I was disappointed to end July without having accomplished a bike overnight. I had been planning on doing one each month for the year but knew that July was going to be tricky. This is my busiest month with the exchange student program. I had been hoping I could still squeeze in a very short ride but never got to it. The exchange students are wonderful and although it's a crazy time with little downtime, I love it all the same. While I wanted to reach my goal, I'm not about to sacrifice the small amount of sanity I'm retaining. August will put me right back on track. 

Instead of dwelling on the lost month, I decided to recap what we've done so far this year.

• January: Big Brother and I rode to Chico (day 1, day 2, day 3, day 4)! 
• February: Sacramento to Ione (day 1 and day 2)! 
• March: Our group camping trip to Negro Bar! 
• April: Riding to the local KOA with my mama! 
• May:  Anniversary trip to the Ryde Hotel (day 1 and day 2) and backyard camping! 
• June: Boys and I rode to Beal's Point! 

Even though I am dying for another overnight, it's been a blast running around with all these awesome kiddos. Big Brother and I just spent 4 days in Southern California with them, going to Hollywood, Disneyland, Universal Studios, and Santa Barbara. It was almost an entire week without a single bike ride! 

I'm sure we'll make up for it in August. Where shall we go next?  

I feel so American these days--rushed, busy, frantic, lazy, tired. I've been able to ride a few days during the program but I gave up a bit these last few days. We were hosting one of the students for a couple of nights and it's difficult to transport an extra person that you don't know very well. He would have actually like riding bikes, especially since he has been getting really carsick, but it was one extra thing that I just couldn't manage right now. Then, as soon as I dropped him off to his real host family, my phone was overloaded with calls about a sick student in the hospital. More driving needed to get to him quickly and deal with that situation. Then today was a driving day because I needed to run a bunch of errands on opposite sides of town. Tomorrow, I'll finally get to ditch the car for a bit but it's only temporary right now. 

Today, I realized that I'm so normal right now. I "don't have time to ride." It's an excuse I hear every where I go. "I would ride, but..." Then they go off and list a bunch of things: too far to go, not enough time, too much stuff to carry, too tired, too many people depending on me, there could be an emergency, etc. I realized that I'm ticking off every one of those excuses. Because of that realization, I made myself take the Bullitt to pick up the kids from daycare. It was only a 4 mile trip but I decided to extend our time out by bringing dinner with me to the park. Yes, dinner was only yogurt, blueberries, and graham crackers but it was the best I could do today. We all needed it. 

I did end up doing the cardinal sin of biking with children by clicking Little Brother's chin with the helmet buckle. A few too many of those and you risk losing your child's trust completely. 

This little ride gave me the perfect amount of time to slow down and remember the journey. I'm lucky to have a job where this schedule is a very small fraction of my life. I can put up with 2-3 weeks of disruption to my usual biking routines. It's not always about doing it all, sometimes it's just about doing what you can. 

I have to remind myself not to look at all the reasons I can't ride and instead look for all the excuses that I can. 

I forgot our daycare's rule about taking 24-hours before coming back and scrambled in the morning to figure out what to do with Big Brother since he had had a couple of shots the day before. I decided that since he's so awesome, I'd just attempt to sneak him into work at Practical Cycle and hope Tim didn't notice. 

Of course, we just had to stop for some coffee beforehand. 

Lo and behold, we pulled up to one of our favorite shops, Old Soul Weatherstones in Midtown, and saw this spiffy looking Bullitt parked out front! I knew that we had sold one on Father's Day (best Father's Day present ever! I should know because our Bullitt was my Mother's Day/Birthday/Anniversary/every-gift-for-the-rest-of-my-life present and I regret NOTHING!). 

Big Brother and I got to hang out with these guys for a few minutes. The kiddos instantly bonded over being cargo bike kids and having awesome helmets. Check out the great tiara! I think my kids need tiaras. For safety. Or something like that. Our Bullitt Buddy, Paul, is a road biker. You might have been able to tell by the stark contrast between our seat:handlebar height ratios. I love that the Bullitt is really customizable in that way. His bike has the standard Bullitt kid set-up while mine has the custom box made by the folks at Splendid Cycles. My box fits two kids better side-by-side but it certainly gives it a more "homemade" look while Paul's is sleek and fancy. 

I love that we're getting to the point where cargo bikes are popping up everywhere. It seems like I can't go a day without running into another family-biker! 

