Four on a quarter blog

The Buying Bike Gear Day

admin — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 17:21:11 +0000

So my head gear was not that durable enough. I thought it was one of the best brands. Good thing my husband, who is now a bike fanatic, reads a lot about bike gears and such help me buy a new one. It was actually a bike store near our place. Here I find some great selections of bike equipment and gears that are not only popular by demand but most of all because of its quality.

He paid for my new bike head gear and even bought me a new thermos!

Will surely use the new thermos for cappuccino!

Beach tour

After that we tested my new head gear and we headed in the beach. I love the beach and now that we have our own bikes, getting there is a lot easier, cheaper and faster. We actually raise down the sand riding our bikes. It was not that easy, I admit. But it was truly fun and rewarding.

We parked our now wet bikes at the nearby burger stall. We ordered two double cheeseburgers and ate it at the sand. It was a quiet day actually but I admit I had a great day and cramping legs!

One Rainy Biking Tour Day

admin — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 17:20:38 +0000

I admit since I bought this amazing bike, I can’t hardly stay put inside our house. I truly find biking with my friend truly relaxing. What’s even great about it is that my husband has now bought his yesterday! But since he is in the office the whole five days, he asked me to have Sunday as our biking date. Of course, I said, just don’t forget to pack lunch!

It was one Sunday morning when my husband and I first had our first bike date. It was actually fun because we actually chat along the way. We talked about our works and our plans while treading the forest trail. I actually plan to show him the river trail which my friend showed me the first time.

It was actually a cool morning, sun is just peeping around the corner. We spent almost thirty minutes of biking and as soon as we got there I can almost smell the coming rain. Good thing he also bought the same brand name of bike. At least we are assured that we will be in safe hands.

So the Rain Pours

Yup, the rain actually pours down. We pedalled even harder before mud cover our wheels. It was actually hard as sweat trickled down our already wet shirts. But I tell you it was so fun because the moment he saw the river he actually jumped from his bike!

The Ride Never Stops

It was actually the start of our bike date adventure. He actually even rides his bike if he feels like having pizza for dinner. Forget deliveries, I’ll do it! That’s what he always said. He actually found biking as therapy. He will ride his bike after he got home from work. He will ride his bike if he needs something from the store and so the bike adventures go on.

Two More Bikes on the Road

admin — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 19:47:01 +0000

Yup, you read that right! We finally bought our two girls two new bikes! They’ve been dreading that since we bought ours and now that it’s here – I’m sure they will certainly love it.

We bought our eldest the pink one and our youngest the yellow one with that cute basket and bells and all. They actually squealed with delight as soon as they saw or presents. They actually know how to ride so we don’t have many problems with that. However they still needed my personal training as an over concerned mom. I also bought them those knee and elbow pads and head gears since I know there will be lots of bike ride adventures.

The First Bike Ride

We actually just watched them ride their bikes down the street. We make sure that they actually get the feel of their new toy before we show them and bring them along for more adventure. You cane actually hear them giggling and squealing with delight at the other end of the street! One of our neighbors even went outside just to watch our girls riding their new toys. She even waved to the girls giving them two thumbs up.

It was already after dark when they decided to call it a day. The next day – their legs are sore and cramped. But this doesn’t stop them from squealing and pedalling down the hill.

Two Wheels to Happiness

admin — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 19:43:41 +0000

It was last week when my friend asked me for a bike ride. It was actually the best time of my life. I remember when I was only five years old when my dad bought me my first red bike. It was truly amazing! After that afternoon ride, I decided to buy my own bike. I make sure I choose the right one – I mean brand and quality and all. I’m planning to ride it this weekend with my friend. She said she knows a trail where we can follow.

The Body

Let me tell you more about the bike I bought. I actually choose a mountain bike since I love to hike those hills. I prefer to have a mountain bike because of its speed and durability. I decided to go for that cute silver color with black wheel rings and all. I made sure that all the bearings and wheels are intact and aligned right so there will be no hassles and all while we tread that forest track.

