Biking to school

Adelaide and I biked home last night and left the car at school. This morning we made it here in about an hour. It's a tough uphill ride on the way to school and I'm very proud that my seven year-old is biking five miles on her own. Way to go, Adelaide!

Everything's Better by Bike

Today I biked to a yoga class about 6 miles from home. I had to slog up a set of very steep hills, wait at lots of red lights, weave in and out of traffic and avoid parked cars. It was delightful, and put me in a terrific mood. I chatted with 3 different other cyclists, ran into an old friend on the street, and generally felt in touch with my surroundings.

Because it's summer and fairly warm, I also overheard several people in their cars. They were waiting at the same red lights as me, dealing with traffic and bridges and other cars, and they were not at all happy. Two people kept their grousing to half-yelling to themselves, and one guy took it further and screamed out his pickup's window at another cyclist about riding on the sidewalk to stay out of his way. Veins were popping out of his thick red neck.

Seems like my way worked a bit better.

A Bicycle Built for Two

I have long been a bicycle enthusiast, particularly as a means to get around town without needing to get in the car. When Adelaide was big enough to ride behind me in a seat, we would sometimes go to a friend's house or the park by bike. Then she graduated to the trail-a-bike, but it never really felt stable or particularly safe because she was so far behind me and our two bikes didn't function as a unit. So when I was looking for a different system, I thought about something that we could grow into and use for a longer time. Adelaide got some money from her great-grandmothers for her birthday and I decided to put it towards something we could enjoy together and use to have fun and get exercise. I was very excited to find an inexpensive tandem with a very low back bar. It arrived like this:
The first night I got it to this point before I needed to purchase a couple of tools:
By Saturday morning we we ready for our maiden voyage! We started out just going around the neighborhood but it was so much fun we decided to head out on some errands on the bike.


Today was sunny and warm so I decided to take a chance and bike up to school to pick Adelaide up. The tandem handled fine solo, too, and Adelaide was excited to get to bike home. She made it the whole 5 miles with no complaints, one short break for chocolate and water, and even helped us pedal up the one steep hill on the route. I think we have found ourselves a new Friday tradition. I couldn't be happier with our new wheels!