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!

Too Much Cargo? Too Many Errands? Not with a Mundo

I had a small window of time and 3 errands to run, each involving a decent-to-large amount of cargo.

Decision-time:

Do I just take the car?

Or do I add a 4th errand on top of the mix (getting exercise) and take the Mundo?

Seeing that I don’t also write a separate blog about driving my Mazda around town, you can probably guess what I chose.

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Long story short, here are my 3 hauls:

#1 – A cartload of assorted goodies and staples (including cat food) from Trader Joe’s:

#2 – A couple bags of fresh goodness (including 10lbs of apples, 10lbs of oranges, honey and eggs!) from the big Farmers Market under the freeway:

#3 – One 48lb bag of dog food for our furry little family members, courtesy of Smart’n’Final:

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So, I’m very glad I chose to ride this day.  It always helps my outlook to be on a bike, as opposed to being in the car, sequestered from my environment.  I even ran into a few friends at the Farmers Market, then made some new acquaintances when I parked my Mundo next to theirs.  Here’s a shot of my beast and their nice orange ride:

And here’s a shot of how the groceries fit (prior to the dog food plopping on top).  As I’ve mentioned in other posts, a regular wine box will fit perfectly in the Monkey Bars, and my big green bag is loaded with veggies in the Peanut Shell seat.  I’ve also got groceries in the plastic bucket panniers up front:

 

Sunday Family Ride: St. Patrick’s Day Edition

Doughbot, Shamrock’n Half Marathon, Farmers Market

We had an awesome morning, with a little bit of everything going on (and a sighting of a man running 13 miles in a kilt, to boot!)

Mommy and baby stayed home, so the girls and I rode out with Uncle Jose Luis and little Zeze for a little treat at Doughbot to start the morning off right.

A little cycle-based exercise makes one feel a little more free to order to their heart’s delight at the charming and can’t-miss Doughbot.

This quirky place makes tantalizingly tasty and creative artisinal douhnuts, like lemon rosemary, bacon maple, The Dude (a nod to The Big Lebowski–with White Russian filling), the Picard (Earl Grey-flavored in honor of Star Fleet’s baldest captain), blood orange, cornmeal blueberry, and many more.

It is, not surprisingly, a Downtown Sac favorite.

Fresh ingredients and mixing sweet with savory means that these delectable doughnuts don’t leave you with the sluggish feeling you’d get after downing Dunkins.

However, the Bacon Maple and Chocolate Maple may stay with you a tad longer than the others…(totally worth it, though)

Next, we were off to cheer on our friend Jenny in her half-marathon which she (of course) totally nailed. She had a big smile on her face and gave the girls high fives as she cruised to the finish line.  My little ones did a great job cheering on weary runners, and a good time was had by all.

My sweet girls encouraging the runners with their homemade green pipecleaner-waver-things

With the kids’ Uncle Jose Luis and Zeze, a mile from the finish line

Almost there! Jenny rockin’ the Shamrock’n Half-Marathon!_

It’s always nice to see people encouraging those who are out being active, especially when some of those people are in a bit of agony.  (I have zero desire to run a half-marathon, a full marathon, or anything even resembling a marathon).

Best Marathon Signs, Runners-Up:
“Run to the Beer,” “Go Strangers Go,” & “You’re Pretty When You’re Sweating”

Best Marathon Sign…’nuff said

After a quick stop at the ATM, it was Farmers Market time.  Asparagus season is finally here, by the way, so I’m pretty excited.

Another reason to cargo-bike with a child seat: in lieu of lugging said child, you’ll always have room for a safely-buckled 10lb bag of oranges.

Finally, we’re done and headed for home.  Cruising home in the springtime breeze was quite nice (alas, summer’s less hospitable heat is only a couple months off…)  It’s home for naps and such, then–in all likelihood–back on the bike to Trader Joe’s for our daily supply of a whole lotta bananas.  Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all!

Spring Sunday Family Ride: Farmers Market, Crocker Art Museum & Practical Cycle!

Downtown Farmers Market, Crocker Art Museum, Practical Cycle

Disembarking our steed at the FM. It’s always packed with people (in a good way!) and (word has it) a larger bike parking area is on the horizon.

Today was just a beautiful day in Sacramento, made all the prettier and more enjoyable by being behind a set of handlebars.  Chris saddled up her cruiser and I loaded up our Yuba MUNDO with the 3 kids and we set off for the Sunday Downtown Farmers Market.

It’s hard to beat getting great fresh food, some good deals, fun time with the little ones,and fresh-baked jumbo pretzels in one place.

We’ve found that Farmers Markets, in addition to being a great venue for finding locally sourced fresh food, also make for great outings with the family.  I like that our children have exposure to different foods and cultures and peoples in places like these, and the questions and conversations that arise, accordingly, can be pretty instructive (and entertaining—a Romanesco cauliflower, for instance, looks downright Seuss-ian).

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, What’s This?!?

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Next, it’s off to the Crocker Art Museum, one of our absolute favorite places in Sacramento, and one of the reasons, early on, that we started heading downtown so often (eventually, we decided that we just had to move closer to this place!).  It’s been around for over 120 years, but it’s remodel and massive new addition in 2010 transformed the old Museum into a real gem in the heart of the city and a valuable resource for the region’s artistic community.

Plenty of bike parking outside…

and plenty to explore inside.

We’ve been members for two years now, and the fee has been worth every penny.  In addition to lovely large and prestigious exhibitions of a wide array of artists (like Norman Rockwell, Gregory Kondos, Clayton Bailey, Gottfried Helnwein), the Crocker is home to various smaller exhibits and wide variety of permanent pieces.  It also features a concert hall, art studios, a café catered by The Supper Club, and has fabulous art programs for children to go with its signature children’s art space, Totland.

Making art, reading books, playing with the giant visual storyboard…what’s not to love at Totland?

Baby’s favorite part of the museum, however, seems to be the large courtyard with the wall fountain.  That’s not to say that he doesn’t like to join his big sisters in making art, too.

What a world to explore, huh?

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A quick plug for the current main exhibition:

A Touch of Blue: Landscapes by Gregory Kondos

FEBRUARY 24 – MAY 19, 2013

 

I cannot recommend this highly enough.  A long-time Californian and Sacramento resident and professor at Sac City College, Mr. Kondos’ depictions of landscapes (mostly natural, but urban cityscapes are represented, too) are breathtaking up close.  He is a very physical painter, and his works—often massive—have a very transportive effect on the viewer.  I have a feeling that we will be visiting this exhibit often over the next couple months.

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Next, it’s off to Practical Cycle (a scant few blocks from the Crocker) to look at a couple items on the ol’ wishlist and say hi to the crew.  It’s encouraging to see groups renting bikes for leisurely rides and also to see people checking out electrics, cargo bikes, trikes and other cycles that can help them drive less and interact with their surroundings more.  I’m quite grateful our paths crossed with our friend Elle who introduced us to both this shop and a new way to get around and experience our city.

Want to rent an electric bike, take a cruiser for a spin, peruse a sweet adult trike or check out the funkiest cargo or bucket bikes? Practical Cycle’s got you covered.

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Finally, it’s time to head home for naps (which not all of the children are so obliged to take, it turns out) and getting ready for dinner.  It’s been a glorious day—enjoyable, enlightening, and even productive.  And it still would have been a good day had we gone by car…but there’s a lot we would have missed.