Whispers from Beyond the Death of the iOS Blogger App

Hello, friends!

A lot has happened since my last post in October 2015. A quick timeline:

• June 2016: Twins turned one!
• August 2016: Learned we were expecting one more!
• April 2017: Baby Bee arrived!
• June 2017: My office moved from 7 miles away from home to 1.5 miles away!
• Summer/early Fall 2017: Hotter and more humid than a dog's mouth.
• Mid-Fall 2017: PERFECT biking weather. 

I was able to sneak in a couple of rides to and from work before it was getting dark before I could get home. I found my helmet (need a new one!) lights, and get them charged, but I'm not feeling very organized about it just yet and plan to start fresh in the spring when the days are a bit longer and the temps a bit more favorable. 

The twins are now two-and-a-half, and the baby is almost 9 months old. We were gifted my brother-in-law's bike trailer (yay!) this summer, so when it warms a bit, I'd also like to take the Tinies (the twins) on our local bike trail (Grant's Trail, from Kirkwood to Mehlville). My BIL also provided us with two helmets appropriate for young children, so we're all set.

I have also been able to walk to and from work a couple of times but that also requires organization and a bit more time over my schedule than I've managed with a nursing baby. But she'll have broader food options in a few more months and with my 40th birthday(!) coming up later this year, I plan to reinstate a lot of things that have been pushed aside for high-risk pregnancy or to care for three very young people in the past 3.5 years. (How? So fast. So long. So everything.)

Goals for my 40s:

• Ride/walk to work as often as possible
• Start running again
• Streamline my wardrobe and possessions
• Capsule wardrobes 

I hope to start posting more regularly here again - I'll aim for once a week.
It's good to be back. ❤🚲

Postpartum Peeps

Hello there!

It's been a long time since I've checked in here. SO much has changed since my January post. A few seasons, to begin with. Also: our family. And my address! Let's catch up, shall we?

Babies! 
Over the summer, I gave birth to boy/girl twins! We are all doing so well and they are now about three months old. I had a Caesarean section with them, and while recovering from the surgery itself wasn't terrible, I am finding recovering from a twin pregnancy in my upper 30s to be pretty incredible. I have been assured that some of this is due to hormonal changes that are sustained while nursing, but gracious. I feel like a little, old arthritic lady more often than not these days! The weight has largely come off though, my energy levels are stabilizing, and the babies sleep pretty well, so those are three great things going for all of us. The kiddos are absolutely darling and I am completely smitten! I remain really excited to introduce them to bicycling, which I plan to do in the spring when they have better head control! I am looking at Burley trailers as a possible Christmas present.

Location, location, location! 
As if doubling our family isn't enough (haha. sigh.), we also moved over the summer. We bid adieu to our little house and purchased a new, larger family home a couple of miles west of the first one. From a biking perspective, this is good, bad, and neutral. The good news is that we're in a neighborhood with more gridlike streets, which opens up cycling routes for me and for the kiddos when they are old enough to ride independently. We're also part of a more complete community, so we have things to ride to within a 1-2 mile radius of our new home, like the Y, library, shops, restaurants, church, etc. So I am really excited about incorporating bicycling to those places into my life, and until I can ride with them (or independently) more easily, I like that these places are also within walking distance of our new home. The bad news is that I've added 2.5 miles to my work commute, which, given how slowly I ride and the busy-ness of part of the route, means I probably won't ride my bike to work much, if ever. When I was 6 miles from work, it took me a solid 50 minutes to get there or home. I imagine adding another 2.5 miles to that would add another 20 minutes to the commute, and while I'd be willing to try it more readily if it was just me at the hubby, for the foreseeable future, there are two small people to feed and take care of the morning, and I can't fairly leave that to my husband, nor do I really want to plan to be up for the day at 5:30am, which I'd need to do to get riding early enough to get to work at a decent hour, only to hit issues at the other end, where I'd either have to leave work early to get home in time to release our nanny or plan to pay her for extra time. All in all, it just doesn't make sense right now. I'm a little bummed, but the other reasons we chose this neighborhood ultimately trump bike commuting to work, which I think I would only have done regularly if we'd shortened my work commute to 3 miles or less, and that radius around my office didn't offer much that made sense for us at this point in our lives. In neutral news, I'm the exact same distance to and from my local multi-use trail, so hey!

Source

Plans.
So that's where we are. I find myself feeling physically ready to ride again, but with that we're finally in a place to work on our home on the weekends. So I may not be able to ride a whole lot this fall after all -- if I do, I will definitely be writing about it, though, so it may be worth checking in once in a while. I will try to post more regularly again once I have figured out how to fit bicycling back into my drastically updated life!

x

I Miss My Bicycle.

Hi all! I am just popping in quickly to share how much I miss riding! Spring has sprung in St. Louis, and things are starting to bloom, both inside and outside. With twins on the way this summer, we're also furiously house-hunting, but also preparing for the very real possibility that we might bring them home to our (a little too little) house for a while, and that's okay, too.

The temps are climbing, and there are more sunny days these days, and I am so ready to get on the bicycle again! I am also measuring about ten weeks ahead of schedule, so I'm not going to be riding any time soon. Still, when I am walking or running errands by car, I see people riding, and I'm so happy for them!

I mentioned here that we almost moved a year ago to a more bikeable area. As we're considering where to move now, I still consider bikeability. I would still love a place that facilitates biking to work, but we're also looking at areas that will allow me and the kids (The Hubs is not a big cycling enthusiast) to bike to neat places in the neighborhood. My vision of cycling with kids has, with twins, morphed from whether to get a Yepp-style seat to planning to get a trailer instead.

