Biking – Page 20 – Her Green Life

We sold a bike! And took a hike!

Such a great weekend, what’s not to like?

I obviously missed my calling as an author of inanely rhyming children’s books, no?

After receiving just a few nibbles on the “for sale” post on CL (only one of which was legit) in the first two weeks, we were beginning to wonder if the Pacer was going to sell (and a little part of Matthew was kind-of hoping it wouldn’t).

But it only takes one, and that one arrived on Friday night, took a test ride, hemmed and hawed for a bit, and finally decided to buy it then and there, forgoing his original plan to look at more bikes on Saturday.

When we returned from a bike ride on Sunday morning, Matthew commented that we needed the longtail, “because our [bike parking area] looks so empty now.” The sale of the Pacer fell far short of completely financing a longtail purchase, but it does make it seem a bit less crazy.

Sunday afternoon, we drove to Castlewood Park for Gabriel’s first walking-on-his-own hike. In all previous hikes, we shlepped him on our backs. Time to pull your own weight, kid!

Hiking without thirty-three pounds of live, active weight on the back was nice, though our pace was quite slow, especially on the loose rock ascents and descents, which made up most of yesterday’s hike.

I convinced Matthew that trying to cover the three mile loop trail in an hour was completely unrealistic, but we made it to the top for some river views before heading back down. Sir’s pace on the descent (while holding Dada’s hand) frightened Mama more than a little, but we all made it down in one piece.

To cover a bit more ground on future hikes, we plan to use some combination of Sir walking and riding on one of our backs.

Bikey stuff

CyclingSavvy
For my St. Louis area readers, it’s not too late to sign up for Truth & Techniques of Traffic Cycling on August 22nd at 6:3opm, details and registration here.

If you’re into planning ahead, check out the fall schedule, with full workshops, including the on-bike sessions, offered in both September and October.

Be Informed
Check out the plans to make a simple, straightforward road (Manchester Rd. in StL City) that currently works for all users into something messy and complicated for all: “A Tragedy of Good Intentions.”

While the plans mentioned above are not for separated cycle paths, this post, from Off The Beaten Path, addresses what I felt when I read about the proposed plans: “Did you guys ask any people who regularly cycle on that stretch of road for their opinion when considering changes?”

Not-so-hot biking
The weather we’ve had for the last month or so tempts me to forgive St. Louis for the brutal summers of the past two years.

Sure, some days, the temperatures still climb into the mid- to upper-80s, which count as hot in my book, but we’ve had a number of days with highs in the low-80s and even some with upper-70s.

Today’s high is a glorious 76°F, which is lower than the usual overnight lows at this time of year. Amazing!

The hot weather plants in the garden may not be thrilled with this cooler weather, but I’ll take it over the heat any day, though it’s probably not helping drive traffic to my “biking in the heat” post.

While I am NOT complaining, the cooler temps have actually made for a couple of chilly rides, including the World Naked Bike Ride (turns out that temps in the mid- to low-70s are not ideal for biking while wearing [almost] no clothes) and a ride home from the Muny last week.

Even with the cooler temps, I complete my bike errands in the morning to avoid peak sun times. This morning found me riding to complete paperwork for my new [very] part-time job, which will officially start in a couple of weeks.

Resuming longtail conversations
Our longtail discussion/decision was relegated to the back burner due to summer travel, health issues, and general life uncertainty and craziness. Not sure where it will end, but we’re revisiting the topic, and not a moment too soon given Sir’s height, which threatens to overwhelm the IBert any day now.

World Naked Bike Ride!

Well, I did it! Despite serious fatigue on Saturday evening (following a morning of gardening and an afternoon of toddler wrangling), I resisted the urge to just spend the night curled up on the couch and miss out on yet another World Naked Bike Ride (WNBR).

I loved experiencing the positive energy and camaraderie of the Tour de Fat ride in D.C., and that, combined with the fact that we’ve been talking about doing this forever, provided the necessary motivation.

We returned from the garden (sans toddler) and ate a quick dinner, after which I donned my blue tutu and hopped on Baby Jake. We rode to the rendezvous point/pre-party on South Grand, where we made some final outfit adjustments.

The ride is part protest against dependency on oil and other nonrenewable resources, part celebration of bodies and positive body image, and part really fun group bicycle ride, summed up nicely in this quote:

It’s time to put a stop to the indecent exposure of people and the planet to cars and the pollution they create.

