moving Avg      Max Speed
8.6  Mph                            09.5 mph            18.9 mph
Total Trip time                Moving Time     Stopped Time
  51:59 mins                       47:10 mins          04.49 mins