The home we had under contract last year was in a part of St. Louis County called University City. It's a very walkable neighborhood, but we were looking at purchasing knowing we'd likely consider private school if we had children. And tuition for two is a little daunting! We're focusing more now on Webster Groves, Kirkwood, and possibly parts of Olivette (Olivette offers access to the Centennial Greenway, which would be like a bike highway into downtown Clayton for work, shops, restaurants, and coffee; Webster and Kirkwood offer charming and complete downtown areas of their own, but retain some of the difficulties I currently experience riding from our house to Clayton for work). Webster and Kirkwood offer access to Grant's Trail, too, which offers access to Grant's Farm with no car-park charge, which is appealing with littles on the way!

Centennial Greenway Ribbon Cutting - Source

Kirkwood, Missouri, Independence Day - Source

Downtown Webster Groves, Missouri - Source

It's been a very hot market in these areas, though, and we haven't found a home that sings to both of us just yet. We'll keep our eyes open and we'll buy when we find the right one.

All is otherwise well, and for the record, I miss running, too! But it's all worth it, and it's all temporary, and soon enough, I will be able to share my enthusiasm for seeing the world on two wheels with tiny new humans, which is pretty exciting! I am sure some of my love of cycling comes from my dad's love of cycling. He used to take long rides with me on the back of the bike in a yellow plastic seat...at least, until I figured out how to untie my shoes and drop them along the road every few minutes.

Pregnant Pause.

Hi all! 

I have not abandoned you! Alas, I have also not been riding at all for the past few months and have no plans to ride in the next several, so I wanted to tell you that this blog will likely be mostly dormant for a little while longer. I am expecting, and while that is no bar to riding for many mamas to be, it makes sense in my case, so I'm taking a bit of a break from the two-wheeled life (at least in practice). 

For far better bike-mama inspiration, I can provide links: 
(Sadly, the one I most wanted to link to has been taken down by its host. I miss the Simply Bike Blog!)

Tips for Cycling While Pregnant from People For Bikes

A firsthand account of one woman's experience Cycling While Pregnant

My friend Melissa, who I actually met through and directly as a result of said aforementioned now-defunct blog, has posted a number of things about riding while pregnant and with her kiddo. I find her really inspirational, because we live in the same town, and she rides for transport far more than I do.

So where does this leave us? Here's where I am these days, philophically and physically.

1. The Pregnancy. I'm due in the summer, and expecting twins. My pregnancy started high risk, with weight restrictions (no lifting 40-pound Fleur) and other physical restrictions through much of the first trimester. And, because it's two kiddos, my body is changing pretty quickly. As a result, while I totally support cycling while pregnant for most mamas, in my case, I have decided to take an extended break.

2. The Plan. That said, I do look forward to cycling after pregnancy for fun and fitness and for a bit of transportation, though I don't imagine I'll do that a whole lot with the babies until they are big enough to ride in a trailer. So I'm tentatively hoping to bike a bit for fun on my own by this coming autumn, and hopefully introduce the kiddos to the bike in Spring 2016.

3. The Current Philosophy. I remain frustrated with my cycling options in the county, which keeps me from riding more than I would. My cycling philosophy is (generally) as follows: you can ride on a multi-use path, or you can ride on the street. Either way, you must behave as traffic for the appropriate path. That means no hugging the right, and being visible and predictable so that you and motorists can behave in a way that is safe and a lot more enjoyable. Given my druthers (I'm a slow-bike person, after all), this means I prefer side streets and multi-use paths to arterials, neither of which are generally options I can count on to reach many destinations from my home in the county. About a year ago, we considered moving to a more urban setting, and while that didn't work out, we are still considering relocating, and bikeability to either work, recreation, or worship destinations is important to me, so location is definitely something we're weighing as we look for our next home.

I hope to post here periodically if I come across something to share, but until then, in (temporary) loving memory of both coffee and riding... until we meet again.

Yesterday after my #bike ride, I finally got my double kickstand installed! I also got my front basket fixed.Today, post-vetted cats, I'm indulging in the first real cup of #coffee I've had in six weeks. Sweet Jesus, it's delicious.

A photo posted by Rebecca B. (@seven2seven8) on Oct 19, 2014 at 7:53am PDT

Fiets-losophy: Thoughts on Guilt, Social Media, and the Bicycle Rider

You're doing it wrong.

You're not doing it enough.

You're not a real cyclist.

I came back to bicycling slowly. Awareness of bicycles as a means to stay fit crept into my consciousness back in 2007, before I married The Hubster, when I needed a way to cross-train on days I wasn't running. I dragged the Trek to St. Louis from my hometown in Kansas, aired up the tires, and took the bike out. I was shocked at how easy and difficult it was all at the same time. The fat tires and aggressive riding position felt awful and slow. Also, I hated wearing a helmet, and I thought I had to wear padded bike shorts to ride, which made me not want to ride. So after the wedding, I stopped, and I didn't touch a bicycle again for years.

Then, starting somewhere in 2012, bicycles started to creep back into my consciousness. I started to see them referenced on some of my favorite blogs. Most of the writers had bikes that looked different from the "grown-up" bike options I was familiar with - e.g., mountain bicycles, "mountain-bike-lite" hybrids, serious road bikes, or ten speeds. I was seeing "upright", "city", or "Dutch-style" bicycles, though I knew little more than that I thought they were very chic and lovely.