Clothing ran the spectrum from nothing (except footwear — I didn’t see anyone barefoot, though I wouldn’t count it out) to totally PG, family-friendly beach wear, which we’d already discerned from previous years’ pictures.

In this age of digital media, where everyone has a camera and can post to the internet in seconds, we opted for a middle road. You know, just so there’s nothing scandalous that would mar my future run for president.

We fed off the energy of the crowds that lined many portions of the thirteen mile route through the streets of St. Louis, and, while our ride certainly caused delay for some motorists, they didn’t seem to mind, given the free entertainment.

With over 1500 participants, this was the largest WNBR in St. Louis to date, pretty impressive for an all volunteer-run event.

My only complaint about the ride itself (and the pre-party), was the smoking. I would love to see the ride become a smoke-free event. I’m not sure where that would leave the men who stuffed their cigarette packs in their underwear, hoping to compensate for certain, um, shortages, shall we say, but my lungs would really appreciate it.

Barring the ride going smoke-free, we’re planning to bring water guns next year, so we can help put out fires (guy who puffed a cigar for half of the ride, I am looking at you! Actually, I was this close to walking up and pulling it out of your hand and smashing it under my running shoe).

Other complaint about the event? The after-party.

The route ended in The Grove, at an outdoor event sponsored by HandleBar and Atomic Cowboy. By that point, I seriously needed a restroom (having not relieved myself in alleyways along the route, the toilet of choice for numerous other riders). After looking in vain for port-a-potties, we headed to HandleBar, hoping for a restroom and the chance to purchase some food.

Instead of welcoming the riders, as one would expect given their sponsorship of the event, HandleBar was charging a five dollar cover for the evening. Seriously lame, guys! I was planning to buy food, but you just lost some business.

We crossed the street to Atomic Cowboy (no cover) and joined the growing bathroom queues. Afterward we grabbed a table and waited in vain for someone to take our food order. We even resorted to eating our own snacks, sure that that would attract attention, but no.

I finally hopped up and approached a waitress who had just delivered an order to a table across the room, only to have her completely and blatantly ignore me. (Was it the petals? Would less clothing help?)

We finished our own snack and headed to the outside “party” area, where I hoped to find an awesome dance party in progress. Not so.

In addition to being lame in general, there were far too many “spectators” at the after-party, people who were creepily milling around, not following the [un]dress code at ALL. A private event just for riders (and perhaps appropriately clad friends) would be much better.

Final verdict on my first WNBR: the ride itself was great — I’m very glad we did it, and I’m looking forward to next year!

The after-party? Seriously anticlimactic! It needed restrooms, food, less fully-clothed people, and more dancing.

Barring those changes, we agreed it would have been fun to have a group of friends to hang out with at the end. So, who’s joining us next year???

In with the new

Prior to his unexpected health scare, Matthew was in the midst of dealing with bicycle trouble.

His Craigslist-ed Surly Pacer quickly became his primary bike, with his hybrid Giant relegated to the back-up bike role. Not long after finally taking it in to a LBS for a minor shifting tune-up (after attempted tries to tweak it himself didn’t quite do the trick), he faced a much bigger problem.

On his way into work a few weeks ago, the shifting lever for the rear gears broke off in his hand. He called to tell me that it was going to be a very slow ride home from work. I suggested the bus.

Now, some people are in to fixed-gear bicycles, but we are not those people. Anyone who’s bothered to get out of his car and onto a bike in the St. Louis area can tell you that, contrary to some perceptions, St. Louis is not, in fact, flat. Nope, from minor inclines to some pretty major hills (including The Hill, which is often part of our bike route), having gears (and knowing how to use them well) is an essential part of a good biking experience around here.

After much research, Matthew had a few options, ranging from expensive to more expensive:

Buy the part and pay for labor to replace the broken shifter — $200
Upgrade to a new shifting system (he wasn’t crazy about the existing set-up) — $450+
Cut his losses, ditch the Pacer, and buy a new bike

Option #1 was by far the cheapest, especially after he managed to get the maker of the shifter to cover the cost of the part (his research revealed that there was a known defect/weakness that led to the break), leaving us to cover just the thirty dollars of labor. Done.

We could have stopped there. But in the course of his research, he had already gone back and ridden the [new] Salsa Casserole that he was considering back in March when he bought the Pacer.

The lure of a new bike, which came standard with the upgraded shifting system he was considering for the Pacer, plus the benefit of free tune-ups for life, was hard to resist. That, combined with the discovery that his Craigslist bike was not the standard Pacer that you would buy from a bike shop, but something that had been built up (with perhaps cheaper components) by the seller, weighed heavily in favor of the new bike.

