After the birth of our second child last month, my wife has been staying home with her and I've been DRIVING our son to day care. His day care center is in Dublin, up near my wife's office. So, as you've picked up from a couple of my "Prisoner of the Slave-Mobile" posts, I've been car bound. And it truly is a cage.
But no more! I rode my bike in today because my wife wanted to see how it was going to work bringing both kids into day care, and with my brother-in-law visiting after his tour in Iraq (welcome home, Andrew!) he was more than happy to support her while she tried to get this done. So I got to ride.
It was dark and rainy and is going to be all day, but I was happy as a clam in my rain cape as I made my way to the office.
My Cygolite Nite Rover headlight was the big surprise. I haven't had to use it in quite a while (and hadn't been keeping up with keeping it charged), but the charge in the battery was still good after probably three months of sitting dormant! More props to this item.
People, not speed.
But no more! I rode my bike in today because my wife wanted to see how it was going to work bringing both kids into day care, and with my brother-in-law visiting after his tour in Iraq (welcome home, Andrew!) he was more than happy to support her while she tried to get this done. So I got to ride.
It was dark and rainy and is going to be all day, but I was happy as a clam in my rain cape as I made my way to the office.
My Cygolite Nite Rover headlight was the big surprise. I haven't had to use it in quite a while (and hadn't been keeping up with keeping it charged), but the charge in the battery was still good after probably three months of sitting dormant! More props to this item.
People, not speed.
I've seen photos of schlepping two on the back of an Xtracycle with custom-made seating. I think this is the direction I'm going to take. The little one is big enough now to ride in a seat and keep a helmet on. Plus I'll be able to hit the farmer's market and carry stuff home.
ReplyDeleteI think I've seen those same pictures. BikeCommuters.com also put out some instructions for creating footrests for passengers on the back of an Xtracycle - look at this link. Looks like a great way to move kids around as well as stuff. I'm getting more interested in Xtracycles every day!
ReplyDeleteI SO need to get the Xtracycle and make us some sort of super-cool kids carrying device. Well, the bike itself should also have super-cool parts that are different from what the average joe is running. Like rainbow Kooka cranks from a swap-meet or eBay.
ReplyDeleteI've two children and I can attest to how much complexity young children can add to your life. I took a two year hiatus from regular bike commuting after each of my children were born.
ReplyDeleteWe don't realize sometimes how much we like riding till we have to stop for a while. It's always a good feeling to get back to it.
ReplyDeleteFritz - I probably won't have to take a hiatus from commuter riding as our day care center is up near my wife's office. But I don't think I'm going to be back in the saddle full time until mid-December at the rate we're going. Luckily, I still take my boy out for rides on the weekends.
ReplyDeleteMidnight - I knew I was missing it the first time I started getting impatient at lights. And when I got to work and felt sluggish all day. And in the amount of coffee I've been drinking to stay awake.
Cycling to work is something I miss so much...