In the spring of 2013, however, I was smitten -- and had been bitten by the bug. I started reading bike blogs voraciously, and following cyclists on Twitter. I quickly decided that I wanted to buy myself an upright bicycle, and keep my mountain bike, too. The bike blogs were amazing inspiration. There were people all over the place who were completely in love with bicycling and riding 3, 6, 10, 25 miles to work...every day. In all sorts of weather. And they looked healthy and happy. 

I used the stories from the blogs and the comments to inform the purchase of my own upright bicycle in very late May - a Linus Dutchi 3-speed in black. I immediately purchased lights, and outfitted it with front and rear baskets.  I rode it my own 13 miles round-trip to work, 4 miles round-trip to church, and 15-22 miles round-trip to/on my local multi-use trail. I loaded it into the back of my car and drove to other trails in the area (St. Louis is rich for these). I got the mountain bike back out and rode it around a little. I packed it and took it with me to KC to ride trails with my brother when I picked up my Mother's nearly 40-year old 10-speed to fix up and ride. And here's what I've discovered, so far:

• I do love riding bicycles! 
• Having the right bicycle for the type of riding you are doing can be really important - - I get bicycle stables. (I'm pretty pleased with my three bikes.) 
• An upright bicycle is heavy. An upright bicycle with three baskets is even heavier, and will punch you in the throat with a handlebar when you're trying to shove it into the back of a vehicle. That hurts.
• I really hate wearing a helmet. Still, I will wear a helmet mostly to keep people from telling me to wear a helmet, which I find more unpleasant than actually wearing the thing.
• I love the fabulous bike trails in the St. Louis area - especially Grant's Trail and Creve Coeur Lake.
• It's amazing how quiet the world is when you're biking through a neighborhood without cars or pedestrians. 
• Animals don't immediately run away from a bicycle like they do from cars and pedestrians. (I think this speaks volumes for bicycles.)
• I cannot ride to/from work or church without sweating profusely if it's over 85 degrees, and I do not like to sport a red face and drip sweat for half hour after I arrive somewhere. I can ride slowly, but hills are hills are hills, friends.
• I think anything between 40°F and 75°F is just about perfect for any outdoor activity, save, perhaps, swimming. I'll grant an extra 10°F in either direction without complaining. This pretty much gives me the bulk of March to June and September to November to ride, and a few odd days in the remaining five months. Otherwise, I'd just as soon hide inside or be somewhere with better weather.
• I don't much care for riding at night/after dark. I will, however, ride after dark for a short trip within St. Louis neighborhoods where I can avoid busy streets. This pretty much knocks out work commuting in November and the first third of March. 
• I am not interested in riding in snow or ice... or lightning.
• I am looking forward to trying my work commute on the ten-speed, because with the upright bicycle's heavy weight and three gears, some of the hills on my commute are brutal. Brutal. (Even if someone else wouldn't mind them, I still find them steep.)
• If the ten speed (which is about 5-7 pounds lighter than the upright bike, with all her baskets) is significantly more pleasant to ride to/from work, I will have to decide whether to make the ten speed my work commute bike (with a rear rack and fenders, it's just about ready to go), or upgrade the hub and shifters on the upright bicycle to an 8-speed Shimano (versus the 3-speed Shimano). This bullet is THE. BIKE. DECISION. of 2014.
• My mountain bike's exact role is unknown right now. I am not pleased with the fit (feels really small and crowded), the handlebars, or the grips, and need fenders and a way to carry things. I just can't decide yet which direction I want to go. Smooth tires and commute-y, with a full rack? Or keep the knobby tires and just add fenders and a small rear rack (like on the Motobecane), and *slightly* swept-back, wider bars? I'm leaning toward the latter, because then I think the mountain bike would be just about perfect for a trip down the Katy Trail. 
• I'm a designated bike-lane sort of girl -- which I'm gathering quickly is very controversial. I don't like taking the lane, and I don't like riding with cars (though I will in order to ride as safely and predictably as I can). I don't want to be on the sidewalk, either. If it were up to me, there would be a network of Grant's-Trail-type multi-use paths connecting all of St. Louis City and County, with designated bike lanes on most roads (and protected lanes on arterial roads). That would make me happy. Also, I'd like to ditch the helmet in that circumstance, if I'm totally honest.
• I need a bike rack. But not on my roof or on my car all the time.

As you will have noticed, at least so far, I have a fair amount of things (excuses, even) that keep me from riding. It's cold and dark right now, and we got snow Wednesday night and the metro area is bracing for another 8" this weekend. I've pretty much accepted that, other than to get to and from church on a reasonably mild and clear-road day, or the odd unseasonably-warm-day-on-a-weekend, I'm probably not going to do a lot of riding until the return of Daylight Savings Time. I'm completely open to the fact that, with just a few weather-ideal days in June, September, and October, I've really only begun to rediscover bicycling, and I may feel very differently after another year. I know I'm excited to welcome the return of Daylight Savings Time and spring come March, and to see what that brings. I'm purchasing my bike rack today - it will hold two bicycles and fold away in the back of my car when I don't need it, which will mean I can take any bike any place, and bring a second bike for the hubby or a friend. This will be fantastic.

Right now, though? My bicycles are ornaments. The upright bicycle is simply too heavy and unwieldy (see, e.g., throat punch) to lug to and from my basement, but I've moved the lightweight mountain bike back downstairs. The red ten-speed is keeping the (surprisingly, still up-and-decorated) Christmas tree company, and will probably stay in the living room for easy-access should a lovely weekend day present itself.

