Bike Commuting

C is so happy. He is finally a bike commuter. He can ride his bike to work with no problem and gets VIP parking at the bike rack. There are just a few kinks that need to be worked out:

• weather -- it poured rain today. Luckily, that was on the way home.
• flats -- C seems to be prone to flats. Last time he got a flat, he had to walk home 3 miles in the middle of the night. Not so good. He had everything he needed to change the flat except for a pump.
• sweat -- C said he was really sweaty when he first got to work. However, he had to race to work because he was helping me drop off the kids at camp. A more relaxed pace = less sweat.

In other biking news, we are trying to reduce our car use as much as we can. The two oldest kids are going to a camp that is close to our house. They were thrilled with the idea of riding to camp. J (6 yo) rode his bike and I brought N (5 yo) on the trail-a-bike. This only worked, though, because E was being watched by her grandmother. Babysitting and the frequent need for quick turnarounds seem to foil my desires to ride my bike.

For example, this morning, I had to be at work at 8:30. Camp drop-off was at 8. I might be able to ride to work in 30 minutes, but it would really be pushing it. If E had been at home, I would have had to find a sitter at 7:40 in the morning (don't currently have one that early). I ended up riding the scooter to work.

But wait! I said I rode the trail-a-bike. Then I rode the scooter? What's going on? Ah... the complication. So that we could bring the kids on bike, I rode the bike to their camp, then rode the scooter to work. A total pain. In the afternoon, C picked up the kids on bike. (This was actually even more complicated, but every time I write out the whole routine, it sounds too confusing. Let's just leave it at that... C rode his bike, the kids rode their bike, I rode my bike/scooted, and then drove in the afternoon. BLAH!)

There is a trade-off. More biking means more babysitting. I don't use much babysitting right now, so a little extra here and there really makes a difference. I hate to ask someone who's doing me a favor to wake up super early.

Once again, it seems that it all comes down to planning:

• Plan extra time into your morning and you can ride to work.
• Plan to have the necessary supplies to fix a flat.
• Plan to watch the weather -- it might rain while you're riding.
• Plan to have extra clothes at work, just in case!
• Really think about it when you sign kids up for activities that have drop-off times close to the time that you have to leave or return from work.