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.

Calvary Cemetery Tour and Imaginary Infrastructure (If I Were King of the Forest....)

I have been meaning to post here since so very shortly after my last post! As I seem to mention often these days, I always think summer will be a time to slow down and appreciate simpler things and longer days. In my case? I tend to cram them chock full and wonder why I'm so exhausted! Melissa mentioned in her blog this week that the disruption to routine is really difficult for her, and I am inclined to agree. While I tend to be pretty fully-scheduled during the "school year" (I still think of my life in semesters, even though I haven't attended school in nearly a decade), I know exactly where the spaces are, and I can fill them or guard them as I need to. In summer, everything is so dang inviting, and it's far too easy to say yes! I want to do that! and here I sit at 9:30 on a Tuesday morning in early July and it's all catching up with me. I fell into bed last night, and despite sleeping nearly eight hours both nights, I feel as though I've been beat about the head and neck with an exhaustion stick. Eep. A good warning to slow down, for sure, if only I can heed it!

So, what have I been doing since June 20th? 

Calvary Bike Ride, June 21, 2014, St. Louis. Here's a little photo tour of a ride through Calvary Cemetery, one of the oldest and most beautiful cemeteries in the area. Many, many famous (locally famous and nationally famous alike) people are buried here, many associated with the Civil War, slavery and emancipation, the founding of St. Louis, and many of the industries that helped the city grow back when rivers were the nation's highways.

Beyond that, I haven't been riding a lot. It seems when the weather has been ideal (like preceding the July 4th weekend, when it was actually in the 70s for highs? Unbelievable), my schedule has been crammed. And when the weather in summer in St. Louis isn't ideal? I can barely handle being in an air-conditioned car. Yesterday, it was stormy and the high peaked around 97 or so, with humidity so thick the air was like soup. Erm, I sweat just existing when the weather is like that. 

I'm also figuring out quickly that I prefer to ride with traffic, but I don't like to ride very far by myself when I'm being traffic. I think there is added safety and visibility in numbers, and the ride is more fun when you have someone to share the experience with. This is a stark contrast to the joy I have riding Grant's Trail alone, where I don't have to worry as much about interacting with motorists (most intersections are signaled nor next-to-defunct and the trail is off-limits to cars). I haven't been riding to work much - I simply exert too much effort trying to keep up with motorists and it utterly ruins the experience for me. When I have the option to mosey, I ride happily. When I'm pushing myself, I end up hot and sweaty and stressed, and it undoes the benefits. A lot of this is truly about finding my limits, and for me, some type of well-designed infrastructure, a better network of multi-use paths, or at least designated bike highways would make travel between home and work much more pleasant. These, together with better education for all road users, would help to get to the shared-road, pleasant culture that we all want. 

From an ideal infrastructure standpoint, I don't know how to make things perfect any more than the next guy, but here are some things I'd do if I were in charge. And had an unlimited budget.

• 1" of sidewalk per traffic lane. 3" buffer/curb per traffic lane (between sidewalk and traffic lane). (A 2-lane road would have a 2' sidewalk on each side with 3" of curb and 3" of grass or plants on each side; a 4-lane road would have a 4' sidewalk on each side with 9" of grass and 3" of curb between sidewalk and street.) 
• No bike lanes between parked cars and traffic lanes; use a properly-placed sharrow
• Residential street speed limits not to exceed 20mph, residential "arterials" (2-3 lanes) not to exceed 25mph.
• Residential "arterials" to offer 5.5' bike lane, not overlapping gutter, no parked cars, along outside of traffic lanes with a 6" painted buffer. Lanes to end (force merge) at intersections.
• Major arterials (4+ lanes) to have 6' bike lane with 6" buffer zone (paint only) on either side, between lanes of traffic, to allow faster traffic to flow around bicycles. A turning bicycle would have to merge with the appropriate traffic lane in order to complete the turn, but would be able to stay in the designated lane to continue straight. Within the bike lanes, slower bicycle traffic would stay on the right, just like in normal traffic conditions. 