And I feel guilty, and sad, and like an impostor. The blog posts by the most dedicated of bicyclists have lately become somewhat of a burden instead of a blessing and inspiration to me. Twitter offers a constant reminder of all the people out there riding in the worst weather and on the shortest days. I read about people bicycling in parts of Canada with 6" of snow on the ground 6 months out of the year (and even fewer long-light days during those six months), or in Boston or Chicago (with aggressive drivers and snow-covered bike lanes), or in busy, car-crazy Los Angeles, where every few days, it seems someone is hit while riding by a distracted or drunk driver. And its a little overwhelming. Because I'm new, and maybe I'm not doing this right and missing something. Maybe I'm not riding enough, and therefore, not a real cyclist. 

Except that I am. And so are you, if you ride at all, and if you want to be. 

I am a huge proponent of the idea that a little bit of good swapped for something bad is a whole lot better than nothing at all. So I smother my kale and quinoa in butter and salt (I sure do): I'm still getting more - and more real - nutrients from that meal which are far better than anything I'd find at a drive-thru window, which is probably what I'd be eating instead (if I'm honest). 

Likewise, I probably rode my bike to work or church over about two dozen trips between the last couple days of May and the very end of October. I also did another half-dozen "just for fun" rides around my neighborhood or on my favorite trails. I may have stayed home, or I may have spent that time running errands or shopping in my car, and I know I would have otherwise used my car for the work and church trips. That's 36 trips of between four and 20 miles that weren't made by car. Let's say I did 12 trips of 13 miles each, 12 trips of 4 miles each, 2 five-mile fun rides, 2 10-mile fun rides, and 2 20-mile fun rides. 

That suddenly sounds like a fair amount of riding, when I've felt so focused instead on the time I wasn't on the bicycle, and which isn't fair. And, are you ready for this? Those rides encompass two hundred and seventy-four miles that weren't spent in a car, and didn't use gas, or spew ickypoonasty stuff into the air. 

At $4/gal and 27 mpg average, that's ten gallons of gas I haven't had to purchase since May. Only $40, but, according to this site, you emit 271 g of greenhouse gas per km driven, versus 21 g/km on the bike (taking into account your own fuel, and what it took to produce all of the things to get you moving in either instance). Converting mi to km, 274 mi is 441 km. 441 km driven produces 119,511 g (about 264 POUNDS) of CO2 emissions. Biking the same distance? 9,261 g, or just over 20 pounds of CO2. 

And that feels like something. And it is something.

In another metric, at 35 calories per mile (I'm small, and slow), I've burned nearly 10,000 calories on my collective rides. I'm still the same size and shape, but I like to think that I've made room for that extra slice of pizza or extra cream in my coffee without my belt getting tighter. Seriously: let's do some math. I bike an average of, say, 8mph, taking into account slower commutes and faster bike trails. I've spent about 34.25 hours on my bicycle as a result. That's approximately 280 calories burned per hour, versus about 60/hour if I'm totally sedentary. Even assuming a fairly active alternative (100/hr) -- which driving is not -- I've burned 180 cal/hr more on the bicycle over 34.25 hours, which is 6,165 calories I'm not carrying around as excess, or almost 2 pounds. (Considering the average American adult gains a pound per year as they age, and my average weight this year is -- perhaps not incidentally -- two pounds lighter, this is certainly something.) I've strengthened my heart and lungs in the process. I have said of running: once you've done it, no one can take it away from you. Bicycling is the same. 

Yes, more could be better -- better for the cost-per-use of the bicycle; better for the earth; better for my waistline and heart and lungs. But something is still something. And I want to go into 2014 focusing on that, and feeling proud about what I have done in just half of 2013, and what I may do in 2014 - and even if it's about the same, or a little more, or a little less, that's all good enough.

Cheers, Happy New Year, and happy riding! 

(Whenever - and however - you ride.)

The World Looks Different When You Ride

This past week has been a mixed bag, as far as bicycling goes. 

The Good:

I mentioned my "stable" post in and by Bikes for the Rest of Us, and got some great feedback from the post's authors about how to adjust my hub gearing on Fleur (Linus Dutchi) in order to fit my riding needs better.

I've been in touch with my LBS about making this change, and about the work needed to Julek (90's Trek 8000) and The Radish (70's Motobecane 10-speed).

Here's the starting plan for the bikes:

• Adjust the ring from 22 to 18-tooth to adjust second gear on Fleur.
• Give The Radish the attention it needs - new brake hoods, a once-over.
• Julek needs to have a crack in the shock looked at; not sure yet if I'll keep the shock or return to the original fork (I still have it).
• Julek needs some smooth tires.
• The Radish and Julek need fenders and small rear racks.
• The Radish needs serious wheel love. The spokes are loose and wheels are out of true.
• The Radish needs some reflectors, too, to be compliant with current law.
• Kickstand upgrades for everyone.

I will start with The Radish, then Julek, then Fleur, since that's the order in which they are rideable. Which brings us to...

The Bad:

Can we talk about daylight savings time? I have never been profoundly affected by daylight per se. I love rainy days, and as long as things are green and lush and moist, I'm happy. I get far more bummed out by days when it's miserable to be outside - freezing and grey, or hot and brown. Truly, I blame Portland for ruining things with evergreens and mild temps year round.

