The First “Chilly” Commute
33 degrees this morning as the three kids and I left for school/work. Nobody asked to get a ride in the van, not even the five year old. Today's commute required either another layer of clothes, a warmer jacket, a hat, and gloves. Three and a half bikes departed for four different locations.It was actually a beautiful morning to ride the short commute to school/work. Others may not understand it, but we "get it" just fine. This proud commuting moment brought to you by the Biking Brady's. Create your own proud bicycling moments. Join the movement.
Filed under: Bike Trails, commuting
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401-Keg
If you had purchased $1,000 of Delta Air Lines stock one year ago, you would have $49 left.With Fannie Mae, you would have $2.50 left of the original $1,000.
With AIG, you would have less than $15 left.
But, if you had purchased $1,000 worth of beer one year ago, drunk all of the beer, then turned in the cans for the aluminum recycling REFUND, you would have $214 cash.
Based on the above, the best current investment advice is to drink heavily and recycle.
It's called the 401-Keg.
Filed under: Bike Trails, humor
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Benefit Ride and Adult Conversation
After church on Sunday the Biking Brady's aired up all the bike tires and headed on down to the 1st Annual (I prefer inaugural -- after all if it's the first one, is it REALLY annual?!?!?) Megan's Run/Ride. It was a scholarship ride for Vermillion and Harrisburg high school to help celebrate the life of Megan (Tolsma) O'Connor who lost her battle with cancer this year.It was a GREAT turnout for a first year event. It all shows how much smaller towns in South Dakota are so great at participating in events that benefit others. They had door prizes and the odds were stacked in our favor with five registrants. We had three family members drawn. Marissa's name was drawn for a free family pool pass next year (MOST Excellent!), I got a reversible USD Coyote beanie with 2 Taco John's Combo meals and Carson's name was drawn and he was busy playing so we sent Austin up. It was pretty picked over by that point so Austin grabbed a 2009 pocket calendar along with a "sexy" Vermillion Light and Power t-shirt. While the Brady Five made out good, the Ride Vermillion group o' four was shut out much to our chagrin. I'm willing to cough up my 2XL sexy t-shirt if you need it CDV.
CDV and I discussed taking his new bike out for a spin, but he decided that the 20+ mph winds were probably more brutal in the country than in town so we nixed that idea. A plan was hatched amongst the Missusses to get together for some adult conversation and let the kids play. This worked out well for the two older boys as they disappeared to the Wii never to be seen again. The girls and Carson popped in and out, but much fun was had. It's a good thing the video camera wasn't going by the time four slightly lubed adults made it downstairs to play "Disney Charades" or to play "American Idol" on the Wii. YouTube would be abuzz today...
There was also preparatory talk about the Gut Check 2009 and the fact we only need one vehicle. My goal is to get CDV to the finish line this year so I have no plans on leaving him. What if he's strong and leaves me? Oh well, I'll just rest, go ahead in the van, and pull for him when I feel up to it. Oh yeah CDV, this doesn't mean that you don't have to pull AT ALL.
The beauty part is that I didn't crack an eye lid until about 9:00 this morning due to a rather late hitting of the proverbial hay last night. I love my holidays....
Filed under: Bicycle Advocacy, Bike Trails, Biking Stories, Friends
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Required Lane Hogs Tattoo
Want to be part of our bike "gang"? This will show your allegiance to the Lane Hogs. |
Filed under: Bike Trails, humor
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Commuting Bag Transitions
My Pedro's Backpack is still in decent shape, but I had a good buy on a Timbuk2 Messenger Bag so I snagged it. This is against Mrs. Biking Brady's wishes might I add. She thinks that it will be harder on my back than a backpack.Today was my first day using it and I have to say that I'm mighty impressed so far. The one thing that always bugged me about the backpack was that when it was full I had trouble getting my neck completely up to look around when it was full. That is not a problem with the Timbuk2 bag. I had a change of clothes (rain gear), a replacement motherboard, and a six pack of 24 oz Diet Pepsi bottles in it and I still had room. As Laura puts it: "You could haul around a 2 year old child in that thing". Maybe her tune is changing about my Timbuk2 bag!