Unforgettable afternoon

The day of our bike tour arrived. It was a cool sunny day. We actually packed extra drinks and sandwiches. I tell you the trail was actually not that easy to follow! Sweat trickled down my forehead as we tread along the path. There were stony trails and some muddy ones but I was actually having a great time with my buddy.

The End of the Path

I tell you the end of the path was truly amazing! There was a clean spring river waiting for us there. I actually jumped from my bike and splashed water on my face and arms. I know my bike is looking straight at me as if thirsty; I splashed it with cold water as well. We spend the whole afternoon, munching our cold snacks and laughing with our heart out. It was truly a great afternoon. But hey it was just the beginning…

More Bike Adventures

admin — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:20:05 +0000

So the fun of biking with my friend continues every weekend. We make sure to packed extra shirts now since we actually got home dripping wet the last time we headed to that amazing forest trail. It was a cool afternoon when we parked our bike in the river side. We actually took off our sneakers and jumped in the river. I tell you it was so refreshing!

More Bike Trails

That river adventure was actually great but my friend and I are looking for more exciting trails which we can take during those weekends. So I asked my hubby that night if he knows some trails which we can safely take. He said we can take that old forest trail. He said it was still open and many are still taking that trail. It actually leads to a small hill. So that will be our next destination.

Advice

The following weekend I was actually surprise when my husband bought me a bike lock. He actually even bought a good brand. “Better be prepared than sorry.” He said before he kissed me goodbye. The bike lock was actually great. It was not hard to use and comes very handy.

The New Bike Path

It was already mid-afternoon when we reached the end of our bike tour. But it was fun. We both enjoyed the flower beds we saw as well as the small brook. We parked our bikes in the nearby dine in. good thing I have this new bike lock. Guess my husband has psychic powers or something! Glad he bought me this bike lock. Now I can have more fun indoor without breaking my neck while checking my beloved bike every two minutes.

PS: Thanks a lot to my friends at Dualvision to provide me with new website design and also hosting my site.

General

admin — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 09:24:01 +0000

New Year, New Question

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.

Mama Bear on a Mission

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.

Our Set-up Part I: The Radish

I’m always extremely curious about other people’s bike set-ups; I like to see what works for other people, particularly stuff tested out by other biking families. When Jesse and I first considered diving into the world of kids-on-bikes, I went into an internet-searching frenzy. Unfortunately, we don’t have any bike shops that carry cargo bikes and there’s no Consumer Reports for cargo biking. Along this mode of thinking, I thought I’d post about our bikes. First up is the Radish!

Peace, Love, Hope, and High School Students

‘Tis the season to be jolly and pretty much nothing makes me happier right now than my hubby’s amazing high school students. My husband has been teaching at the same school for several years now and, since both my daughters have been enrolled in the on-campus daycare program, I’ve grown to have pretty high expectations for the students. However, what I’m seeing lately blows my mind.

Month One Update

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.

After all, tomorrow is another day!

Alright–I’m going to mix things up a bit. In a new twist on the Friday the 13th norm, I’m actually going to STOP freaking out. I’ve spent most of this week kvetching and I’m ready to move on now (I’m sure this is wonderful news to my hubby).

I went out for a nice walk with Viv today and was sort of processing a SWOT analysis in my head. Yes, my brain does strange things when under stress. Since it would clearly be a bit too much geekery to actually write out a SWOT, I’ll just list some of my thoughts:

I love you Orlando, but we need to talk…

Orlando, I heard the news and I think we need to have a talk. I love you, but this just isn’t going to cut it. You’ve got to prove to me you’re willing to make a change! I thought we had come so far together–and now there are kids involved! Who stood by your side when people said that you’re nothing but a second-rate, wannabe metropolis? This is the best you can do?

It was bad enough discovering that you are actually a set of triplets pretending to be one city or finding out that your unhealthy habits had left your arterial roads nearly permanently clogged. But this…it’s enough to seriously test my commitment to you.

Wait, what am I saying? No–this is for better or for worse. I’m not like those other girls that said they loved you, thought they could fix you, but left as soon as the going got tough. This love is for real! I’m gonna’ keep riding your streets, Orlando–because I believe in you! I know you can be better than this! It’s okay–a lot of cities at your age do the whole “fast cars” thing, but you need to settle down now and start focusing on your family. I know you’re trying. You’ve worked really hard on the trails and Baldwin Park was a big step for you! But now is the time to step it up–let the world see what I see.

