Outfitting kids for their first bike tour was a process of several months accumulating pieces, with some last minute finds.
Shoes: I always makes sure my kids have two pairs of shoes on trips, because it is inevitable one pair will get wet, muddy, or somehow ruined. I wanted their primary pair to have toe protection and something without laces. (Tangent story- I have a vivid memory of riding my bike in the summer of 1994 at the corner of Agua Tibia and East Donohoe when my right shoelace got wrapped around the pedal, causing me to have a slow tip-over in the middle of the street. I'm still extra cautious about tucking in my shoelaces, wearing velcro, or other non-lace options.)
For Eryn, I was fortunate to find a pair of Keens on REI's clearance website in her size, bonus that they're waterproof. Bryan's size was out of stock, and he thought the olive green was ugly. About a week before we left, I was picking up some long-sleeve heat gear under armour shirts for Mike, and I checked out the clearance shoe section at Dick's sporting goods. By chance, there was a pair of Merrells in Bryan's size- nice toe protection, waterproof, bungee laces. While I was in-line I searched for prices to match, coming up with hits in the $45 range. At the register they rang up for the price of $10! No arguing with that. I thought either he'd be in two pairs of socks or there would be some creative stretching with a hair dryer and newspaper, but the shoes fit just fine.
No comments:
Post a Comment