Filed under: Bicycle Advocacy, Bike Trails, commuting, cycling gear
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A Couple Days in My Commuting Life
This post is a continuation of THIS post. You may want to read that first as I have no idea where this post/rant may end up.I was surprised by my two day commuting total in keeping track of the last couple days of "inconvenience" of commuting by bike versus a car. I logged 20.67 miles of commuting, which honestly might be a little more than normal, but not by much. Without further ado, the breakdown:
Wednesday:
* Commute to work
* Home for lunch (picked up the trail a bike too)
* Back to work
* Picked up Carson from school, took him home, dropped off trail a bike, back to work
* Went to Fire/EMS open house to meet up with the family
* From there to church for a bible study
* To home from church
* Hooked up "grocery getter" and went to the grocery store and loaded up to the tune of $70+
Thursday:
* Took Carson to school and back to work
* To the dome to teach spinning class and back to work
* To Carson's class to read a story for his VIP day.
* Picked up Carson from school, took him home, dropped off trail a bike
* Home from work, slipped in a quick 22 mile road bike ride.
* To/From Marissa's soccer game.
Does this really seem like a lot to do on bike? I don't think so. Lots of short trips are a simple thing to do. My bike is parked right outside my building at work or in my garage in my house. Many people who drive park 2-3 blocks away from their building. Tell me who gets places in this small town faster?
I'm not trying to get uppity with my response, but I guess recent comments from well meaning people (at least I think they were) kind of struck a nerve. Because it's the "norm", it's okay for you to commute and run around town doing EVERYTHING in your car, but it's not alright as a "normal" (VERY subjective term) person to do almost everything on their bike. I guess we agree to disagree as the politicians say.
Is our family "car free"? No. Are we "car light"? Absolutely. Mrs. Biking Brady does her share of not taking unnecessary trips with the Van (aka O Great and Powerful Steve!). Austin and Marissa both bike to school except in the most extreme conditions. I'm proud of our family choices. They are proud of our family choices. Do what you want with your choices, but don't question ours. It's still a semi free country -- election pending. /end rant
Filed under: Bike Trails, Rants, South Dakota Bicycle Coaltion, commuting
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How I Commute
A lurker of my blog recently asked me recently how I do it -- Commute EVERY day. How do I literally NOT drive in today's age. My response was simple: Much like anything else in life, just start out, keep at it, and like anything else, it becomes habit. Sure, the weather isn't always great and I could pack it in and drive, but that is part of the challenge.Let's take a deeper look at Vermillion. It is a logistically simple town to traverse making it easy to start commuting.
Terrain: Except for the few people who live below the bluff, Vermillion is flat as a pancake. Commuting doesn't take a toll on you effort-wise because there are no hills to traverse.
Ease of Navigation: Easy. There are very few streets that aren't in a grid format.
Streets to Avoid/Reason:
Main St. - Fairly high traffic depending on the time of day and it is very narrow in spots.
Cherry St. - Busy street at all times of the day. In the process of becoming a four lane road all the way through town. You can definitely ride it, but better to avoid it when possible.
Dakota St. - Busy at times as well, but is wide enough that cars should be able to give you room.
Plum St. - Main issue here is that it's a main through street to the South Side of town and to the hospital. It's moderately narrow with parking on one side. Best to choose a different north/south connector.
Reasons not to commute by bicycle in Vermillion: None.
It's more than just the commute though. It's the habit of not driving. I'm re-inspired to keep track of how often I drive and report monthly. Of course, this will make me think about anytime I get in an automobile and decide if it is necessary I do so.
Next post: A couple detailed days of typical commuting for me, since that was asked too! Oh yeah, stop lurking and comment once in awhile!
Filed under: Bike Trails, commuting
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Friday Funnies
I'm a guy with a lot of faith. I think I'll keep my helmet on thank-you-very-much.
