May Is Bike Month 2015–About to Kickoff!

Ahhhh, May, the loveliest month of the cycling year…

Our friends at SACOG are once again pulling out all the stops for Bike Month to promote and encourage cycling as a part of everyday life.  One of the things I appreciate most about Bike Month is how accessible it is and how it celebrates the hard-core thousand-milers just as much as the new cyclists, making it easier for everyone to log their miles, keep their goals in check, and receive the little rewards we all need at times for just that little extra bit of motivation.  The results can be as little as a having a bit more fun or as grand as the formation of life-changing habits.

I’m a huge believer in–and beneficiary of–the power of example, and I can attest that seeing what people CAN do on two wheels makes it a lot easier to take whatever next steps are necessary to rely less on using four wheels.

To that end, the Bike Month folks will be setting up tents (“Energizer Stations”) throughout the region with snacks and fuel, bike pumps, buttons, tchotchkes, and more to make your commute or rec ride just a bit more glamorous and fun.

I even scored this nice pant leg strap (and buttons and pencils for the kiddos) this morning at a Pre-Bike Month Energizer Station in front of Old Soul, run ably by our dear friend Jose Luis and our friend Tara.

So here are my 2014 Bike Month stats:

Miles I rode TOTAL: 367

Miles with kid(s) in tow: 309

Miles Little Mister rode behind me: 269

Miles the Little Ladies rode behind me (combined): 266

Miles the Little Ladies rode on their own!: 14

Overall Rank: 1513 of 9914 (top 15%–way better than last year!)

No-Car Days (in-county): 28 out of 31

This year, I’m aiming for 500 miles and 31 out of 31 car-free days!

For all of the information on Bike Month events, prizes and more, including details on the Fri, May 1st Kickoff Party, click HERE.

May is Bike Month Finale — 367 Total Miles

We thoroughly enjoyed Bike Month 2014, finally taking more advantage of it. My girls especially liked getting a t-shirt and buttons, as well as holding the big “I Love My Bike” signs above (which they, sadly, did not get to keep).

Well, MAY IS BIKE MONTH came to a close last week, and it was a good month for our biking crew. Our little ladies got “bigger girl” bikes, and The Little Mister took a few more jaunts on his Strider Bike.  Mommy signed up online and tracked her miles for the first time, took many opportunities to ride for both work and pleasure, and even surpassed her mileage pledge!  Meanwhile, I got more serious about biking at all hours and doing everything I could to replace car trips. My back had been bothering me at the end of April and I didn’t know how much cycling I’d be doing in May, so I set a small goal for May…that I blew past the first week! Some quick highlights:

• Riding with my children and Mommy to Fairytale Town for Kidical Mass
• Riding to the Inagural Sacramento Republic FC Soccer Match at Sacramento City College
• Riding with my lovely wife for a couple of dates to some favorite Downtown restaurants, enjoying the breeze and the carefree feeling we had when we were back in college (a couple of kids we were, practically, back in the day…)
• Riding to the evening Farmers Market a couple miles away with our girls riding their own bikes! (This was their longest-distance outing yet, and they did a GREAT job!)
• Riding to the wonderful Sacramento Zoo, passing through all the bike-friendly, tree-lined streets of Land Park
• Riding nearly every weekday morning with my little guy, all over the city, exploring and going to parks and getting treats.  He is such a joy, although his tendency to be super cute and say funny things has distracted me on a couple of occasions while I should be watching the road.  I just can’t help it…he’s hilarious.
• Meeting a whole lot of new people–fellow cycling enthusiasts and non-bikers, alike–and engaging in a lot of good conversations about being outdoors, slowing down, doing our small part to help the environment, and the like.  I was lucky to get to speak with more than one person who is now ready to make the leap to cargo-biking and committing to replace a large chunk of car trips with bike trips.  I hope I can be a small catalyst in these transformations…Seeing Elle and Anna on their Yuba Mundos opened my eyes two years ago, and it sparked in me more than just a lifestyle change.  I’m excited to see more and more people, especially in our little corner of the world, seeing that such things are feasible and making these choices.

Obviously, tracking daily mileage and no-car days and knowing I’d write about it later all made it easier to find extra motivation to leave the vehicle behind, but I hope that–going forward–I can stay motivated to make the choice, each day, to ride instead of drive.

