It’s not news that I struggle with my commute to work–a lot. So much so that I’ve pretty much given up on it over the past two months. But last night, I had an idea–why not put my bike on the car rack, drive the girls to school, and bike to work from there? This would cut out a good five miles and significantly decrease the odyssey-esque feel of my ride. I pitched the idea to Jesse and suggested he ride his new bike (yes, I said new bike–details coming soon!) and take the car home. For the record, I’m not some siren of car driving tempting my husband into the car–I don’t want to be labeled as the Yoko Ono of family biking. He was excited for the opportunity to switch up his routine, so it was a win for all. This won’t be our new daily routine, but will be a great way to mix things up at least once a week. (more…)
I can’t help it–I’m feeling slightly smug. For the first time ever, I had a completely carfree day while hubby actually drove the car. This is the guy that rides in the freezing rain, so this never happens (and now that I wrote this, you can be sure it will never happen again).
Hubby woke up and took the girls to church–in the car–while I packed up for brunch with some lovely ladies over at Mme Paulita’s maison. It was only about an eight mile ride and the weather was too perfect to miss (especially after our unreasonably long winter). Plus, there were promises of candied bacon. So I loaded up the basket on the Red Ryder and set out.
Homemade pear bread in a basket
The ride was mostly perfect, except for a slight detour due to bad Google Maps directions. I felt like a caged bird set free after such a long break and the sun, though slightly warmer than expected, did my soul good. The goal was to work on some crafty stuff, but unfortunately Jesse had a school commitment so I had to head out early. I decided to head home via bus, as the bus stop was right around the corner and lets out at my street. The bus ride home was equally nice, exposing me to parts of the route I’ve yet to see.
When I got home, Jesse loaded up–again, in the car–and headed out to manage a road clean-up project with his students.
So there you have it. I’m pretty sure this will become one of those legendary he said/she said memories still battled out even as the marriage approaches the golden anniversary. But, once upon a time, I rode my bike all day while my husband stayed in his little cage.
I am doing my best to write in a non-whiney voice when I report that we are all still sick. Okay, okay–so I stuck an italics in there. It’s been like three weeks of this junk–cut me some slack.
Anyways, I’ve still yet to muster the energy to get back on my bike. Errands have been put off when at all possible and those that can’t be delayed have turned into car trips. Even grocery trips have become car trips–something we haven’t done in I don’t even know how long. It’s depressing, honestly. I dream of hauling strange and heavy things on my X, but then the hacking starts up and even a walk to the mailbox seems out of my reach. The freakish weather isn’t doing much to help. But today, as I was once again staring longingly out my office window and daydreaming of bunnies, I finally snapped. To hell with this crap–I was going for a bike ride. (more…)
Saturday was a beautiful day. We woke up to exceptionally pretty weather, excited to take our weekly ride to the local farmers market. We enjoyed the perfect cup of java from the French Press and I was particularly stoked to see that the site had received a write-up from Emma over at Spanish Moss Vintage. We met Emma awhile back after she spotted our bikes at the park and came to investigate. Turns out that Emma started the Downtown Orlando Bike Club, is anti-ninja riding, and is active in the arts community; I was really excited to sit down and write about how, once again, biking had opened up our world and led us to some phenomenally cool people.
We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day to ride. It was about 11 AM on a Saturday and we were cruising the back roads enjoying some John Lennon on the new bike speaker while reflecting, as we often do, on how much we love our life. That’s when it happened. (more…)
I struggle a lot with the term “cyclist.” It feels dishonest to use it when referring to myself, but lord knows “biker” is all wrong, too. Although I’ve dedicated myself to riding my bike, I don’t feel like I am really a part of the bike community. This isn’t some sort of high school drama feeling–it’s more that I feel too new to identify myself that way. Like most people, I rode my bike as a kid. My memories generally involve being towed on wire baskets, falling off said baskets, and being deathly afraid of storm drains. My bike got stolen in eighth grade and I honestly don’t think I got back on a bike at all until after the birth of my second daughter, when I began training for my first triathlon. I had a craptastic big box store bike that I’d been moving around with me since college, but had yet to ride. I ventured out on the trail and found something I hadn’t experienced in years–quiet. I wasn’t fast, but I found that I could ride for hours. As someone that had never been particularly athletic, I was proud of my ability and set out to push harder. I bought a road bike and spent most of my training time on two wheels. Pretty soon my husband was joining me for rides, which led to him commuting by bike to work, which led to the first grocery shop by bike, and ultimately here. (more…)
Wow, I guess I wasn’t kidding about being a mama bear because I’ve seriously been in hibernation mode over the last few weeks! We had a very merry (and bikey!) Christmas and enjoyed a full two-week vacation together. Santa made Vivi her very own little fixie-styled balance bike and mama got a new bike, too! Yay – can’t wait to get some pictures up once Red Rider is back from her check-up.
I spent a great deal of time over the break thinking about this challenge. Though we are only two months in, it’s becoming fairly obvious that we’ve already answered the question we set out to ask: can a family of four in Orlando live on only 4,000 car miles. Based on our experiences thus far, I think I can pretty confidently say: absolutely. I think we are a good example of a typical family in the sense that our lives are busy and require a great deal of getting around: we both work full-time, we are active volunteers, kids at two schools, extracurricular activities, etc. In spite of all this, we’ve been surprised how often we can bike and are discovering new bike possibilities nearly every week. (more…)
I think when people hear about our challenge to live on 4,000 miles, they immediately see it as hindering our way of life–I know I thought it would at first. It’s true that I have to think a lot more about where I go, but it’s really been interesting to see how often going by bike actually expands our possibilities. I know I’ve said this before, but it’s still such a surprise! (more…)
The more I try to get around Orlando by bicycle, the less simple riding a bike becomes. I’ve enjoyed a great deal of freedom riding my bike–you have to love anything that makes you go “wheeeeeeee!” down a hill on a regular basis. However, riding has also brought about a great deal of awareness. It seems that so much, down to how and where you ride, becomes political. (more…)
I’m happy to report that I have survived the first month of this challenge–yay! Unfortunately, I still have a lot of room for improvement. We put a total of 449 miles on the car in the first month; if we keep driving at this rate, we’ll be looking at 5,388 for the year–well above even the 25% goal. (more…)
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