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Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009
Snaps of our Fall Bike Commute
Each time we opt to ride our bikes instead of taking the car, we are glad. There are moments of rushing around, of cold or rainy weather, or of pure exhaustion when we ask ourselves, "Should we just take the car this morning?" However, we have remained true to our commitment-- if we can ride there, we will. Really, every time I reach our destination and I hop off my bike, I find myself so glad that we arrived by pedal power.
Two weeks ago, we spent an incredible day downtown. The older boys rode their own bikes (wow!) while we loaded F's balance bike in the Xtracycle. Originally, we thought we would head to the bike path so the guys could ride there for a bit. However, we were hungry so headed downtown first to get a bite to eat. It was such a beautiful day that once we arrived downtown, we found a quiet spot on campus close to food shops where the boys could ride loops and loops around these trees and we could get lunch and picnic outside. It was so great to watch each of the guys enjoying his own bike. F's getting really adept on his balance bike. I suspect he'll be the one to learn to ride without ever using training wheels. S got really into riding that day and looped round and round, counting 112 laps when it was all over... and he still rode home.
We had a week of particularly cold weather, and I am learning about dressing myself-- and my sons-- for our fall bike commuting. Each time I read about Miss Sarah up in Canada or Dottie in Chicago, I think that I really don't have any cause to kvetch too much about riding in this Northeast weather. After complaints last year of cold ears, I did buy each of the boys new Bern helmets with fuzzy ear coverings. Warm ears make for such a happier commute.
It was great to have a really beautiful, truly autumn (not winteresque) day this past weekend. I like to call this snap of P the"Tweed Ride of One," but really, there were five of us heading off to church. He was the only one wearing tweed though.
S & C's "Spooky Suzuki" violin & guitar Halloween concert forced us to finish the boys' costumes an entire week early this year. Here they are about to climb in/on our various cargo bikes on the way to our local music school. Their bike helmets don't give you the full effect of the Pirate Monkey, Charmander (a Pokemon, who knew? not me, until this request came) & Pikachu costumes but they looked so cute anyway. Oh, and also, all three costumes have great tails....
Thank goodness Pikachu could ride on the snapdeck of the Xtracycle. I don't think his tail would fit in the bakfiets....
Two weeks ago, we spent an incredible day downtown. The older boys rode their own bikes (wow!) while we loaded F's balance bike in the Xtracycle. Originally, we thought we would head to the bike path so the guys could ride there for a bit. However, we were hungry so headed downtown first to get a bite to eat. It was such a beautiful day that once we arrived downtown, we found a quiet spot on campus close to food shops where the boys could ride loops and loops around these trees and we could get lunch and picnic outside. It was so great to watch each of the guys enjoying his own bike. F's getting really adept on his balance bike. I suspect he'll be the one to learn to ride without ever using training wheels. S got really into riding that day and looped round and round, counting 112 laps when it was all over... and he still rode home.
We had a week of particularly cold weather, and I am learning about dressing myself-- and my sons-- for our fall bike commuting. Each time I read about Miss Sarah up in Canada or Dottie in Chicago, I think that I really don't have any cause to kvetch too much about riding in this Northeast weather. After complaints last year of cold ears, I did buy each of the boys new Bern helmets with fuzzy ear coverings. Warm ears make for such a happier commute.
It was great to have a really beautiful, truly autumn (not winteresque) day this past weekend. I like to call this snap of P the"Tweed Ride of One," but really, there were five of us heading off to church. He was the only one wearing tweed though.
S & C's "Spooky Suzuki" violin & guitar Halloween concert forced us to finish the boys' costumes an entire week early this year. Here they are about to climb in/on our various cargo bikes on the way to our local music school. Their bike helmets don't give you the full effect of the Pirate Monkey, Charmander (a Pokemon, who knew? not me, until this request came) & Pikachu costumes but they looked so cute anyway. Oh, and also, all three costumes have great tails....Thank goodness Pikachu could ride on the snapdeck of the Xtracycle. I don't think his tail would fit in the bakfiets....
Sunday, October 18, 2009
When I am not riding my bike...
or parenting or working my job/earning money or doing stuff one has to do to keep one's home from falling into totally chaos and filth or reading, this is the sort of thing I do long after I should be in bed sleeping...
Inspired by They Might Be Giants' new album, Here Comes Science, I handmade three concert t-shirts for my fellas for our concert experience this afternoon down at NYU's Skirball Center. Fun, fun, fun. We all clapped our hands, stomped our feet, jumped in the air, & sang out. These guys are clever, funny, great musicians, and rockin' entertainers. P and I and all the other parents with kids our boys' ages are MOST grateful they started writing and recording kids' music.