Until his hospitalization, I had been mostly a neutral party, acting as a sounding board for the options, but mostly encouraging him to decide. Seeing him in the hospital prompted some kind of “life is short” mentality for me, and I started advocating for the new bike (a decision toward which he’d been leaning anyway).

He picked up the [repaired] Pacer and the new Salsa Casserole on the same day, and then perhaps set a record for length of time elapsed from purchasing to riding a new bicycle (19 days!) due to recovery/fatigue and the timing of our trip.

Sunday morning, we finally all headed out for a family bike ride — the Casserole’s (he going to name it soon) maiden voyage.

The bike wasn’t the only new thing: Sir sported his new helmet.

I’m pretty sure that thing would almost fit me. Not to name names, but someone has a big head.

The Casserole is really a beautiful bike (another factor in its favor) — a light silvery blue color. It came with the small front rack (I guess we need some kind of a basket for that), and the bike shop staff transferred the fenders and rear rack that Matthew had put on the Pacer. (While they weren’t willing to negotiate on the price of the bike, which was already discounted due to it being a 2012 model, Matthew did negotiate for the labor of moving the accessories, which, at over an hour of time, was well worth requesting.)

While there’s some temptation to keep all of the bikes (two back-ups is better than one, right?), we’re planning to sell the repaired Pacer, hopefully for close to what we paid for it. While it could have been worse, this was not the best introduction we could have had to buying a bicycle on Craigslist. If the seller cannot produce specifics on where he/she purchased the bike — buyer beware!

Bus and bike errands

We started our week with a visit to Safety Stop, a neat service offered by St. Louis Children’s Hospital, providing nearly at-cost pricing on a variety of safety equipment for infants and children, including bike helmets and car seats.

Over the past year, someone outgrew his first bicycle helmet (also purchased at Safety Stop). We’ve been squeezing into that helmet for the past couple of months — definitely time for an upgrade.

Given the option of bus or bike, I chose bus in the heat. We walked to the bus stop down the street and waited for our bus (Sir likes to sit on the bus stop bench even when we’re not waiting for a bus).

Twenty minutes later (wait plus transit time), we arrived within a couple of blocks of our destination with plenty of time to spare. I chose the walking route that took us by the pond and rain garden feature on the WashU medical campus, not knowing that a treat was in store.

Against all odds, a mother duck picked this very public location to nest and hatch six adorable fuzzy ducklings. The lily pads were in bloom, adding to the lovely scenery. We never would have seen this if we drove our car.

Sir enjoyed seeing the ducks (and the incoming helicopter) before we continued on to the appointment. This location of Safety Stop is housed in a parking garage, so walking there felt a bit weird (but fun!).

They outfitted Sir in a youth size small helmet. It seems ridiculously huge, but it fits him dialed down to the smallest setting, which also means it has room for him to grow.

Monday night I biked to the nearest Red Box location to grab a movie. It was our first time using the service, and we’ll definitely be repeat customers (though perhaps not as frequently as if there were one just a bit closer, say within a two or three block walk, as opposed to a mile bike ride).

Tuesday morning I ran a bunch of errands by bike (Sir was with Baba — I generally avoid multi-stop bike errands with him, since getting him in and out of the bike seat and helmet is a bit of a pain in the rear), including picking up some drugs for Matthew and joining a new gym (more on that in a future post).

Wednesday afternoon I lucked out when the bed railings I’d been looking at on Craigslist were located less than a mile from us. I hitched up the trailer and headed over.

I used a few bungee cords to secure (I use the word loosely) the railings in the trailer. It worked well enough for a short distance, low speed ride.

The railings are one more item on the list of things we need before transitioning Sir to a “big boy bed,” an event which is now imminent.

We bought a mattress for him back in January, and I’ve been stalling ever since. I mean, once you let them out of the ~~cage~~ crib, there’s no going back, right? Why rush it?

He hasn’t done anything crazy, like launch himself out of his Pack ‘n Play yet, but he’s definitely tall enough for that to be a risk. He’s now officially over both the recommended height and weight limits, so it’s probably not the most comfortable place anymore.

We’re just waiting on the foundation and frame (which I will not be picking up by bike), and then it’s go time.

My rides this week were all fairly short, and, except for the bed railing pick-up, all before ten in the morning or after seven at night, but definitely hot, humid, and sweaty for all of that. So goes summer biking — I’d still rather do it than not!

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