ride my bike more

Hadn’t been on 43 things in a while and I had forgotten that I wrote about wanting to attach the trail-a-bike to my bike and then the trailer behind that. Well, now it’s summer again and we are doing just that. It’s not hard at all really, or not hard in the way I thought it might be, making turns or just staying upright, it’s harder to pull of course, but that’s ok, I just go slower. I just wanted to have an option for when it’s my and my two kids going around town, not long distances. Today, I took them to a birthday party this way, which was about 2 miles away. That’s really the farthest I even need to go to run errands, take the to the park, pool, friend’s house, etc. so it’s really pretty practical to ride out bikes.

the weather is still beautiful here (in the 70s and 80s in October, which is pretty nuts) so we are still biking to school at least once a week and then usually one bike ride per weekend. We got a Trail-a-bike for my older daughter and we can put that on the back of either adult bike and then the trailer one the back of the other adults bike when we all go out together. But if it’s jus tme with the two girls, I have them both in the trailer, which they aren’t so keen on anymore since they are getting too big for it. I want to be one of those cool people that has the trail-a-bike on the back of my bike, and then trailer behind that, but I have yet to try it. There is a family in our neighborhood that does it though, I’ve seen them around, so I know it’s possible.

I kinda forgot I had this down as one of my things, but I did indeed get my biked fixed a couple weeks ago, and since then I have ridden it at least a half a dozen times. I have taken my kids to school in it, with them in the trailer, and ran an errand or two on the bike while they are in school, before heading back home. I have yet to pick them up from school with the bike though, because they are at different places and get out about 10 minutes apart, and I can’t make it that fast on the bike :) Oh and just today I rode my bike to the farmer’s market with my younger daughter in the trailer.

A few weeks back we were on a family vacation that ended with one day in Mackinac Island, Michigan, where there are no cars, but lots of bikes and horse-drawn carriages. We we rented biked for the day and rode around the whole island and it was so beautiful and the whole fam loved it. So anyway, I think that was the impetus for me to finally get mine at home fixed and get back on it.

my kids both have a play date at a friend’s house. My only goal for my couple hours of free time is to get the bike to the repair shop.

The main reason I have not ridden my bike more this summer is that the one tire is practically flat, and the little air valve is bent so I can’t fill the tire. So I need to get it to the bike store. Which means taking the bike trailer off the back, and riding the bike to the bike shop while my kids are otherwise occupied and then walking back. It’s not too far, and I just need to remember to do it on a weekend when my husband is home with the girls I guess. The girls and I took a few short rides this summer, me on the bike, them in the trailer, but it was hard work with the almost flat tire.