Time wiles away

This blog thing is kind of hard.  I thought I had a lot to say when I started this gig but it sort of fizzled away.  Funny thing that.  My thoughts turned back to this blog lately because I've been on the bike more than usual.  My office was moved and instead of a casual 1 mile ride downtown I've been "gifted" about double that.  On the plus side I get to ride a nice route but on the negative side it takes me to the east edge of town to the world of office parks.  I haven't worked in a corporate setting for going on 20 years and let me tell you it's a shock.  I've been having to re-dedicate myself to the bike.  Even in sub-zero or heavy snow storms I could muddle the mile to my old office.  I didn't have to ride any major streets and traffic on the neighborhood streets was always light.  Now I have a short half mile jaunt on a major arterial before I can duck off onto a path that runs along what used to be a creek.  I'ts actually a nice ride and I have been welcoming the extra time on the bike.  The cold and snow is harder to navigate now.  We went through a week of below zero weather earlier this month and I ended up driving the whole time.  Part of it was because I was remiss to expose my kids to walking to school in those temperatures but part of it was the realization that the extra distance makes it harder to ride the fringe weather conditions.  I've some remembering to do before I get back to the every day winter riding.

Quite a few years ago I committed to myself to ride to work every day for a year....rain or shine.  Back then I had something like a 6 mile commute one way and I gritted my teeth and did it.  I even continued the habit for a while after.  I was also in my 20's and in considerably better shape than I am now.  Back then I rode my mountain bike and dealt with the bad roads just fine.  Today I ride a cross bike and I have to say I miss the wide tires when the snow starts to pack on the roads.  I've been considering trading in the old cross check for a karate monkey or some such steel 29'er.  A new bike.  A new commute.  Sounds like a match made in heaven to me.  Anyway, here's to renewed commitments and more time on the bike.

Skills

My son and I had a day off together a bit ago.  The weather was nice and I was organized enough to have everything in the bike in time to drop sissy off at school and stop by a cafe to get a snack for him and coffee for me.  We tried out Boxcar since it was close to our route and a friend mentioned that he's had some good coffee there (and yes, we're both coffee snobs of sorts so good really does mean good).  They've improved since they first opened their storefront.  They still have a bit more fluff to their preparation than is truly necessary but if you're into the vest and bow tie with waxed mustache kind of place then check them out.  Probably the only place that makes cowboy coffee a technical affair.  On my son's side of the table the snack was good but his opinion is that they don't know how to steam milk.  If you can't put a swirl of honey on top it's not foamy enough!  Espresso is decent.  Not the best but far from the worst.  We parked in front next to another Xtra built up with Albatros bars.  First time I've seen another with them.  We had a fun chat, good food and headed to the bike park to the chorus of "when can I ride my bike?".  I always trailer his bike until we are in the neighborhoods or on the path.  Call me paranoid but traffic in this town and a 4 year old don't match in my book.

My boy is more into the bike park than I am but it's a great place to work on riding skills.  He's still not willing to ride up or down anything taller than a foot or so.  Today would show some progress with that but he still just likes to cruise.  Maybe he's just a cross country rider like I used to prefer.  His favorite ride at the park points to this but then again he isn't old enough for the DJ part of the park.  When (and I'm hoping IF) he is old enough for that I think I may elect to stay home.  He freaks me out enough with the way he rides what he does.

The one thing he doesn't worry me about anymore is his ability to keep to his side of the path or road.  He sort of just got it the other day I guess.  He still wanders once in a while but he seems to know it and self corrects most of the time.  Not that I'm going to start running him through the traffic circles yet.  We did a fun ride with his sister's school and part of it was on the road.  He did better than a lot of the kids twice his age.  The result is that we can ride the paths an look around a bit now.  I don't feel like I have to constantly monitor his line and worry about the oncoming bikes.  I think this has helped him on the single track as well or maybe it's the other way around.  Doesn't matter much.  It's just fun to see him making progress.  He's a pretty amazing rider for a 4 year old anyway so I'm not complaining.

Into Every Season A Little Rain Must Fall

We're into our spring cycle of rain now.  April was the snowiest we've had in something like 100 years and May started out with a foot as well.  Safe to say we're done with commuting in the snow for this season.  That said, the rain is here for a bit.  I pushed the envelope the other day with my son on the way to school and suited up halfway there in full rain gear (for him, not me.  I foolishly left my rain pants at home).  The funny thing is I don't think he would have minded getting wet if he could have gotten his face out of the rain.  He was tucked in behind me but ended up miserable and cold when we got there.  I felt bad but at the same time it left me wondering how and when can I get the kids to just deal with the wet and not worry about it.  I kind of feel like it isn't about getting out of the wet and cold but more getting them to endure it.  My daughter won't get on the bike if there is the slightest rumble of thunder (not a bad thing really but a couple of times we could have dashed home between showers if she was willing) and my son just doesn't like to get his face wet.  It's a conundrum I'm sure not to solve any time soon if ever.  I know they will outgrow it either by time or from repetition but the weather seems to be the biggest hurdle in bike living and it's something I never thought about before we started this journey.