This year, the end of Daylight Savings Time hit me like a ton of bricks, because it effectively meant that, even with mild weather, to commute to and from the office, I'd have to commit to riding 6(+) miles in rush hour traffic in the dark. And, at least at my current comfort level, I can't.  I struggle with the ride home during rush hour in the best of circumstances, and I need more than a blinking red light and an awesome headlight to get me over this. Like a body-suit made of reflective-coated titanium or something, I don't know. That said, sometimes on Fridays I can scoot a little early, and that may buy enough daylight to make the occasional winter ride possible. So don't totally give up on me. Plus, riding to and from church and local businesses is still very much a possibility, because those are often daylight-hour activities, even as the Winter Solstice approaches. 

The Ugly:

If I am often busy, November presents a special challenge, due to NaNoWriMo, in which I have participated most years (and I am determined to win this year; I won in 2009). Nano collided with an already-busy schedule last weekend and I basically spent Saturday and Sunday running around like a crazy person. The chief (or at least, most relevant to this blog) implication of this is that I have officially "failed" coffeeneuring, in that I could not find time for a challenge-worthy bike ride at any time during Saturday or Sunday. However, I've been assured that continuing without winning is still grounds for submission and cheers, so I will try to coffeeneur this weekend and on future weekends. I do so like the this is not about speed or distance or getting somewhere; it's about biking leisurely to a leisure activity vibe of the thing. I want to celebrate that, especially since it is so much more accessible to me right now than  distance rides, night rides, and commuting to work.

The Game-Plan:

I will use these long, dark nights to provide the incentive to get the remaining bicycles up to speed, to seize the opportunity to ride on weekend days, and to find space an time in my schedule to breathe... and ride.

The Silver Lining:

Out of frustration comes (if you're looking for it) insight. 

On a practical level, I've determined that I need a paper calendar. I love my phone's calendar for its ability to remind me of things with alarms, but I have the terrible habit of checking only to see if I am free for the specific window requested of me, and not considering the larger picture (what the rest of the day, weekend, or week holds for me). I'm a visual person, so this isn't really a surprise, but I hadn't thought about it until my overbooked calendar caused me to miss out on something I really enjoyed and wanted to do (ride my bike to a coffee shop without feeling awful and rushed).

On a philosophical level, my feelings about my car are changing. I don't know if it was the recent hybrid eclipse, but people have been driving so recklessly that I've come to resent my car commute something fierce.  I'm paying much closer attention to how I feel when I'm driving, versus how I feel on the bicycle. And it's marked. My stress levels, so long as I permit myself to have adequate time to reach my destination without rushing, are low-to-nonexistent on the bike. But in the car, I can't control that nearly as easily, because I am a driver, and can't just choose side streets to interact with pedestrians or the sounds of nature instead of stop-and-go arterial or inner-belt nonsense. I'm paying attention to these things.

If I can't ride consistently, at least I can share.

Here are some great bike links I stumbled across this week:

If I ever think something "bikey", Commute by Bike posts about it shortly thereafter.
Tips from the cycling sloth... 

And, thanks to Melissa @ Her Green Life, I've been thinking a little extra about what I want in bike infrastructure lately, which has resulted in some very interesting ready about old freeways and bike lanes.

Are you in St. Louis? Are you interested in bike infrastructure in the community? If so, please make note of an upcoming event by Great Rivers Greenway in which the Bike Plans from three bike-friendly communities will be presented. It's an all-morning event next Wednesday, 11-20-2013 from 830pm-130pm. Admission is $15. I hope to go, but it will truly depend on my work schedule that day. 

Finally, who doesn't love a little Bikeyface? Let's look at her new posters. I am such a fan of the top poster with the three different bicycles.

That's all from me this week. 
Here's to riding - whenever and however it suits us, so long as we ride!

What the heck is #Coffeeneuring??

I freaking love Twitter.

I love all social media, to be honest. I'm a talky person (I am sure you're shocked to learn this) and I love projects and sharing information with people who think about the same kinds of things. My Facebook group of friends is diverse and wonderful, but it's through Twitter that I can really explore my feelings and experiences with money management, simple living, decluttering, and bicycles.

And so, through Twitter, I found Mary G. of @coffeeneur. I mentioned her in last week's post. She started this fantastic DC-based project called "coffeeneuring" after reading about it online (another person started the term; but it is my understanding that Mary is the one who really ran with it). There are something like 19 rules, but they boil down to these essentials:

1. Within a fairly short period of time (around 8 weeks?), visit 7 coffee shops.
2. They must be different coffee shops.
3. You must ride your bicycle.
4. The total (round-trip) ride must exceed 2 miles.
5. You must take a photo of your drink, which must be coffee, tea, hot cocoa, or cider.
6. The rides must take place on a Saturday or Sunday, some holidays, or your days off, but shall not exceed two per week.

Here are all the rules.

She sets it up as a challenge, and if you send photographic evidence and a brief description of your experience and the length of your route, you get something as a prize. I don't know what the something is, but I seized upon this as an opportunity to keep riding as the days shorten and as I evaluate my bike commute's place in shorter, colder days (remember, I'm pretty new to this, and still figuring all of this out).

I joined halfway through the challenge, and so must ride every single available weekend day between now and Sunday, November 17, in order to complete the challenge and win. So as soon as we returned from a family trip to the Lake of the Ozarks, I hopped on Fleur, and we moseyed to St. Louis Bread Co (mostly because I was sure it would be open on a Sunday evening), arriving home just as the light had started to fade. 

 It was a great experience! I timed myself through MapMyRide, which is one of my favorite apps. The time shown includes my time at the coffee shop. 

Shop 1 of 7.

