What a beautiful spring biking day

Short on time and anxious to get going on Day 15 of #30daysofbiking, I loaded Henry into the Roo and we took Moxie for a bike-run along the Midtown Greenway. Looking down, the path was covered with adventurous, yet unfortunate earthworms. Looking up, people's yards were filled with early spring flowers. By night time I was biking home from rehearsal under a star-studded sky. What a great day it was for biking 14 miles.

Day 11 of #30daysofbiking

It was a low mileage day and weekend for me. Too bad because it was a gorgeous weekend. From what I can tell, lots of others made it out more than I did. As I was walking the dog this morning, bikes were crossing many parts of my route. The #30daysofbiking Twitter posts also suggested a busy day. For example, lof Tweeted, "LOTS of people out on bikes today in Minneapolis. Just think if Bicycling Magazine had seen the city today."

For Day 11 I finally got out this evening for a 2.2. mile ride to and from Dunn Brothers for a little cafe work time. Gorgeous evening blue light as the day calmed down and the smoke from so many people's yard firepits lingered low.

Day 10 of #30daysofbiking (ala Dutchman's Breeches)

My favorite way to end the work week is to take the long bike route home from downtown St. Paul along the Mississippi River to Minneapolis. It is a 15 mile route full of great scenery and dedicated bike trail. I had a great time trying to capture a video description of this route yesterday (which was actually day 9 of #30daysofbiking), but I am still editing it down to a reasonable length such that somebody other than my mother-in-law would watch it.
Until I get the video up, here is one image of the wonderful spring ephemeral wildflower, Dutchman's Breeches, that bloom each early spring along one particular spot of the trail. What a treat it is to see them!

Day 7 of #30daysofbiking

Day 7 of #30daysofbiking. Sunrise on the early leaves of the Mississippi River floodplain cottonwoods. I love using my bike commutes to observe the seasonal, monthly, weekly, and daily changes in the Mississippi River floodplain forest between Minneapolis and St. Paul.
It was a big biking day, especially this afternoon. Saw 23 bikers on my 8.5 mile ride (2.7 bikers per mile) to work and 73 (8.6 bpm!) on my way home. That compares to 19 and 45, respectively, two days ago (4/5).

Biking the dog

So you like the exercise you get while you bike around town? Well why not spread the perks to your dog? With the stability of three wheels that come with the Winther Kangaroo, we find ourselves biking the dog more often to give her a good run, especially when time is tight. Moxie absolutely loves it and took to it last fall very quickly. Here is our bike run this morning for day 6 of #30daysofbiking.

Click "Like" to hear from Hillary, my partner in car-freedom

So maybe you've wondered, "ok, this is Andy's rosy view of a car-free family life, but what about the other members of the family?" Well, the other member of the family that is old enough to write, my wife Hillary, recently expressed some desire to write a Riding Phrius post. But she needs some extra encouragement. So for you Facebookers, click "Like" if you want to hear from Hillary. Or write a comment with a Riding Phrius question that you would like Hillary's perspective on.

Winter wash and winter fun

The radio host foresaw the weekend scene as he predicted our first thaw in over a month. Above freezing temps would send many to wash the salty winter grime off of their cars. I joined the carwash line to do the same for the Roo. Anyone who has biked through the winter in a snowy place can attest to how hard it is on your bike. Salt, sand, and road grit all conspire to gum up the chain and eat away at the metal parts. My 2-wheeled winter bike (affectionately called "INDY", short for "It's Not Dead Yet") now has its fenders permanently rusted to its frame. And that is nothing compared to the issues that have caused several bike mechanics to shed blood while removing winter-seized parts. Leery of the havoc that this winter may be wielding on the Roo, I wanted to wash and dry it and thoroughly oil the exposed bolts to prevent corrosion.

Thankfully, the Roo has fared very well this winter. There was a little rust on the edges of a few threads - hopefully we can stay ahead of this. It's a huge advantage having an enclosed hub to keep water, salt and grit off the most critical moving parts.

We made the best of the above average temps over the three day MLK weekend. Theo and Hillary took the bus 1.5 miles to sled and ski with Theo's buddy Nolan. We rode our bikes 1 mile to skate at Matthews Park with friends (that's Henry's red hat poking above my back.) Thanks for joining us Xena! Henry and I took the Roo to pick up groceries at the food co-op and to pick up storage bins and odds and ends at Target. As usual, we got the best parking spots in the lot.