After coffee and bike-chatting, my new intern and I rode to work. Tim was very nice about having an extra body in the shop and Big Brother was amazing. He sat an entertained himself for about 3.5 hours until 'Nama could come and pick him up. Except for the occasional "MOM! HEY MOM! MOM! LOOK AT THIS, MOM! MOM! MOM! MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA!!!!!!" I barely needed to keep an eye on him. Tim was incredibly tolerant. Big Brother was especially enraptured with Practical Cycles newest toys--the bicycle Playmobil sets. We didn't get the horrible "bike-crash" set though. It is really hard to find bicycle toys these days. Kids are indoctrinated into car-culture early on with their tiny motorized cars, Hot Wheels, Disney Cars movies, etc. I even saw a Disney Cars bicycle at Costco! I will admit, however, BB found the bicycle cop's tiny plastic gun immediately and focused a lot of his play with finding the bad guys and chasing them down. That gun may disappear next time I'm at work. 

Big Brother and I have been having lots of fun time together, thanks to bikes! Today was a rough day. Little Brother refused to nap and both boys were bouncing off the walls but exhausted. Luckily, Jose got home right after LB finally passed out and BB and I rode the Bullitt to swim class. Now that we know the route is fun and easy, I was comfortable taking the giant RV bike. On the way home, we decided to take the long way back (an extra 2 miles going the other direction on the ARP). Big Brother wanted to lay down so I unbuckled him while we were on the trail. As we were getting off the parkway, I hit a bump while he was leaning over the edge and he bumped his nose. It was our first Bullitt casualty (if you don't count Jose's horrible mishap on his first ride). Big Brother was fine after a little water break and a kiss but I kept him buckled for the rest of the ride home. 

One bummer was that when I was trying to put the sun shade on the bike today, I ended up stripping the set screw. I was going to have to move the mounting spots anyway because the poles hit my handlebar when I turn. Now, I'll just have to make a couple new changes as well. 

Shall we remember Jose's infamous inaugural ride? Yes. 

Makes me laugh every time! 

Yesterday, we got the chance to ride our Bullitt with the shade canopy. It wasn't great, truthfully. The mirror hits the pole and makes it difficult to maneuver the bike. It's fine while riding but I'm back to doing 10-point-turns when trying to turn around in tight places. I also have to take it off when riding in the dark because it blocks my headlamp. It wasn't very useful in the morning since there's no side support. However, riding home at noon, it was a great help. There's more tinkering to be done but it's better than it was. 

After the zoo, we rode home and refused to take any naps so we were all grumpy. We didn't have the option of driving to swim class so we didn't have any excuses. Melissa had pointed us in a better direction than Google suggested. It was about 2 miles longer, 9.5 miles total and we had already ridden 8 ish. I wasn't really excited about the ride but it started along the American River Parkway so I knew it couldn't be too bad. As turned out, it wasn't bad at all! Thanks, Melissa! I feel like a whole new part of Sacramento has opened up to us. After the ARP, we rode through an industrial area with very low traffic.

They had told me that there was a bike rack but when I got there, the bike rack already had been occupied by a giant plant. 

When I went inside to complain (actually, I just asked nicely to see if the plant could be moved). I was told that it wouldn't be moved since no one EVER, EVER, EVER parked there. He let me pull the bike inside and unload. Not a great way to make biking seem viable but it really, really, really is! Again, thanks, Melissa! She made the impossible possible! 

And it's a good thing 'Nama's house is on the way home because we, of course, stopped for popsicles. 

'Nama invited us out to dinner and we accepted! Little Brother insisted on sitting on the deck with Big Brother. We lasted about 5 blocks before I realized I couldn't handle the stress every time he took his hands off the bars to ring the bell, hug me, or tickle his big brother. He's certainly not ready for the deck. I'm considering getting the Monkey Bars from Yuba but am not sure yet if it's even needed. Maybe a set of ape hanger handlebars would be more affordable and just as effective. 

Today, we had a ton of fun! We began the day by meeting up with a few other cargo bikers and talked to the Good Day Sacramento news crew. They were great sports, getting rides and great footage of our different bikes. The segments only lasted a couple minutes and they mainly focused on the saving money part but it was still great to get out to make cargo biking mainstream. There's so much more that I wanted to say but it was a start. You can see our live segment and the edited version on their website. The kids were so patient considering how long it took to film. The funniest part for me was when I took the camera guy for a spin in the Bullitt's box. He was close to double my size and the bike bowed and flexed under his weight. AFter a cople pedals, I had the bike under control, almost. We made it around a little path circle and only came close to falling when he leaned over to set his campera down. We nearly crushed his camera but I caught the bike in time. 

