This weekend, I was invited to a party at a friend's house, about 30 miles away. I had originally planned to drive because it was in Rocklin, an area I had never ridden to nor had any familiarity with. After looking over the route via Google, I realized that the first half was almost all bike trail following the route to Gibson Ranch. The rest still had an encouraging amount of green lines, indicating bike infrastructure (although not differentiating what type of infrastructure...). I decided that since I was staying overnight anyway, there was plenty of time to try riding it. Worst case, I could call for a ride or use my new Better World Roadside Assistance (which includes bike pickups). I made one final check in with a friend who knows the area well and he gave me a couple of adjustments to the route so that I would avoid a gnarly freeway interchange (those are the worst!).

My panniers were packed with food and a change of clothes, I had my tools, my lights, and a lock. I loaded up my Oscar and we rode off.

It was a beautiful, relaxing ride for the most part. The trails were busy with lots of families out riding and walking. The weather was gorgeous with big ominous clouds hanging overhead.

The route worked out wonderfully. There were some stressful sections through Roseville where the bike lanes were narrow and squeezed between two lanes of traffic so that vehicles were traveling fast on both sides. I still had to cross over a highway interchange but it was relatively easy.

My ride home today was slightly calmer through Roseville with lighter Sunday morning traffic. I enjoyed ending the ride on the Dry Creek and Sacramento Northern bike trails instead of the suburban sections. I did run into some traffic jams on the trails, however.

Big Brother joined me on my journey to Rancho Cordova for a meeting. We took light rail to get there and I went back and forth about how we'd manage the first and last miles of the trip. We could have walked which would have taken an extra half hour on either side of the train time or we could bring our bikes but have to lug them up the steep steps for the light rail. We went with bikes.

We arrived at the station with plenty of time. Two trains were no shows because a driver had driven into the tracks in downtown and was stuck. Over 40 minutes later, we finally had a train.

With some juggling and help from people watching me try to manage both bikes and a kid up the steps, we were able to get onboard without too much trouble. I kept coaching BB about continuing to push the open door button so we didn't end up losing each other or a bike or two. People were really friendly about it and helped us on and off at each stop. I probably could have done it myself but I wouldn't have wanted to.

There was a big fight that broke out right as we got onboard on our way home. Luckily we were up the steps as the first punches were thrown at the foot of the same steps. That wasn't something I was happy about my kiddo seeing but he didn't seem very worried about it.

It was certainly an adventure but I'm glad to be back home.

Finally seeing the light as we get to our last days of winter break. We've packed a lot of fun into the past three weeks but today has been one of my favorite so far. Big Brother hasn't ridden his own bike for months. Today, we decided to go for an adventure. As we started out, I asked him how far he wanted to go. His answer: "maybe 70 or 80 miles."

First stop, fuel! We rode three miles across town in the misty rain. It was a great ride except at the very end when a woman in a giant SUV tried to overtake us at an intersection as the light turned red. She swerved back into our lane, only to then park two blocks later. There was a bit of an exchange of words and we were offered this great pearl "you have to get on the sidewalk." My sweet munchkin's cheery attitude kept me in good spirits.

We stopped for some playtime before we started off for the long way home down the American River Parkway.

We didn't quite make it 70 miles but we rode 15--still really awesome! He was complaining a bit toward the end about his tush being sore and he came home ready to eat everything in the house. Best vacation day so far! I think that ride will give me enough energy to get through this final weekend...Still, I can't wait for Monday!

Happy New Year! Off to a great start by getting around to finishing a project that I had started months ago. Since we're finally getting some rain in Sacramento, it was about time! Now, I can't take any credit for this brilliant hack, one of the awesome folks on the Haul-a-Day Facebook page posted her photos. I love having an online community of family/cargo bikers. 

I'm not very handy so thankfully, this was a pretty easy project and I had some great help. The hardest part was waiting for the hardware store to get enough u-bolts in stock. I used 4 pieces of metal pipe cut to about 6" long (which I then had cut down even more so there wouldn't be a lot of extra pipe hanging down, 4 u-bolts, and a Weehoo canopy. The hardware cost less than $10 and the canopy was on sale for about $40. 

The good folks at ACE Hardware in midtown cut down the pipe and sanded down the edges as best they could. My friend Neil drilled the holes in the pipe to match up with the u-bolts. 

On my first try, I had the extra tubing pointed up and wrapped it with electrical tape to cover any sharp edges. The tape made the tube too thick for the Weehoo mounts so I had to take it all off again. 

The canopy has an open back because it fits over the Weehoo's high-backed seat. The flap in the front can roll down and create a little trailer-like bubble. The HaD users who first posted this both have seats on the back of their bike which closes up the back similar to the Weehoo's real purpose. Since we don't use any seats, I was trying to figure out what would be the best use of the cover's limited front and back protection. 

​This was my first test: 

The boys had no trouble climbing into the HaD but did argue about who got to sit in front and get the most out of the cover. While there is some back protection from the overhanging visor, there's almost no side protection. Also, the canopy was pretty high, leaving a lot of extra space above the kiddos. 

The first couple of rides went well. I didn't notice any added wind resistance or wobbling. I did get a lot of kid-wiggling, however, and it seemed like they were extra noisy from the sound reverberation in their bubble (although that could have just been the extra sugar they'd been enjoying). 

I made a couple of minor adjustments by turning around the canopy and flipping over the pipes. This lowered the canopy down about three inches and put the visor in front, which seems to be a better fit with greater coverage. Since Sacramento doesn't really get that much rain, we'll probably be using this more in the summer anyway to protect from the sun. Hopefully, we'll have some rain to test it out in soon. I could see this being a great frame for a double stroller rain cover for added protection. 

One of our first trips out with the added Popemobile was to the annual Friends Of The Riverbank New Year's day walk. Our friends Neil and Kara joined us with their daughter warmly ensconced in the Nihola. 

We also decided to take the Crazier Train out again so that the boys could wear off some of their residual energy from Portland and the holidays. We stopped by Addison's Bicycle Repairium to get a quote for some of the most-needed repairs for the tandem. I'm hoping to get us out for an adventure in the near future and it would be awesome to be able to take this rig. The munchkins love riding it so it'll be nice to get it in better shape.