Up to Something

We've been up to something fun around here.  And like so many of our other favorite spring activities (gardening, park trips, playing in the creek), this one involves mud.

We're working on a new bike shelter!

We've been parking lots of bikes in Austin's shop, which has made it difficult for him to get work done there.  At the start of his spring break, we held a small work party to get things going.  Many burritos,  pulled pork sandwiches, and beers later, we've made a lot of progress.

 Austin's younger brother, Jake, spent the weekend with us and did a big chunk of the back-breaking labor.  Little and Big idolize him, so his presence also helped to keep our littlest workers happy.

Austin's dad, Graig, was in town for work.  Even though he wasn't feeling well, he hung gutters on the bike shed and let the kids play in his very popular truck.

Cindy helped with tricky pathway work, and with crucial dress-up and story-time portions of the construction.  (Caring for children is an important part of any family project!)  Her husband Scott was here, too, though he somehow evaded capture on film.

Big insisted on dressing just like Papa for the duration of the project.  We had to wash his outfit each evening so that he could feel a part of the process in his carpentry clothes.  Little enjoyed watching from the window when he wasn't helping outside.

Grandma Mona also lent a hand with various tasks, though she was nursing a cold, too.  She took most of these photos, as my camera broke over the weekend.

Our family has a very tight budget, and we certainly couldn't afford to hire someone else to help with a project like this one.  With busy work and school schedules, we don't have much time for big projects, either.  I think it's fitting that our shelter for such an old-fashioned, practical means of transportation was constructed in the spirit of a barn-raising.  Many thanks to all who joined us!

Where My Little Ones Will Ride

 My kids just continue to grow up lately.  Isn't it funny how that happens?  You think that you've got age 2 1/2 all figured out -- just how to finesse a reluctant visit to the potty chair, or how to help someone take a deep breath at the end of a tantrum...and then everything changes again.

We are thinking about kindergarten for Big next fall, since he'll turn five in June.  (Five!  I can't believe it.)  Transportation has figured heavily into our discussions.  As I map out some of the possible routes to school and consider the conditions we might be cycling in (dark, early mornings, with impatient auto traffic), I find myself wishing for little improvements.  I'd like to see our gold-rated cycling city transformed into the kind of place where I'll feel comfortable letting my sons ride their bikes around town on their own once they are a little older.

What if our bike boulevards looked a little more like Portland's neighborhood greenways?  I'm sure that anyone who has ridden a bike down 15th Ave has wished that the city would change the orientation of a few stop signs so that it's easier to get across some of those busy north-south streets.  And some serious traffic calming efforts would make places like Monroe friendlier for kids and families on bikes.  (I occasionally see one of my former students, now a teenager, riding his bike along the sidewalk on Monroe.  We can teach people over and over that it's safer to ride in the streets, but younger and less confident cyclists will continue to ride on sidewalks until we offer them alternatives that really feel safe.)

Cycle tracks, pedestrian refuge islands, path connections -- I want the city to know how I think Eugene could help families like mine get around better on bikes or on foot.  And I want to learn more about what my neighbors in other parts of the city need, too.   If you'd like to help Eugene grow up a little, join us at the Pedestrian and Bicycle Master Plan Open House tonight.  It's a drop-in event at Saint Mary's Catholic Church, downtown by the library and the transit center.  See you there, sometime between 4-7 pm.

A Little Wiser, Every Day

The last ten days have been a breathless whirlwind of activity.  The kids and I helped out with a few odds and ends for the Kidical Mass ride (it was really fun, by the way), I wrapped up a couple of loose ends at my new job, Austin finished his first term of grad school (while also working full time -- I am married to a superhero), and we headed up to the mountains for a long weekend in the snow.  There was a homemade Christmas gift all-nighter thrown in there for good measure, too.

Whew!

It felt like I didn't have a spare moment to think about riding my bike.  I used it to get from point A to point B, but my rides lacked the mellow, contemplative ease that I had been enjoying earlier in the month.  Now that I finally have a few minutes to catch my breath, though, I'm realizing how much I learned in this long, end-of-term, pre-holiday week:


1. My bike is capable of standing upright on its own!

Bigger points out our new kickstand

Though I missed the weekend sale at Arriving By Bike (and their Friday bike social -- I was cleaning out our chicken coop at Grandma M's), I made it there on Monday to purchase a new kickstand for our crazy bike.  (We have a large milk crate on the back rack and a Follow Me tandem coupler that connects Bigger's bike to mine, so a single kickstand is insufficient.)  Every time I stop in for something, the folks working there are so helpful and friendly.  Thanks, Courtney, Alexander, and Paul!

Anyhow, if you are thinking of getting a Follow Me tandem for your child's bicycle, I would strongly suggest you get a sturdy double kickstand.  Our Follow Me was slightly off center (and missing a couple of bolts) after several recent tip-overs while loading and unloading groceries.  (I look forward to posting a thorough review of the Follow Me soon -- overall, we love it.)  Alexander helped us replace the missing bolts and gave the Follow Me some long overdue TLC.  (I later learned that he has a bike blog that includes some really lovely photos.)

Though the bike is still a little prone to tipping when I've got lots of cargo in the crate (I think that panniers would help), having a functional kickstand has made a world of difference.  Hooray!


2. Riding a bike during a busy time forces me to relax.

This one is such a no-brainer.  Though I still have my share of holiday-related hustle and bustle, I don't have to fight traffic or feel stuck in my car.  Fresh air (even when it's cold fresh air) feels so right to me now.


3. Bigger's mood can be improved by asking him to carry appealing cargo.  Especially chocolate.

This is kind of a goofy facial expression, but I think Bigger is trying to convey...salivation?  He is always proud to carry something for me on his bike, and this chocolate may have been his favorite cargo so far.