It's always the guy in the red shirt...
Only three lost fingers due to this picture.
Optimism: At least he didn't fall into the puddle on the floor...
Filed under: Bike Trails, humor
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Memories
Warning: This post has nothing to do with cycling. Sometimes I need a non-cycling release. Turn away now. Okay, you've been warned.Outside of a very few people who read my blog, Cathy Jo and maybe a few others, not too many people knew my Dad. Those who did learned to deal with his quirky sense of humor. "How's it hangin'?" was a staple greeting for my Dad at the gas station our family owned. It didn't necessarily matter if you were a man or a woman either, the greeting was almost always on the tip of his tongue.
Some years are harder than others remembering my Dad on his Birthday. Today he would have been 84 years old. As busy as I was today, my thoughts went to my Dad often today. Most of my thoughts were about baseball. He would be enthralled with the Twins as they try to make the playoffs right now.
Dad loved baseball and so did I. I played until I was 19. Then I opted for softball once USD dropped it's baseball program for "Club" baseball. For reasons I didn't always understand, Dad refused to come to my games. He did see me play softball (fast pitch and slow pitch) but never seen me play the sport that I was best at.
He never told me the story himself, but I heard that he was good at baseball as a kid as well. One day he hit a line drive that hit the pitcher and almost killed him. He never played again.
He always tried to take a break from working at out gas station on Saturday to watch a little Saturday afternoon baseball on TV (BC - Before Cable). We listened to our share of baseball on the radio: Dad listened to the Twins, myself the Royals. It was the one really strong bond that we shared.
Dad was a hard working, no nonsense type of guy and fairly non-emotional. The first time I seen him cry was when I left for Desert Storm. The one and only time I heard "I love you" from him was when he was going in for surgery and after I said it first. It was a moment that to this day was important to me though.
He'll be gone six years this Thanksgiving but it often seems so much longer. I learned much from him and also learned some things I didn't want to be as a parent. I know he loved me as my kids know I love them. Unlike my Dad, I rarely miss an opportunity to tell my kids that I love them. For those of you with kids, I hope you don't either.
Filed under: Bike Trails, Family
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A Strange Thing Happened on the Way to the Rummage Sale
Our local "shopper" newspaper (the Broadcaster) had a section in it for a city wide rummage sale. Laura pointed out that one of the sales had a rode bike on it. Instantly my selfish mind thought "OOOOH....possibly a bike to turn into a single speed or a fixie!" I scouted the place on Friday night with no sign of a road bike. The paper said 10:00 for the start time of the sale on Saturday, but I cruised by at 9:20 and she was putting stuff out and there it was...a Bianchi!Instantly I could tell it was HER bike and she was not real tall. I checked it out and it was obvious that she hadn't ridden it in awhile (dust, cobwebs, flat tires). It had Campy Daytona components (I believe they may be Centaur wrapped in a different name) and the bike was in relatively good shape. She had an extra saddle to go with the Terry saddle she had put on it, a few tools, tubes, bike computer, and a couple other things.
I called Laura to get her butt over and bring the pump along. She did and I pumped it up and sent her on her way for a test ride. Luckily Laura and the lady are close to the same height and the test ride went fine. Laura said it turns real quick which scared her a little. She's not used to the stiff frame bike. I tested it and thought it rode great. She took it out again and decided that she liked it a lot!
So, the trip that was all about me turned into all about Laura. I'm excited though because the wonderful woman who told me earlier this summer that she couldn't see herself riding anything but the tandem with me, was EXCITED about getting the new (to her) bike. We also picked up a couple of jersey's from the sale that looked as good as new.
As far as I could research, I think it's a 2001 Bianchi Reparto Corse SL that initially retailed around $2000.
Watch out everybody...I think Laura's getting serious about this cycling thing! Pretty soon she'll have her own cycling blog instead of sassing me on mine (hint hint).
Filed under: Bike Trails, Family, cycling
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