Rock to Rock 2013 -- Year Five

A much overdue post about the annual Rock to Rock ride in New Haven. It's the biggest local group ride and it's been fun to watch its growth over the past years.

You can see posts about our participation in past years here,  here, and here.  I must admit that I am surprised to discover that I never blogged about last year's event even though we had friends from Brooklyn come up and join us.

This year was momentous because all three boys rode their own bikes for the entire ride. In the couple of years, we had hauled F on one of our cargo bikes, as well as his bike so he could ride the end himself, but he was ready to take on the whole route this go-around.

I must admit that I can find big group rides pretty nerve-wracking.  With my children, I seem to be on them constantly about riding smartly and predictably so that other riders know what to expect from them. However, I wonder if some of my nagging is simply because there are tons of other riders out there riding unpredictably, making less-than-smart choices, but it's only my own kids I can actually say something to! Unfair, I know...

Bicycling friends, who recently moved to Maine from New Haven, came down for the weekend to hang and participate.  I didn't end up making t-shirts this year but thought we should have some unifying theme going on for our crew.  Without any rhyme or reason, I end up settling on making fake mustaches. I merely mentioned it at one point, perhaps inspired by this bicyclist, and F latched on to the idea and wouldn't let it go.  So the night before the ride, we sat at the table making fake mustaches.

The result was pretty amusing.

No mustaches here, but had to include this snap of some of the cutest cargo around!

City Cycling-- Fun, Instructional Video

Just saw this video today from GristTV. It is simple and captures the spirit of "Hey-- This is do-able and fun!"

No need to get into any helmet debates here.

Donut break, though? We'll go for that.

Pizza Pick-Up by Bike

Why am I always such a sucker for photos of
1. bikes on bikes? 
2. beer on bikes?
3. pizza on bikes?

Here's my Yuba Bread Basket on my Boda Boda hooking me up when I picked up pizza at Kitchen ZINC last night.  The "Getting Figgy with It" pie is out-of-control:  roasted figs, sliced speck, goat cheese, caramelized onions, balsamic reduction and arugula. Yum.

Ernest & DIY Cargo Trailer

Yesterday, Bikeyface posted yet-another awesome piece, this one about how bikes simplify your life in the midst of technology and how bike commuting lends itself to real face-to-face contact with all sorts of people.

I've written before about the people whom I meet while bicycling. There are one-time chance encounters and there are people we see daily whom we may have missed when driving. We certainly would have not interacted and chatted with them like we do now.

This spring I have been wondering about Ms. Essie. She lives/d in an apartment building on the corner of a busy-ish intersection where I stop often to wait out the red light. Ms. Essie and I would  greet each other as she sat outside on a folding chair watching the happenings on the street. I saw Ms. Essie for multiple years. She would often say something kind about my boys when they were out riding with me and ask after them when they were not.  These past months when I pass her building now, without her chair and her presence out front, I wonder if she moved or perhaps she's experienced a health issue that's kept her inside....

This morning, I was feeling a bit down. I decided to stop at my favorite coffee place for an iced latte-- so excited to have my mounted coffee ring back on my handlebars! Just when I was unlocking my Yuba Boda Boda, this fellow rode by and suddenly stopped to ask about my bicycle.

 

We ended up bonding over our bikes and cargo-carrying capabilities. His name is Ernest and he took a kid's bike trailer and turned it into a cargo trailer using heavy-duty plastic bins. He keeps his tools in the bins and anything else he needs throughout the day. He also mounted slim bags, including a neoprene laptop case to the sides of the bins so he can stash smaller stuff more securely.

He loved my Boda Boda and thought that not only could I carry a kid on the back tail but stick one up front in the big Bread Basket. He suggested that I paint my helmet apple green to match my bike.  I shared that my sons would love his Jolly Roger flag.  

After asking permission to take his photo, we shook hands and headed off our separate ways.  I pedaled through downtown feeling far lighter than when I started my commute this morning. An iced latte and a chance encounter making my legs pedal with a bit more zing and my mood lifted.

Boda Boda Bread Basket Liner

My Yuba Boda Boda has a new accessory. Some weeks ago, we affixed a Bread Basket to the front, increasing our carry capacity quite a bit.  While the size of the Bread Basket was great, the open slats made it impractical to carry a number of things, including my purse that would slip easily through the open spaces. 

I remembered seeing a great blog post on a Simple Six about the custom Bread Basket liner cargo biking mama Nicole Nafziger had made. While my limited crafting skills do not extend to sewing (unfortunately), I thought of my friend Sara who recently started a new business called Thread Blossoms and she agreed to take on the custom job. Discussing fabric choices via e-mail, we choose heavy-duty outdoor fabric that would be fun and match the gorgeous green apple color of my Boda Boda.

My Bread Basket liner arrived at the start of this week and I am so thrilled with it. It affixes easily with ties and contains pockets and a key fob. It adds yet another bit of flair to an already gorgeous bicycle while serving a super practical purpose.

Friends & Bikes (also...)

A few years ago, I posted this.

This weekend, we are hosting our good friends, N, C, and L. C and N used to live in Washington Heights when we were there. Back when The Sopranos was on, we used to do Sunday night dinners together, cooking big Italian meals and watching the newest episode together. We left the City. They moved to Brooklyn. L joined their party three years ago.

Yesterday, we picked them up from the train.  This is what their suitcase looked like.

 

Today we headed over to the Farmer's Market.  This is what N and L looked like.

Love.

Bike Life: What We Do When We're Not Blogging

It's becoming a bit of a theme here on Full Hands-- mentioning how little blogging we do now when I actually do manage to put together a post. I do snap some photos here and there thinking how I would like to share them on the blog.  I recently noticed that stored on my phone were some pictures I accumulated over the past months, bikey-related things that I thought might be fun to post.

So what is it we do when we are not blogging?

1. We go to NYC's Museum of Mathematics and ride tricycles with square wheels. Yup, square.

 2. We participate in Mitchell Dubey's Memorial Bike Ride. We think of Mitch as we don his name on our helmets. The boys immediately dub their protective headware as Hel-Mitches.

 3. We dress up in spiffy new accessories that people kindly gift to us. Check out that bicycle tie!

 4. We load our Boda Boda in our minivan so we can divide and conquer. We pick up P from work  and drive to capoeira. We unload the bike and one of us rides another fellow to an evening meeting while the other parent stays at capoeira.

5. We go to a work-related Gala, dressed up, and convince our babysitter that we really are nuts.

6. We join in celebrating New Haven's 375th birthday with an after-dark group ride to enjoy the Night Rainbow. We pick up passengers along the way as our Boda Boda deck can easily handle it.

Photo credit: William Kurtz

7. We ride the bike path to bring a son to a birthday party. On the bike path, we do circus tricks. And we take photos of our shadow.

8. While the boys take the morning bus, we ride to school carrying S's guitar every Tuesday. Two fellows head home by school bus in the afternoon but since S stays late for lessons, we ride home together. S, the passenger wearing his guitar on this back, tends to get lots of attention on the return trip.

8. We hang out at our favorite bike shop, The Devil's Gear, learning from the kind bike mechanics there.

Have you seen Full Hands' latest guest post?