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

Bike Tour of Historic Bellefontaine Cemetery 10-18-2014

Hey there, hi there, ho there!

About a week ago, I went on a lovely tour of Bellefontaine Cemetery in North St. Louis, hosted by the amazing Harold Karabell. Bellefontaine is the non-denominational cemetery right next door to Calvary Cemetery, which we toured with Harold & Friends last June (and which I posted about here, in July).

This was a similarly-neat tour. I will confess, I am not in the least bit Catholic in my religious beliefs or practices, but I love high church imagery as an art form, and found the headstones and mausoleums of Calvary a bit more impressive. Still and yet, there were some gorgeous parts of Bellefontaine, and the history of the people buried within its gates (like Calvary) is pretty impressive. We saw the grave sites of the Burroughs Family (including William S.), the Lemp and Busch family mausoleums, and even toured the Wainwright (of the famous downtown government building) mausoleum, which was so ornate and still and lovely (the photo below of the ironwork window looking out on the cemetery is from inside the Wainwright mausoleum).

Harold's tours are just amazing things. The man is a two-wheeled encyclopedia of knowledge, and is such a treasure to the bike and local community. I have attended three of his tours this summer and fall, and I really enjoyed them all. The link to the Calvary tour is at the top of this post, and you can read about the tour of the historic Carondelet neighborhood here. I missed several, too (silly calendar), but look forward to connecting with my bike friends on future tours next year (the tour season is winding down, along with Daylight Savings Time).

Things may quiet down a bit on the blog (as if they could get much quieter) through the winter, but I'll continue to post interesting things as they come up, and I may try bike-commuting more earnestly next year. This year was a bit of a bust for that. I attribute a fair amount of it to increased "bike-lash" which is a natural growing pain communities feel as cycling becomes more visible (and often, more inconvenient to drivers) - it's a byproduct of more folks getting on their bicycles and of clashes over what should happen to our existing infrastructure, a debate about which I fear I'm growing weary, and don't want to represent when I'm alone on my bicycle very often. I'm not as excited about that, and I have been riding and writing less as a result. But it is what it is and that's where I am right now. I will see how I feel after things thaw and the sun stops setting so early next spring.

Just Ride Already, Will You?

I posted on April 11th that I've been struggling with returning to riding. It was a long winter and I was still recovering from a nasty chest cold when daylight savings time rolled back around. And then I ran out of excuses, but I still didn't ride. I feel like I've spent the better part of the past six weeks looking at the two bicycles in my living room (Fleur and The Radish) as if I don't know how they work. None of it makes sense. I really want to ride, and yet for some reason, the idea of commuting to work or church is met with a huge wall of emotional resistance.

Riders' Block, if you will.

In some ways, I sort of wonder if ignorance was bliss last year. I read a lot of blogs like Lovely Bike and LGRAB and Simply Bike, where the message is just ride; it's not scary, it's fun! And so, I did. As I started cycling, I rediscovered my Twitter account and have started following a lot of other avid cyclists, many of whom are staunch advocates for ditching the car entirely, for infrastructure improvements, and for shaping the car vs. bike discussion in any manner of ways. I devoured as much as I could in order that I might discover tips and tricks, or avoid problems other riders had encountered. And when there was something that frustrated a rider, I could sometimes revel in the idea that things that weren't easy or pleasant for me weren't always easy or pleasant for others.

Perhaps it was continuing to digest all of this information during months when cycle commuting felt out of the question - icy, hilly roads with heavy and rapid traffic patterns, and a sun that insisted on setting before I would get up in the morning or leave the office in the evening - but it started to feel complicated.

It's not complicated. My brain is trying to make it tricky, but it simply isn't. I just need to ride.

So today's post is in preparation of three bike-related events I have coming up in the next week or so:

1. I'm taking a fun ride with Melissa this weekend;
2. I'm taking a Cycling Savvy class (at Melissa's gentle suggestion) next week; and 
3. I'm going on the local Cycling Savvy bike ride next weekend.