I’m still nowhere near my friend and biking guru Elle from TinyHelmetsBigBikes (for whose team I rode in May) when it comes to true dedication to the bike and leaving the car behind for good, but I’m ready to use the ol’ 4-cylinder only when absolutely necessary.  I got in the car 5 times in May, and for two of those we were going out of the county for family obligations.  I even got to make another bike trip to Costco, which was easier this time around (now that I knew how to plan a little better). In town, I used the car 3 times (One of those involved our huge dogs, who I am not at all brave–or crazy–enough to try to ride with!) and found that I did not, even a little bit, miss driving.  Obviously, tracking daily mileage and no-car days and knowing I’d write about it later all made it easier to find extra motivation to leave the vehicle behind, but I hope that–going forward–I can stay motivated to make the choice, each day, to ride instead of drive. One of the biggest positives of the month was that the impact (albeit small) of us choosing to bicycle finally really hit home with my daughters.  I took them to school most days (which was new) and picked them up (as usual).  On many occasions they pointed out to me that they liked riding instead of “making the air dirty and wasting gas,” as they said.  This doesn’t mean that there weren’t a couple of occasions where the added travel time bothered them momentarily or that they didn’t sometimes bicker about who got to sit in front, but–by and large–the molding of our transportational “new normal” was quite smooth.  Most importantly, there was a lot more time to listen to my children, reach behind my back for a tickle, and get to know our streets and scenery better.  Also, you certainly seem to run into friends more while cycling than driving, I’ve found.

Here are the final stats for the month:

Miles I rode TOTAL: 367

Miles with kid(s) in tow: 309

Miles Little Mister rode behind me: 269

Miles the Little Ladies rode behind me (combined): 266

Miles the Little Ladies rode on their own!: 14

Overall Rank: 1513 of 9914 (top 15%–way better than last year!)

No-Car Days (in-county): 28 out of 31

I hope you all had a happy May Is Bike Month, as well, and here’s to the notion of 2014 is Bike Year!

Car-Free, Carefree Culinary Futbol Field-Trip to San Jose!

Riding the Rails, Canadian Cuisine, Earthquakes, Mexican Ice Cream Robots, Hopping the Bus, Getting Close to a Shark Tank, Tacos and Goals and Riding my Bike to Jail…oh, and 6-foot Muppets with Hometown Pride…

At the crack of way before dawn, I put my couple-decades-old Worksman Cycles folding bike to work. (I just picked this up off Craigslist a few months back on the cheap–it was covered in tree sap and grime and the previous owner was looking to clear space). It’s a single-hinge folder that I outfitted with a homemade tin cup coffee-holder/phone-speaker amplifier. It feels strange riding a small-wheeled bike with raised seats and handlebars after years of rolling on my hybrid Trek and–especially–our beast of a Yuba Mundo, but I like the change of pace!

I couldn’t find reliable information about bike racks at the Amtrak Station, so I looked nearby to see what was available. The best close option? The county jail. It was a block away, well-lit, and maybe–ironically enough–the safest outdoor parking spot downtown. (I can’t imagine too many people leaving jail feeling brazen enough to steal a bike five feet from the guarded front door.)

Our train trip from Sacramento to San Jose on the Capitol Corridor was easy as pie. During the week this is a pretty packed commuter train, but at 7:40am on a Saturday it was a ghost town on rails. As Russell and I lamented numerous times, we wished that it was more cost- and time-effective to take the train more often, because it SURE IS more pleasant than driving (understatement of the day).

Again, the train provides a scenic view and smooth ride that is just…so…pleasant. (if I was stuffed in a 3-piece suit with a briefcase, checking emails in a packed compartment on the way to a business meeting in another county on a Wednesday, I suppose, I’d take a less wistful view of things.) That being said, leisurely cruising with my buddy to partake in a day of fun, food, and fútbol in a new city we were eager to explore afforded me a rose-colored view. Yay, train travel!

Upon entering downtown San Jose, one of the first things that caught my eye was a bike rental terminal for Bay Area Bike Share.  I am so excited for Sacramento to finally get a similar program (which is currently in the works).  New York, Chicago and other cities with far less-hospitable climates, topographies and cycling cultures than Sacramento already have these ingenious systems in place.  Someday, they will be the norm, and I hope that day comes soon.