The Path Less Pedaled Visit to New Haven... On their blog

So I last posted on The Path Less Pedaled Laura and Russ's visit to New Haven. Here is their posting on their time in New Haven with some amazing photos, including a shot of the Full Hands family in its entirety (a very rare sighting given that I normally like to be the one taking the pictures).

Image copyright: Russ Roca of PathLessPedaled.com

You can find more photos by Russ at his photography website.

The Path Less Pedaled Visit

I'm not sure how I discovered Laura and Russ's blog, The Path Less Pedaled, but I found it early on when they were selling off most of the stuff they owned and started packing for their across-the-country bike tour. While I have yet to bike tour, I was immediately drawn to their unfolding story. Travel and bikes are two things of which I am incredibly fond and Laura and Russ are both creative people, a jewelry maker and photographer respectively. Their blog is more than an awesome adventure story, it is also filled with stunning photographs of people, places, and food. Reading their posts, brought me back to my travel adventure days and make me yearn for the time when I am back out there.

Therefore, it was exciting to see that, now 14 months into their journey, Russ and Laura were going to ride through New Haven. P and I happily offered them a bed in our home, thinking of all the times kind strangers helped us out along the way during our years living and traveling abroad. The boys were really excited to have them as guests and each night before they went to sleep asked, "Will Russ and Laura be here when we wake up in the morning?" S and C quizzed them on all the States they had ridden in and loved checking out all the electronic gear that the duo had with them.

Here Russ is going over a blank map of the United States so C can draw the route
Russ and Laura pedaled this past year.

I like knowing the guys saw one more example --up close-- of people making different life choices than the mainstream. Who knows? One day they may decide that they, too, want to take off on a year-long bicycle adventure and they can tell the tale of when "The Path Less Pedaled" (as C referred to them, often instead of their names) came and stayed at their home.

Russ, a Southern Cali native, braved some chilly temps to join me at Elm City Cycling's
monthly Bike to Work Breakfast

The boys are excited to meet Mona, Laura's 'pet' skunk who has traveled this journey as well.

Laura checks out the map before departing on their next leg. They'll make it up to Boston, then take a train back to Oregon, where they'll work, save money, and strategize where they'll bike to next.

You can imagine how much this pedal powered phone charger really intrigued the fellas.

The boys walk Russ and Laura out as they head off after three days in New Haven.
Yes, we have a lot of firewood that needs stacking!

Off they go!

Check out Russ and Laura's Facebook page. You can see some photos of their time in New Haven, including a great portrait of the FullHands family.

Our Turn-- Beer Bike!

We found the perfect keg holder for our backyard bash a couple of weeks ago...

Awesome or Ridiculous?

On Thursday, both C & S had school fields trips to go bird watching down near the Long Island Sound. For school trips that the kids can't travel by city bus, parents volunteer to drive so we needed to bring the boys' car booster seats with us that morning.

Packing the bike for the commute to school, I couldn't decide if we were just so awesome for pulling this off (two booster seats, two backpacks, my lunch bag, my laptop) or just plain ridiculous....

Picture two sets of legs hanging over these sides....

"No Ridiculous Car Trips"

Please take the time to watch this video of one city's brilliant campaign to get folks out on bikes. It not only is exciting for its message about choosing a bike to get around, but for its pure marketing genius.

No ridiculous car trips from Martin Lang on Vimeo.

2010 Xtracycle Freeloaders & Our Yuba

Hey-- go on over to Xtracycle's blog, www.everydayadventures.com, and check out our posting about Xtra's 2010 Freeloader bags on our Yuba.

Yup, they work well together. Really well.

Bike Geekery

This summer I bought another fabulous bike-themed t-shirt on Etsy by Loftymornings. I have a few other shirts from this wonderful seller, Kate, and they are soft and fun and people always comment on them. I fell in love with this graphic immediately.

Every time I wear this tee, my boys comment that the drawing actually looks like me a bit-- it's not quite my hair and I do always ride with a helmet, but I wear glasses and yes, I have been known to let long periods go by without shaving my legs (great detail on the shirt that I don't know if you can see in this photo).


At some point in school today, I looked down and saw this.


Yes, I was wearing my right pant leg still clipped.

I was spoiled in the past. Given that our bakfiets had a fully enclosed chainguard (and skirt guard), I never needed to worry about what I was wearing while riding. When we switched over to riding the Yuba this summer, I either sported shorts or capri pants so I never thought much about the pants-getting-stuck-in-the-chain thing. Last week, I had a rude awakening within a block of leaving the house when the bottom of my pants caught in the chain. I was lucky that I held on and didn't dump the fellas in the back. I had to quickly pull over, ask the boys to dismount, free my pants from the chain, and tuck and roll the right pants leg so we could continue the ride.

I now clip my pants when riding. Yet when I arrived at school today, I forgot to liberate my pant leg from this oh-so-attractive neon orange binding so was walking around just so.

Bike Geekery at its finest....




p.s. Any Yuba owners out there adapt some sort of chainguard for your bike? Would love to see some examples.