How I learned to love my Xtracycle

Two things.  1. I love cargo bikes.  I think they are the answer to much in urban cycling and family car lite living.  2. Xtracycles are my least favorite cargo bike after the Kona Ute/Minute.  There, I said it.  I really don't like the whole Free Radical conversion system.  So, why do I own two?  Dinero!  That is about the only reason in today's world.  I bought my first one used back when the Free Radical was pretty radical and represented the only option I'd ever seen or found for sale.  I got it built on a very small Trek 980 for $250.  The second one I bought a few months ago as the Free Radical only for $250 because we kind of need two cargo bikes now.  Kids are growing up (read, getting heavier) and we are doing more and more on the bike that requires bringing stuff.  Because I work on my own bikes and because I have a few boxes of random and old parts (not old enough to be vintage the vintage bike folks tell me.....which means they aren't worth squat) I have not had to put much if any extra money into building things up.  Bars, tires, chains and cables constitute about the only outlay I've had to contend with.  So, in all reality I've spent less than half and almost a quarter of the cost of a Mundo.  But, if I had it all to do over.........  well, I'd be on my way to the local spot that sells Yuba Mundos.  I I had it to do over AND I had an unlimited budget I'd have bought or built a box bike but that's another story.

But this isn't a post about how I did it but rather about why I love my second to least favorite cargo bike option.  I'll leave off bashing the Ute.  I have my reasons.  No point in that.  With the Xtracycle build we have on our old Bridgestone MB we are able to take the kids everywhere we want in town.  We've gone to only driving when the weather is too nasty or cold to put 2 kids on the back of the bike, out of town trips and the grocery store once a week (true, we could bike that trip too.  We do often but for some reason most of the time we drive).  When we lived 10 minutes outside of town before we had kids we filled our tank with diesel once a week.  Now we fill it once a month.  That 75% reduction is with two kids under 10.  I'm pretty happy about that and that's why I have learned to stop looking at cargo bike options and just ride the Xtracycle I have.  It works quite well for what it is.  Has proved more than durable and carries a combined weight of 100 lbs of kids and cargo adequately.  I used to urge folks who asked me to get the Mundo or at least the Big Dummy but now I always follow that up with a caveat about cost.  The less than $1,000 we have into our cargo bike solution has saved us 40 tanks of diesel in a year.  We've been using the bikes exclusively with the kids for almost 3 years now (before a year and a half ago it was the trailer for the kid over 1 but too young to sit the back of the bike hooked to the back of the Xtra or the "big train" of tag-a-long with trailer).  If I use a conservative figure of $3/gallon, which is $1 less than we pay today, and the 40 tank/year savings I come up with a bit over $4,000 savings (12 gallons per tank, 40 tanks saved per year for 3 years).  That comes out to $120 a month, which aint chump change.  Funny, that would pay for two Mundo bikes with bags and stuff.  Even if I subtract the cost of the Xtracycles and stuff I still come out way ahead.  If that isn't enough to motivate me to keep on the car lite path, nothing will (the nice parts like getting to ride my bike more and being outside are kind of gratis reasons really).

Today is a gift

You know, sometimes we need a reminder.  Maybe we need a reminder that being kind creates a wealth we can not measure.  Sometimes we need a reminder of the cruelty of the world.  Today I was reminded that we are given droplets of time that are gifts like gleaming emeralds in the rain.  School has been hard for my son the last bit.  Mama going to work has been hard for him too.  He's been hitting some big growth spurts and it seems like now he's in the middle of a big emotional/intellectual one.  His emotions are close to the surface and they consume him at a moments notice.  Sometime without any notice.  He and I have been working through the school drop off transition with lots of tears and hugs.  I know he'll come through it just like his sister did at this age.  It's still hard.  Probably harder for me since I remember going through the same thing and his fear is contagious.  Today we played a lot before leaving and I talked about what we were going to do.  "We'll get on the bike after we swing a bit", "We'll ride the bike up to the busy street and then up the hill".  Dialogue like that.  It's more background chatter but those in the know always say that kids like to know what's coming.  Makes sense to me.  Today  when I mentioned the bike he perked up.  "Can I ride my bike?".....um.....  I didn't have a good answer.  He's only been riding a pedal bike for a month or so.  The street is kind of busy.  There are four way stops.  As I ran through all this in my head I realized he could really use a confidence boost.  He's never ridden his bike to school.  He rode his scoot bike to the farmer's market once but I walked with him on the sidewalk.  This was kind of a big moment for both of us.  He was actively taking an interest in how we got somewhere.  My idea was that we could tow his bike off the back of the xtracycle until we got past the busy areas.  I wish I had a picture of it.  It was brilliant.  After we unhooked his bike and I was watching him ride the path along the community gardens I realized what a gift this was to me and to him.  I said "Hey, you're bike commuting".  To which he replied "What's commuting?". Silly papa, kids don't care about that kind of stuff.  That's OK.  I care enough for both of us.