I felt so incognito riding the BionX Breezer this evening for a home visit. It was a beautiful 15 mile evening ride but I was so normal...

Another fun Bullitt addition--shade! I have been checking out a trike canopy that has been in the shop for about a month and finally got up the nerve to play around with it. I realized pretty quickly that this could be exactly what I've been looking for for the Bullitt. With Tim's help and a few screws, we attached it pretty securely to the wooden box. It was surprisingly easy and only required some extra screws and snipping off a length of the front poles. The box finally had enough dings in it to not feel badly about drilling into it. Most of the hardware actually came with the canopy and just needed a little rearranging. We added longer screws to go through the wood and that was it. There are set screws to hold the poles in place, which I would have to remove if I took a larger person...say, maybe my mom...

It was a little odd while riding home. On very sharp turns, my handlebars bump into the back rails but it's flexible enough to not cause any problems. It felt a bit harder to ride in the wind but that might have just been my imagination and the fact that I was hyper-aware of it being there. I was also trying to gauge the cover's shading--at 5pm with the sun at my back, it didn't seem to be making a big difference inside. 

However, the real test is when the boys are in it. It is going to be perfect for the noon-time heat and hopefully for keeping the seat cool when we are parked. I have plans (ideas) to add some sort of side cover, maybe mesh, for added protection. 

It's a start and it was really reasonable priced. So far, it feels stable enough. I can't wait to test it out tomorrow with my wee guinea pigs! 

We did make it home from the Ryde in one piece, thankfully! The trip home was pretty similar to the way there. It was slightly less terrible though, probably because there was slightly less traffic than Saturday and we had just had a lovely night's sleep without having been woken up by children at 6am. Still, it wasn't much fun. We had a strong headwind and the same speedy drivers. I didn't get honked at until we got closer to town, though. That was nice. I always wonder why drivers have enough time to lay out on their horns but not so much thought given to tapping their brakes. It takes about the same amount of energy. 

Still, even a bad bike ride is still a bike ride. The experience might not have been what I had expected but it was an adventure and some great time together with my hubby. I look forward to trying out some of the alternate routes that have been suggested to avoid the 160 traffic and maybe trying it again on a weekday when the roads aren't full of wine-soaked drivers. 

It has been nonstop action since we got back, too. I managed to make it to work at Practical Cycle (which was perfect timing because our BionX Breezer's front wheel had gone wonky and needed attention) after our trip and squeeze in some more biking classes through the Safe Routes To School programs in both Natomas and Citrus Heights. I'm pretty brain-fried at the moment. 

Some exciting news--Jose's mastered the Bullitt! He had to lower the seat to make himself more comfortable but he felt good enough to take the kids to daycare for the first time! And, he didn't crash! 

It was really cool to see the kids in the Bullitt from another angle other than behind them. They are just too flippin' cute! 

Today was a great example of why we need two kid-toting bikes. Jose took Big Brother to a Giant's game by riding the Mundo to the train and I dropped the little monster off with my mom so I could drive to the biking class in Citrus Heights with Dan Allison. The irony isn't lost on me that I drive to a class to teach kids to use bikes as transportation. It's kind of like flying around the world in jets to warn about the dangers of global climate change. 

However, I did get to put some of my new bike mechanic skills to the test--adjusting derailleurs and brakes, tightening stuff, and just looking cool while playing with the program's new Bike Friday student bikes. These aren't the typical Bike Friday folders but are incredibly adjustable to fit a huge range of people--from third graders up to real adult-like people. They were sent over without much quality control and have too many variations and a few problems. We weren't able to fix everything but that's what a real mechanic and warranty service is for. 

The most ridiculous comment of the day came from a teacher who walked over to see what we were doing. "Teaching biking? Really? Isn't that what parents are supposed to do? First it was tooth-brushing, now it's biking! Are we going to be forced to pay for bikes for kids, now?" As if there are better things for our taxes than buying kids bikes. Dan pointed out (to me, not to her, sadly) that one single freeway onramp could pay for a new bike for every single child in the district. 

It's always pretty horrible driving around in a car but it's even worse driving around in the suburbs! There are so many lanes of traffic, confusing signs, nonexistent speed limits, and really depressing pedestrian/bike infrastructure. It's easy to see why people who live in these areas "need" a car. The less I drive, the less I take driving for granted. Today, I watched a man tie his necktie with both hands while driving past a school in the morning. Ben Marans said on Twitter this morning: "It pains me to see so many ppl behind the wheel who treat driving as a secondary activity to eating, make-up, texting, reading, etc."