How did I get here?

Once upon a time, in a fit of unchecked idealism, I hatched up a plan in which my family and I would try to live on only 25% of the national average of vehicle miles traveled (VMT). Then I decided to raise the stakes and make it an even 4,000 – less than 25%!! Because this plan would require me to start commuting to work by bike, and said bike would also have to carry my daughter to school, I decided to apply to the Xtracycle sponsorship program. Imagine my surprise (and panic) when the wonderful folks at Xtracycle said, “We think that’s a good idea” and gave me a partial sponsorship!

Family Biking Adventures

admin — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 09:21:39 +0000

The best laid plans

My lovely new Xtracycle Radish came just in time to take it out for the Pedal 4 Pride community bike ride that Jesse and I were set to volunteer for on Saturday. Friday night before the ride, Jesse and I stayed up super late (well, what passes for late in these parenting days) working on our bikes to ensure they were ready for the ride. The ride required that we ride down to the Parramore District and then lead a bike bus over to the VegFest and then drive the bike bus back to Parramore and head home. This was no small feat for our family of four, so we wanted to be prepared! Finally, after adjusting seats, filling tires, attaching lights, we were good to go. I was rotating my pedals when we heard a slight “swoosh” sound.

Challenge

admin — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 09:19:42 +0000

How did I get here?

The Right Way

admin — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 08:00:54 +0000

The Right Way

I’m so angry, I’m shaking. This isn’t what I want to write about it. I want to write all kinds of good things about Monday night’s panel (which I will), but I’m just so over it. As seems to be the case so very often, some mundane task has to end in conflict simply because I’m on a bike. This is getting old. One of the things I said at the panel on Monday night was that you have to be thick-skinned to ride around here. I’m realizing now I’m not as thick-skinned as I thought.

I just got back from a short ride to the grocery store, which is about a mile away. My route is nothing but very quiet back streets and leads me directly to the grocery store parking lot. I was on my way back, riding with a smile, when I hear an obnoxiously loud honk and then some [exercising every ounce of restraint here] person revs her engine and passes me super fast to get to the light that is maybe 10 feet away.

I’m embarrassed to admit that I gave her a single finger wave–I’m usually very good about that, but it really pissed me off. Then I rode up next to her and waved at her to roll down her window. She ignored me for a bit but finally rolled it down. We had an exchange that went something like this:

M: “You know this is a residential street, right?

B: “Well you’re riding right in the middle of the lane! Why don’t you get out of the road?”

M “Because it’s the law. You should learn the law. And this is a 25 mile per hour residential street!”

B: “Well if you don’t want to get hit, I wouldn’t ride like that.”

M: “Is that a threat?”

B: “I wouldn’t tell my children to ride here. You should get out of the road.”

M: “Then that’s a problem that you should work on changing. This is a residential road. And you should learn the law.”

At that point, she shook her head and rolled up the window. I gave her the peace sign and just yelled, “Peace to you, lady.” Nothing conveys peace more than angrily shaking the peace sign at someone, I’m sure.

Then I cried the whole way home. It’s so lame. To be fair, my entire family (including me) has had the stomach flu since Monday night, so I’m not exactly mentally stable at this point. But I’m just so frustrated. I wish I knew The Right Way to handle conflicts like this. Or even better, I wish they would stop happening so much. Conflict like this just wears me out. I defuse enough fights with two kids that I simply don’t want this risk hanging over my head every time I make a run to the grocery store. To be honest, this plays a significant part in why I dread my ride to work–I feel like I am always on edge, waiting for that honk. I JUST WANT TO RIDE MY BIKE, PEOPLE!

Is there a right way? Should I write a script so I can calmly convey all the points I want to get across next time? Is it possible to handle these situations in a way that leaves you at least feeling like you made some headway?

Happiness by bike

admin — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 09:03:44 +0000

I’m in the Gator Club!

