Biking to School
There's a dad at Ian's school who's always dropping his daughter off on his bike. She's in a trailer, and he leaves her and the trailer at school and then heads off to work. I always feel a little guilty watching him, and then jumping into my SUV and driving off. So on Sunday I decided to try taking Ian to school on our bike.
We've got a Burley trailer that fits two, so I can take Ian and Noah together. Since Vicki isn't back from Italy yet, I have to bring Noah back with me after I drop Ian off. I tried a couple of routes on Sunday, and this is the one I stuck with.
It's almost 5 miles, and it only takes about 25 minutes, versus maybe 15-20 in the car, so it's not like I'm losing much time. In fact, I end up saving quite a bit of time because I'm getting my daily exercise at the same time. 50-60 minutes on the bike means I don't feel obligated to spend that time on the treadmill at some point during the day, so in fact, I've ended up saving maybe 45 minutes or so. Also, at today's prices, each round trip to school costs about $2, so I'm saving money, too.
The first trip on Monday went pretty well, until the ride home. I shifted the route just a bit, and ended up riding by the hospital when I heard a bang. About a hundred feet later, it got really hard to pedal, and I hopped off and discovered my back tire had blown. If I'd been a real hands-on cyclist kind of guy I would have yanked the wheel off, swapped in my spare tube and then taken off again. As it was, I pushed the bike down to the Starbucks a block away, called Sarah on the cell and waited for her to pick me up. I had a White Chocolate Mocha and a sausage biscuit. Noah had some banana bread.
That afternoon I stopped in at Paul's Bicycle Way of Life and got the tire fixed, along with a quick lesson in swapping out a tube. It's way easier than I would have thought. I'll remember that for next time.
This morning I went again with just Ian, and things were much smoother. It was a little chilly, though. I might need to get some gloves, and maybe some glasses. My eyes were watering something fierce.
Let's hope I can stick with this, since it seems to be a pretty positive experience all around.
We've got a Burley trailer that fits two, so I can take Ian and Noah together. Since Vicki isn't back from Italy yet, I have to bring Noah back with me after I drop Ian off. I tried a couple of routes on Sunday, and this is the one I stuck with.
It's almost 5 miles, and it only takes about 25 minutes, versus maybe 15-20 in the car, so it's not like I'm losing much time. In fact, I end up saving quite a bit of time because I'm getting my daily exercise at the same time. 50-60 minutes on the bike means I don't feel obligated to spend that time on the treadmill at some point during the day, so in fact, I've ended up saving maybe 45 minutes or so. Also, at today's prices, each round trip to school costs about $2, so I'm saving money, too.
The first trip on Monday went pretty well, until the ride home. I shifted the route just a bit, and ended up riding by the hospital when I heard a bang. About a hundred feet later, it got really hard to pedal, and I hopped off and discovered my back tire had blown. If I'd been a real hands-on cyclist kind of guy I would have yanked the wheel off, swapped in my spare tube and then taken off again. As it was, I pushed the bike down to the Starbucks a block away, called Sarah on the cell and waited for her to pick me up. I had a White Chocolate Mocha and a sausage biscuit. Noah had some banana bread.
That afternoon I stopped in at Paul's Bicycle Way of Life and got the tire fixed, along with a quick lesson in swapping out a tube. It's way easier than I would have thought. I'll remember that for next time.This morning I went again with just Ian, and things were much smoother. It was a little chilly, though. I might need to get some gloves, and maybe some glasses. My eyes were watering something fierce.
Let's hope I can stick with this, since it seems to be a pretty positive experience all around.
posted by Gabe at
10:50 AM
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