Inspired by Meet the Elements: ""Elephants are mostly made of four elements/ And every living thing is mostly made of four elements/ Plants, bugs, birds, fish, bacteria, & man/Are mostly carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, & oxygen."
Inspired by They Might Be Giants' new album, Here Comes Science, I handmade three concert t-shirts for my fellas for our concert experience this afternoon down at NYU's Skirball Center. Fun, fun, fun. We all clapped our hands, stomped our feet, jumped in the air, & sang out. These guys are clever, funny, great musicians, and rockin' entertainers. P and I and all the other parents with kids our boys' ages are MOST grateful they started writing and recording kids' music.
Inspired by Meet the Elements: ""Elephants are mostly made of four elements/ And every living thing is mostly made of four elements/ Plants, bugs, birds, fish, bacteria, & man/Are mostly carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, & oxygen."
Friday, October 16, 2009
And now for a musical interlude...
These guys, Nada Surf, will be playing with our family's most-listened-to group, They Might Be Giants, for a benefit in Brooklyn in the coming weeks. I just watched this video and am giving a nod out to my husband for his former days as a bike messenger in NYC.
I actually have a bunch of photos that I would like to put together in some sort of video/slideshow. I gave my fellows our digital camera and let them shoot away as they rode in our Bakfiets to and from school to document our family bike commuting experience. I can't imagine our video being quite so cool this one, but stay tuned for more....
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Snippets...
I have much I want to post about but little time so here's a few small things that couldn't really be stand-alone posts....
Here's my Facebook status today:
Sara thinks bike commuting with kids can be good for one's self-esteem. While riding to school today with two boys sitting on the snapdeck of the Xtracycle, a woman rolled up beside her in a fancy gold car and said, "I just have to tell you-- You are fabulous!"
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Cycling downtown this afternoon, I stopped behind a public bus and got a glimpse of CT DOT's new ad campaign with a car and a bike pictured and a saying that reads: 3FT IS NOT JUST A CUSHION. IT'S THE LAW. Too bad I didn't have a camera handy to capture the image but I will be on the look-out to do so at another time.
Here's an image from one of their past campaigns:
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Yesterday, I woke up in the morning to C standing by the windows in my bedroom, looking out at the raging storm. "I'm really sorry, Mom," he sighed, "but it's thunder and lightening and it looks like we are going to have to take the car to school today. I'm really sorry we can't ride our bike."
Monday, September 28, 2009
"It's the People that You Meet
when you're riding down the street, it's the people that you meet each day!"
With apologies to the tunemakers of Sesame Street, I couldn't help but alter this line from "Who are the People in Your Neighborhood?" when thinking about my latest post. Anyone who spends time on a bike probably has a long list of why s/he rides. I know I do. I can talk about the fun, the easier parking, the savings on gas, lessening my carbon footprint, getting exercise, modeling a good habit to my kids, and on and on.
One advantage of bike commuting that I didn't anticipate, however, has been meeting a number of interesting individuals in the past eight months, people I don't think I would have met if I weren't riding a bike or paying close attention to the bikes they were riding. Yes, I have 'met' some of you out there virtually as we share a passion for city cycling or cargo bikes or family cycling and I do so love reading your blogs. But in my every day life, too, I have crossed paths with people whom I was probably crossing paths with while driving in my car but perhaps didn't notice or have the opportunity to speak with before I began pedaling. And so, I would like post from time-to-time about folks I have met thanks to bikes and my new-found bike love....
Kerri was riding along Ocean Avenue on her much-loved and well-used Xtracycle when I was loitering on the sidewalk near the beach while on a short vacation in Bradley Beach, NJ. I couldn't help but get excited by her bike and I called out, "Hey, Xtracycle!" when Kerri heard me and actually turned around to say hello. While I was holding a squirming F, she and I got to chat just for a short bit and I heard some of her story. Kerri told me that she was surprised to hear someone randomly call out "Xtracycle" since she's had hers for years but hasn't run into too many other Xtra owners in her corner of the Jersey Shore.
It turns out that Kerri is hard-core committed to bikes, promoting cycling, and recycling used bikes. To that end, she runs TWO amazing nonprofits called The Bike Church and Second Life Bikes that serve various-aged kids from Asbury Park. Kids learn to ride, get lessons about bike safety, practice basic bike repair, and earn their very own bikes by putting in 'work hours' through her programs. Read about her mission and kids here and here. Ever-cool Kerri also has a pedal-powered blender rigged on the back of her xtra so kids can pedal their way to healthy smoothies using their own power. Love this!