I am looking forward to having a reason to get on the bike, and frankly, someone to keep me company. Melissa and I will be exploring the frustrating parts of my bike-to-work route and trying some possible alternatives. And, while I've made it clear in prior posts that I'm on the side of protected bike lanes and more cycling infrastructure (I don't particularly enjoy riding with or in traffic), there are parts of St. Louis City and County where you must engage in vehicular cycling, and becoming more familiar and more comfortable in that role will hopefully kick the anxiety portion of my not. riding. Finally, a group ride will hopefully help to connect me with other riders in my local community (and perhaps, other relative beginners).

So, a shout-out to Melissa, because whether she realizes it or not, she's really the rallying force that's getting me back on the saddle, and soon. 

Here's to National Bike Month.

Let's go for a ride.

x

Maybe I'm Afraid?

I am having a hard time getting back in the saddle. 

I feel like a pile of excuses, and honestly? I think I'm a little afraid. I've read many stories over the winter (thanks, Twitter) of people being hit and killed by cars; I feel torn by the advocates for bike lanes and those who support more assertive interaction with cars. I resent that I have to take a helmet and bike lock with me everywhere I go. I'm not a pedestrian and I'm not a car, and I don't feel welcome on sidewalks or on busy streets. I'm frustrated that it takes me longer to ride than drive, and that arriving at my destination means lugging a bicycle inside or finding a place to lock-up, which takes additional time, when time-management isn't my strong point to begin with. Riding in the dark requires me to make sure lights are mounted and charged, and my rear-view mirror on my upright bicycle keeps getting loose and flopping over, making it functionally useless. I just want a designated bike path or lane everywhere I go, so we can all agree where the bike goes. Is that crazy? Oh, and I don't want it in a door zone, or shoved into a shoulder, or just hanging out on some street where the speed limit for the cars is 40mph when my top speed is, like, 12. Going downhill. With the wind at my back. 

I enjoyed riding when I was a child, and I could just get on the bicycle and go, but I don't feel like I can do that anymore. There are too many shoulds and oughts. There are more difficult hills and too-few gridded streets, which makes side-streets impossible to access or exit in so many places between me and my destinations.

When I rode last summer and fall, I forced myself through these things, and I will again, for the same reason I'm pushing myself slowly back into running: because the benefits outweigh the drawbacks and a huge part of succeeding is telling the negative and scared voice in your head to shove it.

I feel guilty even writing (and thus, admitting) these feelings, because I want this blog to be a place of excitement and advocacy, so that more people will consider riding, and I'm afraid if I admit there are aspects of it that I don't like, that I'll keep someone from riding who was considering giving it a go, and the reality is that the more people who ride the better biking becomes for everyone. More numbers encourage more bike-friendly infrastructure. More numbers encourage drivers to look out for riders more often. More numbers mean more drivers are also riders, which cultivates inclusion and empathy, instead of the "cars vs. bikes" or "us vs. them" mentality that makes riding less pleasant for everyone. 

I also want to name these feelings because if I'm feeling this way, so are other riders (or would-be riders), and I think breaking into cycling and feeling like you're an authentic part of that community can be a little scary. When I question my desire or willingness to ride, I feel like I don't "deserve" to be here. And I don't want to be part of any message that makes someone else feel like they aren't "doing it right" or "enough" or whatever. If you get on a bike, you are a cyclist, and your feelings and thoughts count and should be considered as we all figure out how to make cycling, driving, walking, and mass transit better options for everyone.

Further, I know there are readers out there who have overcome these feelings. I welcome any tips to help me get excited about getting back on my bikes. How do I get past my hesitation and my excuses and just get on the bike already? If you're feeling the same and need a little encouragement now that spring is finally here, please feel free to join the conversation. 

Let's talk.

Still Coughing, But Improving

I'm feeling quite a bit better, and yet between the wonky weather, this crazy-busy time of year, and my ever-congested chest, I'm just going to post when I have something to say.

