New Goals

6/3/2012

After one of our hot afternoon rides. I'm so happy to have the sun shades but even with them, I can tell that the summer is going to pose new challenges.

I have a new ambition--to continue riding my bike every day for 365 days. I've already gotten over 60 days down so I've laid down a nice foundation and feel like I can keep going for the next ~300. April was a challenge, going 30 days in a row was something I had never even come close to accomplishing. There were days when I didn't want to leave the house but the 30 Day Challenge kept me moving and it felt good. Then, May came along with Bike Month. Six hundred miles pledged and that was rough! Each day, I tried taking the "long way" home and made trips just for the heck of it. By the end of the month, I was dragging but I was still excited about my ability to keep going even through tough times. Now, June has begun and I'm ready for a new set of goals. I realized with May that I get a bit obsessive with the mileage counts and I love to push myself. Since May kicked my butt, I was ready for June to change gears. While riding the last couple of days, I was able to get some great thinking done and I came up with my newest goal--to do something I didn't think was possible each week by bike, something that I would normally take the car for, or something that I might pass up because I didn't want to take the car.

This weekend, I had a couple of awesome trips. Jose was out of town and the boys and I are taking care of a couple different cats for family that's out of town so that was keeping us busy. We decided to go the Farmer's Market but had to stop and get cash. On our way, we passed a yard sale and they had a big plastic turtle sandbox/wading pool. I've been looking for one of those for the boys and with the summer coming, now was the time to do so. I passed by, however, writing it off because I was on the bike. On our way back, I thought I would just ask how much. $3! I couldn't pass that up! I did some quick checks and sure enough, I was able to strap it onto the side of the Mundo. My seat was a bit cramped but Big Brother was fine and we didn't have far to go so I perched on the saddle and rode to the Market, picked up strawberries and tamales, answered a million questions about the bike and the load, and headed home. I was so excited about both the find and my decision to give loading it up a go.

Big Brother and his new friend.

The turtle is tucked into the milk crate then strapped with Yuba Straps to keep it stable. Very solid.

Our next trip was to a friend's house for backyard camping. She lives up north, an area that I wasn't familiar with for biking and it's really car-oriented. I've always just assumed that you had to drive if you wanted to go anywhere there. I was going back and forth about driving vs. biking but realized that my car and the carseats were at my parent's house. I would have had to load everything onto my bike and ride 3 miles to their house, unload the bike, stow it away, and then drive (it's not a very pleasant drive, either). I realized that if I was going to make that much effort either way, I'd rather just leave the car there and bike the whole way, at least that effort would be enjoyable and worst case scenario, I would bike on the sidewalk if it got hairy until I could find a side street. Once I had my plan of action as well as my back-up plan of action, I was mentally ready to go.

Water stop along the American River Parkway.

The first half was along the bike trail so that was easy. The second half meant that I was riding up one of the busiest main roads in Sacramento. I got off the bike trail at the Watt Ave. exit and rode. It was actually pretty nice! I was surprised to find a wide, clean bike lane. The road was still noisy and busy but I felt safe. I cruised up Watt for a few miles then decided to try some neighborhood riding. It was great to be in a quiet neighborhood after all that car noise. We navigated around, stopping to check the map every so often (I'm notorious for getting lost). There was just one block where I had to get back on a busy street that didn't have a bike lane but I was actually making a left turn immediately so I just skipped to the turn lane and waited at the light in the traffic lane. There was only one section that I decided that I was going to get on the sidewalk. The bike lane was disappearing into right turn lanes and I didn't want to deal with the ensuing mess so I popped on the sidewalk, only to look up and see a sign proclaiming "Bike lane ends. Bikes use sidewalk or traffic lane." Cool! I still had to cross the busy street and deal with turning traffic but to my luck, the driver that was turning waved me on and I crossed easily and safely in the crosswalk then joined the next section of bike lane on the other side.

I wouldn't say that the bike ride was beautiful or relaxing but it is possible and not at all horrible. I would easily do that route again, maybe not so much during rush hour, if I could avoid it, but it does open up a whole new section of Sacramento that I can add to my biking repertoire. Two new experiences checked off the list--swimming pools and the Arden/Carmichael areas are now at my disposal. I find that by breaking through the self-doubt and automatic negative responses, I am able to do much more than I ever thought possible. This month is going to help me grow as a more proficient bicyclist and hopefully help me cut down even more of my driving "needs."