Total (round-trip) route: 5.3 miles. 

My drink was a venti chai tea latte.

The best part about my ride was: powering up a hill I had to walk up last time. Also, this tiny older gentleman spent about 45 seconds ogling my bike when he left the shop, and Fleur was totally flattered.

The worst part about my ride was: powering up a hill I had to walk up last time. I also forgot to get one of those stick-in-the-coffee-hole plastic doohickeys, and my yellow purse is now pretty dirty. My suede wedges also need to be clean, and so does Fleur's front basket. Will have to address these things before Saturday's ride...

I sure hope to complete the challenge. I am a total project-addict (did I mention that already?) and next month will be a busy one. I've just come off a minimalist game, where I decluttered one thing for each day # of the month (1 thing day 1, 31 things day 31) for a total of 496 items purged. I need to get the donate-able/sellable/specially-recyclable stuff to the right places and reclaim my dining room because tomorrow is also the start of NaNoWriMo! This writing project will be eating my life alive for the next 30 days so my posting and riding will probably reflect it, though I picked up coffeeneuring specifically with the idea that I could ride to a coffee shop with the computer and write for a nice block of time while maintaining interests outside of crazy-frantic-novel-writing.

If this intrigues you , by all means try it out, just for fun, and if you're on Twitter, follow Mary and "compete" the next time there's a challenge! 

Cheers and happy riding!

Of Illness + Excuses

Ever since I returned from Montreal on the 27th, I have been fighting major allergies and a cold. I'm currently at the stage where the tissues aren't needed constantly, but breathing continues to require extra effort. 

I have struggled with minor asthma issues throughout adolescence and adulthood -- usually brought on by strenuous exercise or very extreme weather (heat/cold). 

This is a huge reason why I run very slowly - I top out at 5.5mph and often run as much as 1mph slower than that - and am so happy to embrace "slow biking". 

At any rate, this is all to say that when breathing is hard, it's exhausting. I wanted to ride to work on Tuesday (low in the upper 50s, high in the lower 80s) and I slept poorly and was so exhausted that it just seemed like a miserable proposition. Then it warmed up, and I didn't feel any better. 10 days after I started to feel icky, I'm still feeling... exhausted. Under the weather for sure.

The weekend will be warm, but next Thursday, we return to highs around 80 and lows in the 50s, so I'm hoping to bike to work again next week. It's been a long time since I've biked to work, and timing and/or meeting locations have not allowed me the extra minutes I need to make biking a viable option, which is problematic, too.

This is why I want to talk about reasons for biking and St. Louis: traffic. For all its ups and downs, St. Louis has pretty amazing traffic. Drive in Chicago, New York, or any major city in Europe, and you realize that our "rush hour" woes are pretty insignificant, especially if you can avoid the central corridor (we generally can with our work commutes). In those big cities, people often hop on the bike because it's faster than public transportation and faster than sitting in the virtual parking lots that rush hour can become. But that's not the case for me in St. Louis, and, as a result, biking too often becomes the "if I have time/luxury" option, when I'd like to strive to have it be the first priority, at least with a little more regularity. Between heat, illness, and, frankly, inconvenience, added to the fact that there isn't as much visible bike-commuting in the county (which is a safety issue), I have allowed myself to fall into a pattern of making excuses to take the car instead. The car is, frankly, easier, and I find myself a little bit jealous of the bloggers who are in towns where biking is the easier, better, faster option, because it provides the extra incentive to hop on two wheels instead of four. 

My dedication to incorporating bicycling into my life has not waned; I knew summer in St. Louis would be a challenge and remain shocked that I have been able to ride as much this summer in glorious weather as I have been able to do. But if I'm struggling with some of these "ifs and buts", then you probably are, too. So let's look at them.

Weather. The heat is a real thing. For me, I am unwilling to kit up and then change at the office. My door doesn't lock, and the bathrooms are small, and I don't want to get ridiculously sweaty, since there is no shower at work. So for me, that means lows in the 50/60s and highs not exceeding 85 (all Fahrenheit) or so is the max for an hour ride or longer. My test ride to work last June was to/from (back-to-back, or about 13 miles) in slightly shy of 90-degree heat. Even with water, it was hard, and it took me well over 30 minutes to cool down. I don't enjoy running or bicycling in that type of weather, so I don't. I am not naturally inclined to exercise, so one of my rules for myself is that if an activity makes me resent being active, it's not worth it. Riding when the weather is more pleasant, on the other hand, makes me wonder why I don't do it more often!

Similarly, I will not ride when rain is very likely on the way in (sprinkles are fine) or if thunderstorms are likely. It's not particularly safe to ride in lightning, and it's not worth the risk to me, when coupled with decreased visibility and slick roads (for me and for the cars). This is as much a reflection of the fact that St. Louis is becoming, but is not yet, a particularly bike-friendly city. Especially in the County.

Not sure about snow policy yet; I am planning to set up my mountain bike for some light commuting, and if it handles well in light snow, I'll base my winter precip policy accordingly.

Illness. If I can't breathe easily, it will affect when and how I ride. So bad allergies, upper-respiratory illnesses, and asthma can affect how I feel about riding. These are safety, comfort, and "potential resentment" issues, too. 