I think that Bigger will be moving up to a 16" bike soon, and I'm going to make sure that it has a nice rear rack for whatever cargo he may want to haul.  Just think of all the chocolate we could bring home if he had a nice set of panniers!


4. Double leg kickstands can help you convert bare sidewalk into a bike rack.

Monica and Paul Adkins taught me this on Saturday's Kidical Mass ride.  While I wandered around for a minute or two searching for bike parking outside Mezza Luna, the Adkins family had their two Xtracycles parked on the sidewalk just outside the restaurant's window sans rack, with only the wheels locked to the frame.  I never think to do this because Eugene is notorious for bike theft, but if you are sitting within view of your bike, it makes sense.  Their kickstands are sturdy enough that they were also able to chain their kids' bikes to the longtails.

Even with the new kickstand, my bike is a little top heavy to serve as bike rack for someone else, but I wonder if the new Workcycles Fr8 I'm expecting in the spring will be.  In any case, it was suggested that I try simply propping my bike up on its kickstand and locking it to itself, and that worked quite well for our brief dessert stop.


5. Being a beginner is kind of nice.

Before this year, there were plenty of trips I just wouldn't have known how to make on a bike.  I made (and continue to make) all kinds of mistakes that a more experienced cyclist could gracefully circumvent.  I bruise my shins.  I take wrong turns.  My groceries tumble out when I am loading them into the milk crate.  But one of the advantages of being new at something is that it puts you in the position of experiencing little moments of discovery, too.  Every trick learned, every quiet realization, every first time feels so good.

Kidical Mass Pie to Pie Winter Lights Ride Tonight!

 

Hope to see you there!

Kidical Mass Eugene: The Pie to Pie Winter Lights Ride!

Dear Bike-Riding Families of Eugene,

Have you marked your calendar with the date of this month's Kidical Mass ride yet?

There will be pies savory (pizza) and sweet (pumpkin, apple, cream...who knows?), beautiful winter lights displays, and good company.  Kidical Mass is going to be picking up some of the tab.  How could anyone even think of missing it?

I think you should go do whatever you must in order to save the date.  Do it!  Now!  Before something you may not really want to do sneaks up on you.

Kidical Mass Eugene Pie to Pie Winter Lights Ride
Saturday, December 18th, 5:00 pm
Mezza Luna Pizzeria (933 Pearl Street)

See you there!

P.S.  Feel free to print out a poster to display at your grocery store, your child's school, your Birth to Three group, or share one with a friend!  And drop me a line if you have recommendations for great lights displays in the downtown or Monroe Park area.  Our family is helping with the coordination of this ride, and your input (and assistance) would be very welcome.  Many thanks!

On Sick Days and Neighborliness

The last week or so has looked (and felt) a lot like this:

We spent a long weekend at the coast, feasting with our extended family.  We got some lovely, if unusually windy, walks in, but spent a significant amount of time cooking, reading, and playing inside.  (The above photo was taken at the coast.  That is my dog, but sadly, not my cozy wood stove.)  When we returned to Eugene, we had one full day of good health and bicycling, and then Little and I came down with a stomach bug.

Blech.

(Actually, I am pecking this out one-handed on my sofa, while Little dozes in my lap.  It was a long night.  Parenthood teaches us that we are capable of more than we thought, right?  Like hauling 130 pounds of kids and library books up a hill on a bike, or typing for long stretches with one hand and not much sleep.)

We've been inside a lot, trying to stay warm and comfortable while we fight off this bug.

Little, asleep at last

Before we ditched one of our cars, there was lots and lots of discussion about what that would mean for our family.  One concern that came up was how we would cope when someone was ill.  Would I be able to get to the store with two sick kids on a bike?  How about a doctor's office?  This week has been our first sick-day test of our new transportation setup.  What do you do when you and your littlest passenger have the flu?

I'm so happy to say that we passed this simple test.  The answer?  Stay home.  Isn't that what we should all be doing anyhow?  If I had needed to get to the doctor, I would have either loaded Little into the bike trailer or gotten a ride from a friend or neighbor.  Easy, right?

So why were we initially concerned about working out a sick-day transportation solution all those months ago?  I think it was primarily the idea that we might need to ask for help that gave us pause.  It seems to me that we are sometimes so determined to be independent and avoid inconveniencing others that we fail to give or receive the little favors that build community.  It's sometimes difficult to ask our neighbors and friends for help, but when we do, it encourages those folks to call us up and ask for help, too.

We needed a few things from the store and had our CSA pickup yesterday, and Grandma M ran both errands for us.  I could have easily called four or five other people and asked them for the same small favor.  And I hope those people would call on me in the same situation.  I didn't make anyone else sick by thinking that I should run this errand for myself.  My children and I got to rest and read rather than pile into the car and slouch around the market in a stupor.  And hopefully, I'm inviting Grandma M to think of me when she needs help sometime soon.

I love getting around by bike in part because I've met so many more of my neighbors while using this very physically open and conversational mode of transportation.  It's easy to stop and chat with folks who are working in their front gardens, or walking their kids to school, or cycling around themselves.  (And anyone out there with a family bike knows that it is one of the best ice breakers out there.  Only a very small fraction of cyclists will stop at an intersection next to us without comment.)  The fact that riding my bike may put me in a situation where I'm likely to give or receive help from others only improves that feeling of neighborliness and community.

As I was finishing this post, Bigger woke up and quietly built this cool submarine lighting system out of his headlamp and some loose bike lights.  He says it helps the submarines to navigate when sonar is not a good idea.  Does this kid have a fabulous imagination, or what?