Summer and Recovery

I realized that it has been months since I posted.  It isn't like there has been a ton going on and I have been too busy to do anything.  Quite the contrary actually!  What with three months of recovery from a collar bone that became disassociated from itself multiple times (i.e. broken to bits and dislocated on one end) and a nice family vacation on the beach there hasn't been much riding going on from my end.  I never imagined it would take so long to get back to things from a broken collar bone but injuries have that way of forcing you to reinvent yourself.  I took the bus a lot.  I wore a fanny pack instead of a backpack.   I walked my daughter to school.  My son and I took the bus to school.  Took a bit longer but we played and talked more.  It was a golden tinged silver lining.  Frustrating at times but a rather wonderful time.  I kind of got out of the habit of riding or maybe I should say I got out of the habit of thinking of riding for everything I can.  It was a strange switch.  I found myself walking or jumping on the bus before getting the bike after I was back on two wheels.  Habits are funny things.  So is a shoulder full of screws and plates.

Now that we're all back riding and summer is full upon us we, as a family, have learned some things.  First and foremost we've learned to hate the tag-a-long and the trailer.  The tag isn't much fun to ride really (from the perspective of the pilot) and the trailer is bouncy (from the passenger's view) and antisocial (from the pilot's view).  The long tail has been more of a revelation that we realized.  So much so that we really "need" a second one.  I'm convinced of this to the extent that I'm willing to sell all but my road bike to get one with the understanding that it will be my daily bike.  Yes, I really just said "sell everything".  It would be rather refreshing actually to just have a long tail and a road bike.  What with the kids having bikes now and my wife riding the xtra or her townie we have a fairly full stable.  replacing a buggy, trailer and tag with a single bike would save some space (which we don't have much of really).  The long tail bike has allowed to feel freer to just jump on and go somewhere and we can talk while we ride.  The communication part is pretty big.  It allows us to share what we see and for the kids to feel like they are a part of the ride and not just baggage.

The other thing we learned is that family vacations are invaluable.  Our two week trip to the beach showed how close our kids are to each other and how resilient we all can be if we want to.  We drove..... for three days....with two kids under 6.  We also did it without movies, video games or computers.  We played games, sang songs and listened to books on tape or read books aloud.  Some would say it was a retro road trip.  I'd take credit if I could but we don't have any of those things in our daily life anyway so it wasn't that hard.  It's more of a reminder that kids don't need all that stuff and neither do adults.  The drive was kind of like while my collar bone was busted up.  We reinvented ourselves.  We compromised.   It's kind of like being a bike-centric family.  It is all a balance with a goal in mind.  For our drive the goal was dipping our toes in the Pacific (or getting home coming the other direction).  For our daily life on the bike the goal is different but it still motivates us and inspires us.

Happy March

In our neck of the woods March came in like a lamb.  More like a summer lamb to be specific.  The crocus are  in full bloom and the trees are budding.  Yesterday was a short sleeve sunny respite from winter.  My wife rode the xtra for the first time with first one kids (morning drop off) and then both kids (afternoon pickup).  My daughter wore a short sleeve dress.  I was working at home all day while we had some tile work done and watched happily as they zoomed down the street all smiles.  My daughter picked out short tights last night to wear.  Spring feels like it is here.

Then we woke up this morning and looked outside.  Spring is most definitely here!  With a vengeance.  30 degrees, foggy and freezing drizzle.  Ah, spring in our neck of the woods has arrived.  So, happy spring.  I'm going to go dig my rain pants back out of the bottom of the backpack before I head to the office.  Oh, and where did I put that down jacket?

As a side note.  The kids remain ecstatic about riding the xtracycle.  It has been pressed into use as much as possible since it was complete.  There are a couple of gremlins to work out still though.  First, the rear derailer  seems a bit weak.  When you back pedal the chain sags and skips off the cogs.  Gotta just go buy a new one or see if the local community bike place has something.  Second, the rear bars are not as solid as I'd like.  I used an old specialized stem I inherited from a friend.  It's this ridiculous 120 or 130mm length and it is titanium.   The metal alone is probably worth more than the stem but it ended up being long enough for a stoker setup.  I tried aluminum can strips but the needed shim size was too big for that.  I ended up cutting strips from a left over length of galvanized heat ducting that was headed to the recycling bin.  Still, three layers just barely made it.  It could use another but the metal is so springy it is hard to get it wrapped and the stem over it before the whole thing comes undone.  a proper shim would be the way to go but the seatpost/stem combo doesn't yield a premanufactured one.  Third, I mucked the headset when I put it in and of course now I'm having issues with that.  Trying to do things on the cheap.  I kind of miss the old stuff that was heavy enough to be put on with a block of wood and a mallet (yea, I know you were never supposed to do that).  Time to source another 1" threadless.

On to the next project though.....