Time. This is my biggest issue most days for work, or for church. It takes me 7 minutes to drive to my church and park, so I need about 10-15 minutes from door to seat. I don't sweat when I drive (at least not just from driving), so I don't need cool-down time. It takes me 25 minutes door-to-seat for work in the morning. Ditto sweat/cool-down comments. It takes me close to 20 minutes to bike to church, and 10 minutes to cool down. It takes me 50-60 minutes to bike to work, and 10-20 minutes to cool down. So if I can leave at 10:15 am for a 10:30 church arrival time by car, I need to leave at 9:55-10:00 by bike. If I can leave at 8:30 am to comfortably be in the office by 9:00 am. I need to be on the bike by 7:30-7:45 am in order to be just as cool, calm, and presentable by 9:00 am when I travel by bicycle. 

Some of this is problematic because of how I'm wired... I tend to procrastinate, and I don't naturally manage my time well. So even when I get up early enough to be ready and leave by 7:30 or 7:45, I often get distracted by coffee, the Internet, some project I decided to tackle "really quickly" before leaving for the morning. 

I am very curious to see how trying the mountain bike and road bike, once they are ready for a commute, affect my transpo time to work, and affect my feelings about the hill that is in the middle of the ride!

So time, she is my biggest enemy. The issues cut straight to my personal Achilles' Heel (time management) and flirt with the temptation of faster travel and convenience. 



I want to address these because anyone biking in St. Louis is likely to face these same issues (maybe not the heat as much if you sweat less than I do or can tolerate it better). Part of incorporating bike transportation into my life will be about changing my habits and prioritizing bicycling over the ease of the car. This may require tweaking my hours slightly, forcing myself into better morning routines, or just getting out there even when I'm hesitant. I continue to look to the more consistently cool fall weather to have multiple days to push this new (to me) habit. The one thing I know for sure is that the more I ride, the more I want to ride; the less I ride, the easier it is to just take the car.

Do you have "nah, take the car" voices that you fight off when you get on the bike? If so, let's talk about and through them. Let's talk. And then ride! 

Cheers and happy riding,
R

Locked Up vs. Locked In

Sorry for the Monday post, after proclaiming Friday would be my posting day. I started this, and then got distracted, and then went out of town for the weekend! Whoops. 

:)

Bike security is a meaningful issue for those of us who ride. I have had two bikes stolen in my life (lucky so few) and I'm very careful with my Linus and Trek bicycles. This means, generally, and whenever possible, they live inside, rather than outside. This protects them from inclement weather, as well as theft. What does this mean for me?

1. At Home. My bikes come inside with me. They don't live in my garage. I keep an "active" bike on the main level, and "dormant" bikes in my basement. This is also part of why I purchased a Linus "city" bike instead of a heavier, more traditional bike, like a Pashley or WorkCycles Oma (that, and I didn't want to take the >$1000 plunge until I had a better sense of which bike works to get me to work, around my neighborhoods, and out for fun - this may well end up being three different bikes).




2. At Work. My bike comes inside with me. I am fortunate to have my own office, and an area where I can stash my bike so it's out of the way.  This is in front of my credenza, which I face from my desk. I am in an older office building, which is probably the only reason I have enough room in my office for me, my desk, and my bike. Many newer offices are barely larger than cubicles. The rest of the office layout is such that I would have a hard time finding a place for my bike inside. In that case, I'd either have to find a place to lock up outside (on my surface lot or in front of my building); neither has a particularly appealing place to lock up. Maybe at a parking meter? So I'm thrilled Fleur can come inside. (The plastic on the seat is a super-sexy shower cap. See how I'm wearing white pants? Yeah, I rode in those. Not worth any chance the leather would bleed.)

3. At Church. Inside, again, most of the time. The first time I rode to church, I locked Fleur up outside, but there are no bike racks near my church (!!) and I was worried she was blocking a major entrance for people who need the accessible ramp, and that's no good. The second time, I took her upstairs (and way out of the way) and locked her to the upstairs railing. This is fine, but required me to shove her in the elevator, so the next time I was there for Sunday worship, the Children and Family Ministries Director suggested I stash it somewhere out of the way on the first floor, so now I do that on Sundays. I still lock her up, even though she is inside (you never know; I'm not worried about fellow congregants or well-meaning visitors, but there are people who abuse the safe and trusting environment of a church during worship time to look for unattended purses... and sometimes bikes*). I take a large enough bag to accommodate my helmet and her lights, which I remove any time she's parked outside, no matter how short the duration (lights and locks are the most important things to spend money on, after all). For evening meetings, and for choir practice this fall, she just sits in the room where I'm meeting or singing. On Sundays when I sing, I'll lock her up in the same manner I do for summer worship on Sundays. You'll all be tickled to know that my music director hums the "Wicked Witch of the West/Almira Gulch" music at me whenever he sees me arrive on two wheels. He thinks he's pretty hilarious. (OK. He's pretty hilarious.) In other news, I might have figured out my Halloween costume this year. 

4. Errands. I haven't done a ton of errands so far on Fleur, but when I have, she gets locked up outside the building where I'm "erranding". This has included meeting a fellow blogger for coffee in Webster Groves, and two trips to my nearest grocery store. No issues any of those times. My rules for outside lock-ups are this: (1) in a visible spot near a main door and (2) locked to something more substantial (read: harder to cut through) than my U-lock. I generally only use the U-lock, but remove the lights and anything else I wouldn't want to replace (e.g., I'm okay leaving the seat and mirror and bell, which would be hard to remove, and my wheels and seat are not quick-release, so I don't sweat those). I lock through the rear triangle so that my frame and my rear wheel (the more costly of the two to replace) are secure. I generally don't take my cable with me since I haven't grown terribly accustomed to parking Fleur outside where she'd need the extra security; I made this call after talking to some other bikers about their security measures. As I widen my area and ride more (hopefully in the fall), I'll probably start taking the second lock, but it seems largely redundant when you're not in a high-crime area, or perhaps when you are... if someone truly wants Fleur, they will take her, whether it takes them 30 seconds to cut through one lock or 60 seconds to cut through two. Part of item ownership is taking good care, but not being so attached to the item as to be unable to part with the thing. Also, I have a good set-up to ensure I always have my U-lock, and the cable isn't quite as convenient. You can see from the above photo, and in this detailed photo from a prior post that I tuck my U-lock in my rear-rack bungees. I keep the key on my keychain, which is on a carabiner, which I clip on my front basket while I'm riding, and onto my bag or person when I'm off the bike.  

