Studded tire at last!

It was such a mild winter last year that we squeaked by without a studded tire on our Winther Kangaroo. But with the 11 inch dump last weekend, there is no skirting it this year. After many late night public meetings for work this week, I took this morning off to winterize the Roo. Henry's trike helped out nicely.

First Snow Ride

There is nothing like the first snow to get two young boys excited. By the time Henry and I left for his pre-school, nearly an inch had fallen and sun and blue sky made for a beautiful winter one-mile bike ride to pre-school. Henry marveled at the beautiful scene and giggled as I gave him the"wiggly-ride". The "wiggly-ride" consists of quick, small left-right swerves down the sidewalk, all made safe with the benefit of the three wheels of the Winther Kangaroo.

Here's Henry and our "sleigh-dog" Moxie at school.

Morning Commute: No Eagle Today, Maybe Tomorrow

Late night errands with a Cargo Bike

As a car-free family we have a lot of bikes for various uses. But sometimes they're spread around at various locations, or in need of repair. I had concert band rehearsal last night and expected to use my wife's bike "All Sass No Gas". But I forgot it still had a flat tire (second one in two weeks :( ). Then I figured I'd use my commuter bike "The Italian Stallion". But it was in my bike locker at work since I took the bus home yesterday afternoon. So I went with our family cargo bike, the head turning Winther Kangaroo. It was no big deal biking the cargo bike the 1.75 miles to rehearsal. Then I had it to pick up the 33 lbs of dog food and some sale item storage bins. Go Twin Cities cargo biking!

A Delightful Fall Color Commute

I heard the distinctive crunch of leaves as Theo steered his bike through the crisp fallen ash leaves on the road to school. It brought back memories of past years biking with him in the fall. To kids in the back yard it is the joy of jumping in a pile of leaves. To kids like Theo biking, it is riding through the leaves that get whisked to the side of the road by passing leaf blowers, whoops, I mean cars.

Here are a few pictures from the second leg of my commute, from Theo's school to work.

Bikepool for Saturday Soccer

This is Theo's first real year of soccer. Real in that they practice one night a week and have Saturday morning games at various parks. Last week a friend commented to Hillary that with Theo's interest in soccer, soccer mom-dom (and thus a soccer mom car) are in our near future. Yes, it is a matter of when. But so far we are managing well.

First, thanks to our friends Rolf and Renata, whose son plays on the team, and gave Theo and Hillary a ride to last week's game at a park far away from our house.  Today's game was at Minneapolis' Sibley Park which is within easy Kangaroo biking distance at just 2.3 miles away.  We even did a "bikepool", picking up another one of Theo's teammates.  This bikepool doubled as a daddy Saturday morning "spin class".  This spin class was less a cardio workout and much more a leg strength workout.  With the help of the 1st graders' budding math skills we calculated that I was pedaling about 380 pounds.  Whoa.  

Theo showing his friend the gears and the hydraulic brakes of the Winther Kangaroo before their soccer game.

The bikepool ride seeded some questions.  On the way home from soccer Theo's friend Hanif asked, "why your family hates cars".  A bit surprised by the impression that we hate cars, I responded that it's not that we hate cars, in fact we use cars often, especially when they are the better way to get around.  He had noted that his family uses cars everyday to go most everywhere.  I acknowledged that many people need to use cars because their work is far away and not conveniently reached by public transportation, for instance.  But then said that our family doesn't need a car for most of our trips.  Then Theo chimed in with the distinctive stream-of-consciousness style of a young kid, "We can take a bike, a bus, a taxi.  Cars create pollution.  Look at all these cars just parked on the street, sitting here, nobody is using them.  If we want to go camping, we can rent a car.  If we need to go farther away, we can take an airplane."  Gotta love hearing your 6-year old make such a rational argument for not owning a car.  Admittedly, this is the same kid who also occasionally asks, "Why can't we get a car?".

But the big news of the day is that the Brackett Rockets won their soccer game.  They dug out of a two point hole and won 3-2 to remain undefeated.  Go Rockets!

Thanks Nice Ride!

This summer Nice Ride Minnesota came to St. Paul with its unmistakeable green Nice Ride bikes. Better yet they put a station right in front of the Department of Natural Resources building where I work. After passing the station daily as I walked from the bus, I finally got to use it today.

Mission: Meet a friend/colleague in Minneapolis for Happy Hour
Trip challenge: get some work done to compensate for my early departure

Leg 1: Work to Town Hall Brewery
3:00 pm Walk from 6th floor office to Nice Ride station at Lafayette and Grove

3:04 pm Depart Nice Ride station

   --Enjoy bike ride--

3:11 pm Arrive at 10th and Robert Nice Ride station

   --walk one block (and start this blog)--

3:23 pm Catch 94B Express Bus

   --work on bus (editing report) while the bus passed much traffic--

3:53 pm  Arrive at Metrodome Mpls Nice Ride Station

   --Enjoy bike ride (Washington Ave. wasn't too bad)--

4:00 pm arrive Town Hall Brewery

Leg 1 Summary:
Total time: 1 hour
     Travel time: 50 minutes (30 mins bus, 14 mins bike, 6 mins walking)
          includes 25 minutes of productive work on the bus
     Waiting time: 10 minutes  (I started this blog!)

Leg 2: Town Hall Brewery to Home
5:33 pm Head home on Nice Ride bike

5:51 pm Arrive at neighborhood Nice Ride station (about a 2 mile ride)

5:59 pm Walk 6 blocks to home, for the first time a little sweaty. Ready to change into shorts and a t-shirt.

Before Nice Ride this journey likely would have taken me 50%+ longer due to less than ideal bus connections.  Here's to the fantastic bike-walk options that Nice Ride has brought to the Twin Cities.  Here's to Bike-Walk Twin Cities and their many partners for the great improvements they have brought to bike-walk infrastructure.  Here's to many, many more who are making the Twin Cities an even better place to get around without a car.