Considering how much I love being in the bunny club, I’m not sure if this qualifies as good or bad news. Either way, I’m now officially in the Gator Club. I was cruising along the Little Econ, looking for bunnies, when I saw a gator just cruising around in the water. I tried to get a picture, but I was too scared to get close to the bank. I also heard a lot of gator activity at different points on the trail–I wonder what it will be like in mating season!

My commutes were wonderful this week. The ride itself has become much easier and, at the same time, I feel like I am getting faster. I tried a different strategy this week and drove twice and rode twice. Jumping in full-force the first week was a bit overwhelming and I need this to be sustainable. Next week, I plan to ride three times, drive once, and work from home one day. I’m feeling far less pressure, which is really allowing me to fully enjoy the ride. I’m tacking on a few unnecessary miles but, in true Scarlett O’Hara fashion, I’m just going to have to think about that tomorrow.

This should be interesting

So you know how I like to jump in headfirst? Well, back before my Radish even got here I booked us a campsite to go camping–by bike. Yep.

We did a test pack tonight and I’m quite pleased to see that it looks like I will be able to carry all of our camping gear on my bike without the trailer! I’m really happy that I don’t have to worry about pulling the trailer and adding to the length of my bike. Jesse will carry the kids, the dog (yep), clothes, and the food. I’ll carry the 8-person tent, two adult camping chairs, the stove, air mattress, sleeping bags, and the kitchen gear.

My Radish is like the Volvo of Bikes

It’s official–I learned how to ride a bike this week! Yesterday, I finished up Part II of the “Confident Cycling” class. This was a pilot class for the Florida Bicycle Association; Part I was a three-hour lecture-style class and Part II was a six-hour road class. I was feeling a bit overwhelmed with the thought of adding on one more thing to my already crazy week (especially 30+ miles for the class on Saturday!), but I am really glad I went.

Wonderful weekend followed by a slight case of the Mondays

Another lovely weekend by bike. Saturday a friend called and invited us out to Lake Eola (downtown) for the Fall Fiesta in the Park. My first thought hovered somewhere around the idea of “don’t you know we have to bike everywhere now?!?” However, one of the most important rules we made about this challenge was that we would never turn something down because of biking. If we didn’t want to go, fine – but not going because it was too many miles out of our total or too hard to bike to was not an option. Otherwise, what’s the point? Anyone can live on 4,000 miles if they stay inside all day!

I can’t believe I almost missed it.

It was so chilly in the house this morning and the fan was doing it’s lovely white-noise thing and I just didn’t want to get up. I kept thinking about how long 17 miles sounded and how tired I was. Instead of an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other, I think it was more like a cat and a puppy:

Keeping the faith

Sometimes it’s hard to keep the faith. I avoid sensational news for this very reason – seeing all that ugly gets depressing, especially when you’re trying to shepherd kids through the world. Unfortunately, sometimes riding your bike brings you face-to-face with the anger and tension other people are carrying around. This morning, I was using a relatively busy street to cross a major highway. I was first at the light and as soon as it turned green, I heard “HOOOONK!” The driver behind me laid on the horn the entire time we were crossing. I’m finding it all very humorous at this point, because really—it’s been all of 10 seconds. Normally, when I’m behind other cars, I experience the same delay trying to cross and I’ve never thought of ringing my bell like a maniac. As soon as we get to the other side, she pulls into a left turn lane next to me (I was controlling the lane, as I always do) and screams at me through the passenger window, “I AM IN A CAR!! GET OUT OF THE ROAD!!!!” I couldn’t think of anything to say, so I just smiled really big, waved, and gave her the peace sign. I’m sure this infuriated her even more, but I was truly at a loss. As soon as she sped off, I wished I had said, “This is a vehicle, learn the law” or “Nice role-modeling” considering she had to lean over her kid to scream at me (a child that looked way too young to legally be in the front seat, I just can’t help but add). And I don’t know why, but it made me terribly depressed. The thought of someone being so incredibly angry over a 15 second “delay,” the thought of someone acting like that in front of their kid, the thought of someone screaming at a stranger – it left me overwhelmed.