Around these parts, it's stubbornly chilly most days, and the April showers have found us. Today has been gray and dreary, but maybe we'll actually get some leaves on our trees already. I feel like everywhere has bloomed but St. Louis this spring. (Vancouver!) (DC!) (Paris!) (ALL NORTH OF ST. LOUIS.) 

Really, we're getting there, but we're dragging our feet.

I'm eager to get on the bike, but almost anxious after four months of letting them get dusty (my last ride was December 1st. Is that possible? Sadly, yes). Perhaps Wednesday offers the weather I've been waiting for?

WedApr 9

65°

49°

Sunny

CHANCE OF RAIN:

0%

 

WIND:

WSW at 8 mph

(Weather.com)

Not yet.

The nearest dream recedes, unrealized.
The heaven we chase
Like the June bee
Before the school-boy
Invites the race;
Stoops to an easy clover
Dips--evades--teases--deploys;
Then to the royal clouds
Lifts his light pinnace

-Emily Dickinson

First, I had to look up pinnace, so let me go ahead and define that for you: "a small vessel used as a tender to larger vessels amongst other things". (Source: Wikipedia)

'Tis spring.  Finally. 
'Tis also, finally, Daylight Savings Time.
Not that it matters...

I have been sick with a terribly unrelenting upper-respiratory virus for the past 3.5 weeks. Combined with a pattern of Wednesday and Sunday ice and snow, I haven't been riding yet at all. I haven't had a day in nearly a month where I haven't encountered a terrible coughing fit that resulted in me feeling light-headed afterward. I've gone to the doctor twice; I have suffered a round of antibiotics, and progress is minimal. I'm just going to have to ride this out... pardon the pun.

In other news, we released the contract on the house we hoped to buy. It was a foreclosure, and we found the seller to be difficult to work with (putting in mildly) and the house needed far more work than we had allowed for in our budget, and honestly, after haggling with the seller for nearly two months, we lost interest. The home was placed back on the market, and immediately taken down, so I suspect someone else has it under contract. That's okay. We'll keep an eye on the market and if something else compels us, then great. Until then, I am 2 miles from a great bike trail, 2 miles from church, and six miles from work. Now if only I can kick this cold...

That said, it's gorgeous outside, and tomorrow, while significantly cooler, looks like it will be clear, so perhaps, if I'm feeling up to it, I'll attempt a ride.

Feb Car-Free & Shift Your Commute

This showed up in my Facebook newsfeed earlier this week:

Post by Trailnet.

I think this is a great initiative. 

I thought about trying to incorporate more MetroLink options into my commute - my office is only about 3 blocks from a stop - but my home is not near any MetroLink stations (the nearest is 4+ miles away, which means I might as well just ride my bike the entire way to work and back - it's only couple of miles farther). I could hold my breath for additional expansion, but I don't think we're there yet. 

If I were closer to a MetroLink stop at home, I'd consider participating for sure. Which brings me to this... Last month, I mentioned that the husband and I are considering a move to another part of St. Louis County. Well, we put an offer in on a house, and it's currently in negotiations (we are not yet under contract; just the most attractive offer at the moment, so I'm not holding my breath and neither should you). If we are able to work out the contract details, the home would be substantially closer to both mass transit and my office, making regular biking, walking, and MetroLink-ing a truly meaningful possibility. I have visions of only using my car sporadically during working hours, and it's kind of making me giddy. 

If the home works out for us, it would still be a few months before we move, so that rules out any meaningful bicycle commuting in February, but would put me in a good position to start riding more regularly when the weather and daylight hours cooperate more frequently than they do in January and February. So, don't hold your breath, but if you wanted to cross your fingers for us, that'd be fantastic. I suspect -- hope?? -- we'll know if we're at least under contract by the next time I post. 

Cheers, happy riding, happy walking, happy MetroLink-ing... and stay warm, whatever it is you're doing!

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.)

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