So to make up for it, here is a photo of how awesomely cute you could be while waiting for public transportation:

And then, because you're not exhausted from driving, you'll look like this: 

Doesn't that look like more fun? 

We seem to be hard on bikes. Probably because we use them constantly. We usually ride at least 2 bikes each every day. Cargo bikes for errands and kid-duty, electric bike for class and quick stops/commuting, and a range of "others" to supplement. Right now, the Linus is down with a broken spoke and Jose's Easton has been down with a stripped seat collar bolt. 

This morning, I finally had the chance to bring the Easton in to Practical Cycle. I rode the Bullitt to drop off the kids in the morning but found that I couldn't leave the bike at my mom's (where the Easton was hanging out) because I would need it again tomorrow. Towing bikes is pretty easy on the Mundo and I had already accomplished carrying the folding Mobic in the bucket so I decided to give the Bullitt some more bike-on-bike action. 

On the way there: 

It turned out to work out pretty well. I took off the front wheel to make the bike lighter and shorter. Then, I strapped down the frame in a couple of places with some tie-downs and a bungee net for good measure. 

We made it to the shop easily, just having to account for the extra bike hanging out the front and to the right. I needed a wider berth and went over the tracks slowly but the bike held. I did, however, end up with a yucky scratch in the box from the pedal (there was a rag between the chainring that minimized the damage). It really is just a little scratch and it was bound to happen anyway. As John Lucas says "it's a sign of a well-loved and well-used bike."

On the way back, I enlisted Tim's help to switch things up a bit. 

We took the front wheel off again and instead of putting the rest of the bike in the box, we tried to attach it to the frame. At first, I put the fork in the pannier but the bike swayed too much side-to-side. Then, we realized that the dropouts fit perfectly in the rack. It was as if it had been made that way! 

We strapped the bike down to keep the fork from bouncing. It turned out to be incredibly stable and easy to ride! It was my own little trail-a-bike. I got lots of turned heads and thumbs-ups and even chased a roadie down with this giant bike-train. He kept blowing through stoplights so, eventually, I couldn't keep up. 

It's pretty awesome to know how many things we can do with these bikes. People buy bigger cars just to do what I do--carry 2-3 kids, haul around bikes and crazy cargo, go fun places. I just hope to help change people's minds about what a bike can really do with a little imagination and enough tie-downs. 

Saturday: Rode to Davis! I chose the Bullitt so our friend, Randy, could take his kids on the Mundo. The ride there was quick and pretty painless, even going across the causeway. I love this ride. It's not very pretty--lots of urban cycling through West Sacramento, stinky highway, noisy cars, and a recent obstacle of Caltran's takeover for a section of the trail. 

Big Brother got squirrley around mile 18 and since we were on the bike trail, I decided to let him move around. It was rough for all of our bottoms and I didn't want him to be too uncomfortable. Little Brother loved cuddling with his big brother. 

When we reached the Farmers' Market, we were greeted by Chris and Jon from Cool Davis with strawberries, pastries, and ice cold water! We even got new tee shirts! It was awesome! 

Plenty of delicious food, fresh fruits and veggies, and playground time followed and created some very exhausted children. It was getting really warm by afternoon--93 degrees. My boys were cozy in the Bullitt and Randy's son quickly passed out in the Peanut Shell. However, his daughter was sitting at the stoker bars and started looking pretty tired. She was resting her head on Randy's back and starting to doze when we decided that we needed to move her into a secure seat--the Bullitt. 

Yep, we had three kiddos in the Bullitt bucket. Little Brother was not happy to have been woken up but after some very loud singing and distractions, he realized that we were the party bike. Fifteen miles with a 120 pound cargo and a slight headwind. It was a good thing they were so cute or I might not have made it. The kids were quite squished but had fun. Everyone was really tired and uncomfortable.  

We made one last stop about 2 miles from home. The little ones were worn out and we didn't want to leave them with grumpy memories about our long adventure. So, we stopped at Suzy Burger for dipped ice creams. That revived everyone to last all the way to home where the sprinklers were waiting. 

Sunday: CycloFemme! Last year's CycloFemme wasn't quite what I was envisioning so this year, I enlisted the help of some awesome ladies. We planned a route that had two sections. The first was a bit easier and the second was more challenging but ended at the Sunflower Drive-In in Fair Oaks--13.1 miles total, each direction. We started with 28 riders, coffee, Doughbot Doughnuts (thank you!!!), and lots of bikes. 