I wish I had gotten the chance to check out Kerri's programs first-hand and when I am back down the Jersey Shore I hope I can. Meeting Kerri has inspired me to find out if my city has a similiar earn-a-bike program targeted for kids from low-income backgrounds. In the meantime, I am so thankful that our paths crossed and I send a big shout-out to Kerri for allowing me to write about her and for turning her bike around to stop and talk with the crazy woman who yelled out "Hey, Xtracycle!" as she rode by.
Now I hope she doesn't mind that I am reposting some photos from her website. Photos courtesy of Kerri Martin , The Bike Church, and srsphotographer.com
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UPDATE NOVEMBER 2013
Kerri is still doing amazing work at Second Life Bikes. She has an awesome website and they have recently launched a crowd-funding campaign with a big goal-- BUY the building where they currently are. I would so love to see Kerri be able to continue to do the great work she's been doing in the site where she's been doing it. A perfect holiday gift, perhaps, for someone who doesn't need more stuff but is all into kiddos and bikes?
Check out the campaign here!
With apologies to the tunemakers of Sesame Street, I couldn't help but alter this line from "Who are the People in Your Neighborhood?" when thinking about my latest post. Anyone who spends time on a bike probably has a long list of why s/he rides. I know I do. I can talk about the fun, the easier parking, the savings on gas, lessening my carbon footprint, getting exercise, modeling a good habit to my kids, and on and on.
One advantage of bike commuting that I didn't anticipate, however, has been meeting a number of interesting individuals in the past eight months, people I don't think I would have met if I weren't riding a bike or paying close attention to the bikes they were riding. Yes, I have 'met' some of you out there virtually as we share a passion for city cycling or cargo bikes or family cycling and I do so love reading your blogs. But in my every day life, too, I have crossed paths with people whom I was probably crossing paths with while driving in my car but perhaps didn't notice or have the opportunity to speak with before I began pedaling. And so, I would like post from time-to-time about folks I have met thanks to bikes and my new-found bike love....
Kerri was riding along Ocean Avenue on her much-loved and well-used Xtracycle when I was loitering on the sidewalk near the beach while on a short vacation in Bradley Beach, NJ. I couldn't help but get excited by her bike and I called out, "Hey, Xtracycle!" when Kerri heard me and actually turned around to say hello. While I was holding a squirming F, she and I got to chat just for a short bit and I heard some of her story. Kerri told me that she was surprised to hear someone randomly call out "Xtracycle" since she's had hers for years but hasn't run into too many other Xtra owners in her corner of the Jersey Shore.
It turns out that Kerri is hard-core committed to bikes, promoting cycling, and recycling used bikes. To that end, she runs TWO amazing nonprofits called The Bike Church and Second Life Bikes that serve various-aged kids from Asbury Park. Kids learn to ride, get lessons about bike safety, practice basic bike repair, and earn their very own bikes by putting in 'work hours' through her programs. Read about her mission and kids here and here. Ever-cool Kerri also has a pedal-powered blender rigged on the back of her xtra so kids can pedal their way to healthy smoothies using their own power. Love this!
I wish I had gotten the chance to check out Kerri's programs first-hand and when I am back down the Jersey Shore I hope I can. Meeting Kerri has inspired me to find out if my city has a similiar earn-a-bike program targeted for kids from low-income backgrounds. In the meantime, I am so thankful that our paths crossed and I send a big shout-out to Kerri for allowing me to write about her and for turning her bike around to stop and talk with the crazy woman who yelled out "Hey, Xtracycle!" as she rode by.
Now I hope she doesn't mind that I am reposting some photos from her website. Photos courtesy of Kerri Martin , The Bike Church, and srsphotographer.com
______________________________________________________________________
UPDATE NOVEMBER 2013
Kerri is still doing amazing work at Second Life Bikes. She has an awesome website and they have recently launched a crowd-funding campaign with a big goal-- BUY the building where they currently are. I would so love to see Kerri be able to continue to do the great work she's been doing in the site where she's been doing it. A perfect holiday gift, perhaps, for someone who doesn't need more stuff but is all into kiddos and bikes?
Check out the campaign here!
Monday, September 21, 2009
Crank the Music, Tap the Keg, Pedal the Bicycle...
Playmobil cargo bike two posts ago. Bikes, movies, and food last post. And now this...
The ultimate combination of entertainment and bikes coming together:
A big shout-out to Elly Blue from bikeportland.org. You may remember Elly from my wonderful encounter with her some time ago. These are here snaps and here is her story of the amazing Hopworksfiets.
The ultimate combination of entertainment and bikes coming together:
A big shout-out to Elly Blue from bikeportland.org. You may remember Elly from my wonderful encounter with her some time ago. These are here snaps and here is her story of the amazing Hopworksfiets.
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