Good riddance, 2014!

It's a new year and time for a post! 2014 was a roller coaster year with more changes than I could keep up with. My blogging fell behind while I struggled to keep everything else moving along. This past month was a wonderful ending to an otherwise crazy year. 

Carrot picking and child labor!

The boys and I took a week off of California life to hang out in Portland where my brother's family live and farm. While we were there, I took the opportunity to check out a bike tour with Pedal Bike Tours. The only tour that worked with my schedule was the Colombia River Gorge tour, which is funny because Fiddlehead Farm is right along the historic Colombia River Highway where the tour would be taking us. This is a popular biking route but I've never tried riding it, hearing mostly negative feedback from people who live out there saying it's too "dangerous." I was looking forward to getting some confidence riding with people who had ridden out there many times as well as learning more about the area's history. 

There was only one other person on the tour with me and I was a bit surprised to find that there were only two bikes on the rack when I was picked up. Our guide, Daniel, drove us to the first of about six waterfalls and we hiked out a short distance while he began telling us about the area. Then, the other woman and I were given our bikes and set off to meet Daniel at the next stop about a mile down. We continued riding and hiking out to different falls for about 9 miles down the historic route. The road was mostly empty and the hikes were short but beautiful. At each stop, we met Daniel who gave us snacks and more information. It was a great combination of on- and off-the-bike experiences. At the end of the ride, we had some extra time so Daniel took us up to another waterfall where we could hike behind and get a different view. 

I loved the tour! It was fun getting to know the other woman while we rode along together. Even the light rain added to the trip. I look forward to exploring the area more on my own next time I'm in town. 

While I was up in Portland, my sweet HaulaDay, Smurfette, was having her own change of scenery. 

She was hanging out with our friends in Folsom. It was pretty easy to get her up on Kevin's roof rack by shifting down to the smallest frame setting and turning around the handlebars. We had to remove the disc brake because it was on the wrong side of the clamp but that was simple enough. 

Luckily, she didn't sit around collecting dust while we were away. Kevin and his son went on a long night ride adventure, checking out the holiday lights and drinking cocoa while cranking out Christmas tunes. Kevin also took the HaulaDay to the store for groceries a couple of times and even rode it to work, probably putting about 100 miles on the bike that week. While it wasn't exactly set up for his riding style (mostly road biking), Kevin loved having all the cargo room and being able to take his son with him on more rides by towing his bike to the trails around Folsom. I had a really hard time getting the bike back from them when I returned. 

On our way home from Portland, we made two quick stops in Eugene. The first to pick up a used Yepp Maxi from one of the Eugene Kidical Massers who had posted it at a great deal. 

Our second stop was to meet up with our friend Alan of Bike Friday! Our original HaulaDay is a beta model and since her arrival, Alan and his crew have come up with many changes to the HaulaDay frame. They were incredibly generous to give me a chance to test out their newest HAD model, the MK3, and let them know what I think about it (much, much more on this subject coming soon). 

Love at first sight.

Final touches by Alan.

Ready to roll on home...

So now we have two HaulaDays at home! I haven't gotten a chance to get the two of them together because by the time I got Smurfette away from Kevin, another neighbor jumped at the chance to borrow her for a couple of days. Everyone is loving this bike! 

New Year's day ride along the new Johnny Cash bike trail around Folsom Prison.

Smurfette hanging out in the back of my parents' Prius (front wheel off and smallest frame setting with the back car seats folded down).

Newest back deck setup for a larger child/adult in front and smaller/wiggly child buckled in. Not having the hoop is nice for quick seat height changes.

The newer HaulaDay has some great upgrades and changes which I'm really looking forward to comparing to our original model. I have some swapping to do between the two bikes once I can finally get them both at the same house. 

We have some fun things coming up this year. I'm the new Bike/Pedestrian coordinator for an elementary school in Rancho Cordova and I have some new classes to teach. Also, I'm taking an Adventure Cycling leadership training in May to learn more about tour guiding. Big Brother is just about ready to pass down his Isla Bike to Little Brother which means his new bike will have a rack and gears. I'm looking forward to getting him on that bike and getting him to carry some of his own weight on our bike tours! 

Here's to lots of new adventures and experiences in 2015!