There were some new-to-riding folks, some new-to-the-area folks, little ones on their own bikes, little ones on their parent's bike, and everyone was ready to ride! It was so wonderful to meet such great new friends and catch up with old friends. Everyone cruised at their own pace, ranging from speedy to strolling, whatever was comfortable and fun. 

Our second stop was at William B. Pond. We lost a couple of riders, one due to a bee sting and another to a little bike crash (she's okay). The little ones on their own bikes headed back to meet back up in Fair Oaks while their mama giddily zipped back and forth along the bike trail, kid-free. There were cookies (made by my own mama!), fresh fruits (thanks, Randy, for hitting up the Farmers' Market before the ride!), and more coffee (I was begging folks to drink it up. Next year, we go with cold mimosas!). 

The next 7.9 miles had more rolling hills but we pushed on happily, again at differing comfortable speeds. The last half-mile of pure uphill made the ride even more satisfying and the Sunflower Drive-In even more delicious. 

The way home was a lot harder for me. It was hot again--95 degrees today and even though the ride had more downhill in this direction, we had a headwind again and long stretches of tree-less path. I think the two rides in a row got to me, too. My legs felt like goo. I made it back home in our little break-away group of Jen (kid-free now!), my sister-in-law Eliana, and our new bikey friend Mary. 

I am so grateful to be a part of this great biking community and to be constantly meeting new folks who are already in or just joining the biking fun. I'm already looking forward to start planning CycloFemme 2014 and bringing more people into it so Sacramento CycloFemme can continue to grow and evolve into something huge! 

Our dear friend Bekah showed up early this morning for an extremely quick visit before she had to hop back on a plane. We had to get to my mom's house to get the car and drive to the airport so of course, we went by bike. She had come straight from work and had all her crew gear, not her usual light-packing job. Thank goodness for that awesome rear rack! The perfect way to start a day--Bekah and bikes! 

Next, my mom and I rode over the Freemont Park for the May Is Bike Month Kick-Off! Cassidy was there showing folks how to replace their car with a bike. I left the Bullitt hanging out there to show how easy it is to replace the family minivan. Our friend Jarrod showed up with his crew on his decked-out Mundo. Big and Little Brothers found the fountain and thoroughly enjoyed it. The Big guy was hand-selected by the Mayor-of-Davis to choose the raffle winners. He also got to throw out a few pairs of socks (although not to me) and to an aspiring Buster Posey, this was heaven! The best part was when he threw raffle ticket and then also threw the prize. What an arm! 

It was a long, busy morning. I knew that Little Brother was going to fall asleep on the way home but didn't realize just HOW cozy he'd be. I ended up leaving him in a shady corner in our backyard for about an hour so he could get a full nap. 

Big Brother told me that he couldn't sleep so I said that he could take a book and rest. A minute later I found him like this: 

My final trip this evening was another 4 miles on the BionX Breezer for a meeting. 11.7 miles total today. I have a ways to go to reach my pledge of 500 but it'll be a fun adventure to get there! 

The Bullitt just became even more practical! Tim found a rack that had come off one of the Breezer bikes after they had done a BionX conversion and was able to finagle it onto the Bullitt. He had to use some spacers to get it far enough away from the disc brakes and I installed a set collar with rack mounts as the bike didn't come with any. After some brute force, I now have a wonderful and sturdy rear rack to offset the load of kids I frequently have in the box. I gussied the rack up with my mom's old set of Nashbar panniers because they didn't fit the rack on her new Breezer Greenway.

I ran into the fantastic folks behind Carsick Designs yesterday. Monica was riding her locally built Cycle Truck and Brian had his Xtracycle. Both bikes were decked out in their own bags and filled to the brim! They also had E-zee electric assists and zoomed past at the next intersection.

Good thoughts go out to our bikey-friend, Dorie, of Hum Of The City who was rear-ended by a car while riding her Mamachari with her son. Thankfully, her son is okay but shaken up. She, however, is in for her second leg surgery. Please send her lots of healing and kind thoughts for a speedy recovery.

So, as April comes to an end, so does the 30 Days Of Biking. It was easy this year and I didn't even need to give the challenge a second thought. I just rode every day because I had somewhere to go and biking is how we get around. I was in a car about three times this month which is almost as much as I've been in a car all year.

May Is Bike Month starts tomorrow with the Kick-Off event and the mile logging starts! A huge thank you to all our Tiny Helmets teammates! We're going to be contenders this year!