5. Fun Rides/Exercise. When I ride to Grant's Trail, I ride to/from my house. No locking needed. When I ride on Creve Coeur Mill Trail or other more-distant trails, I drive to/from the trail and so the bike is in my car before and after the ride.

That's that, for now! Cheers and happy riding!

*Sadly, we've had folks wander in and take everything from wallets to gifts under Giving Trees that were purchased for poor families, including children's bicycles. So while I'm trusting, I'm also cautious. 

Fiets of STyLe?

Hi! 

I'm Rebecca. I live in St. Louis, Missouri, and I like to ride my bicycle. Here's what you need to know about me. 

I'm a 30-something professional. I live in the mid-county area with my husband and our pets. I live 2 miles from my church and 6 miles from my office. As of this writing, no kids on deck, at bat, on base, or in the dugout. It might change, it might not.

I have owned many bicycles in my lifetime. Here is my bike and riding history:

• Circa 1985, I received a pink Huffy banana-seat bike from my parents. I learned to ride it (first with training wheels, then without). Like many kids of the 80s, I never wore a helmet and no one ever expected me to wear one. My worst injuries were a scrape here and there and a minor cut on my toes after I rode barefoot one summer afternoon. This bike was sold in a garage sale without objection from me when I was in middle school.
• Then, around 1989 or so, I upgraded to a red Ross 10-speed with white handlebar tape. It was gorgeous. I also rode this bike without a helmet until around the time I started high school when CARS and COOL KIDS. It's the quintessential American bike story. It was donated without my input or knowledge after my dad passed away by an aunt I'm not close to. I'm still a little angry about that.
• In addition to the changing life, the only bikes that were cool in the 1990s were mountain bikes, so in 1994, I bought a light blue Trek 850. I really liked this bike, but it was stolen almost immediately out of our locked garage (along with my brother's BMX bike). 
• I replaced it with a dark green and purple Trek 6500. I really got a chance to ride this bike and loved it! My brother and I even shipped them for a summer abroad in 1995. One weekend, we rented a car and drove out to a rural part of the country we were living in. There was only room for one bike, so I offered to leave mine in the flat we were staying in. Someone broke in and stole my bike the weekend we were gone. Womp-womp.
• In late 1995/early 1996, I decided to get a retail job at my local bike shop. I replaced the 6500 with my current mountain charcoal grey Trek 8000 (to which I've added front SHOX). It has yellow accents and I think this bike is GORGEOUS! I rode it to work several times in high school, but when I went to college, I really stopped riding altogether. It lived in my parents' garage until I picked it up in 2007, because I had started running and wanted to cross-train. I rode it regularly for about 6 months, but was really frustrated with the fat, knobby tires (I was on pavement the entire time), and my back did not enjoy the hunched-over, aggressive riding posture. When I put it away for the winter, it stayed away.
• Fast-forward to 2012. I discover Linus and Public bikes, and bloggers I follow start writing about riding bicycles as transportation. Beautiful bicycles. I fall in love, but don't act. By early 2013, I can no longer ignore the bug. I decide to purchase a transport-style bike that will be beautiful and suit my transportation needs more than my current mountain bike. I check Craigslist, but all the bikes are sized for taller people (I'm not taller people). I had fallen in love with the Linus, so I decide to test-ride one. I can't remember the last time I was so excited about a bicycle! I sleep on it for a week, and then order my Linus Dutchi 3-speed in Black. 
• Next up? My mom has still has her red 1970s Motobecane 10-speed mixte-frame road bicycle. It's beautiful, and it's just the right size for me, too. I hope to get it back in riding shape this summer. That would bring the # of bicycles in my stable to three, which is, surprisingly, not horrifying my husband (okay, maybe a little). For his part, he enjoys light trail riding but doesn't want to play with traffic and his job affords him little leisure time, so he's not as into the biking stuff as I am right now, but he has a lovely 1997 bright red Gary Fischer Hoo Koo E Koo. We represent the 1990s well, bookmarking the 90s bikes with bikes 20 years older and 20 years newer.

The black Linus is my primary bike right now. I purchased and received it right around Memorial Day Weekend. I was able to get a few rides in before the real heat set in, and I'm using this crazy summer weather in St. Louis to commute to/from church (meetings or worship), ride for fun (Grant's Trail and Creve Coeur Park are both great!), and build up my stamina/test routes to/from work. I have taken to naming bicycles and this one is named "Fleur Delacour" after the character from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I am considering names for the Trek (leaning toward something simple and masculine and very 90s-ish...maybe Jake or something), and the Motobecane (French, 70s... probably Catherine Deneuve or Anouk Aimee, am I right?)


Here's Fleur... I'll add the others as I capture them in wilder climes.

Updated 12/6/2013 to add The Radish.