As an example, let's consider a bike commute from downtown Kirkwood (Kirkwood Road and Adams Road) to downtown Clayton (the courthouse) using a direct route when it makes sense (a "car" or "arterial" route) and the scenic route when it makes sense (multi-use paths, for example, through a neighborhood or park). The total route is about 8 miles each way and takes us North on Kirkwood/Lindbergh to Clayton, where we would head East on Clayton Road before going left across the mall into the Francis Place neighborhood to cut under the highway and connect with Shaw Park to get to downtown Clayton. Under my plan above, the cyclist would have a dedicated place on the road (around which heavier and faster vehicles may travel) until merging into the right turn lane at Clayton Road.There, the cyclist would have similar infrastructure until they merged into the left-turn pocket at Francis Place. Francis Place is 2-lane traffic with on-street parking, so the cyclist would ride down the middle of the lane until reaching the bike path that cuts under Highway 170, which connects to the bike paths in Shaw Park. Take that to Parkside Drive on the NW edge of the park, which is again 2-lanes with on-street parking and you'd have the same rules (ride in the middle of the travel lane) until reaching Forsyth, which is 2-4 lanes with on-street parking. So here, we'd again find a middle bike lane to allow cars to pass us in multi-use lanes and to turn when we're going straight. When we get to the side of the courthouse we want (East or West), we'd signal to merge into the right multi-use travel lane and make our turn, etc. 

I'd do this. I don't mind the travel differential so much when I have a place to allow my speed to be comfortable and allow faster folks to go around me. You'd certainly have to watch out for cars changing lanes, but for those merging left, you're on the driver's side and pretty visible, and for those merging right, they are already looking for traffic on their right to avoid. You'd never have to worry about getting doored, and I think access to/from the bike lane would be pretty easy, since you'd almost certainly be coming at it from a signaled intersection, or a road that is slow enough that traffic is easily avoided. It might take some getting used to to get passed on the right by faster traffic, which is the only real issue I'd have with this sort of plan. But the increased visibility and access to all multi-use traffic lanes is appealing and offsets that downside. 

What do you think? If you ride with kids, would you be comfortable in a dedicated lane between two travel lanes of faster-moving traffic? What if you're older, or ride a recumbent? Would you prefer this to a door-zone travel lane, or no designated lane at all? I suspect the answers will vary widely. My only rules for comments: please do not disparage those with a different viewpoint from you. Whether the idea of riding in and as traffic appeals or repulses, your feelings are valid here and should be respected and respectful of those who disagree with you.

Grants Trail / Bike Links / Upcoming Events

We finally have a had a break in the humidity and we're getting our May weather in mid-June instead. Sure. Why not? It's been in the 60s in the morning and upper 70s most afternoons. We've had a little daily rain or the odd thunderstorm or downpour, but the humidity is much more manageable (either lower, or less oppressive due to the lower temps). It was still pretty muggy last Sunday, though, but I decided to ride the entirety of Grant's Trail, plus the trip to/from my house, which totals a little over 21 miles for me (the trail proper is around 16 miles round-trip, or about 8 miles start-to-finish). Every time I ride the trail, I am struck by how much I like it, and would love a connected network of trails like this to make covering large areas more pleasant. 

From the Kirkwood end, the trail starts out feeling suburban, with open, fairly-flat land, signaled crossing points where it intersects streets and arteries, and views of the backs of stripmalls. From there, it gets better, unfolding at Grant's Farm, which houses petting zoos, a train, and Clydesdales!

After Grant's Farm, you pass ball fields and a few more businesses.

But it's the other stuff that I find most interesting. You alternate between open fields and far-off backs of houses, to practically being in people's actual back yards, to railroad and highway overpasses and lush, overgrown vines and trees. With the humidity Sunday, it got downright tropical. And then it just ends, in the middle-of-nowhere (no disrespect to Affton/Mehlville intended) South County, with no indication that you're near anything at all (because other than a few homes, you aren't). You turn around and ride back to "civilization". 

In one open field, I saw a deer grazing contentedly.

On my return trip, a hummingbird hovered in front of me for several seconds.

The trail is remarkably flat (a nearly-imperceptible decline heading SE; a slightly-more-noticeable incline heading NW), can be busy (Grant's Farm users, other cyclists, joggers, rollerbladers, and the like), and  has parking at either end, plus a couple of lots in between. There's also a separate Clydesdale path marked, though I haven't tried it yet; I think it's a short loop?

I love this trail. I can relax and enjoy the ride, my thoughts, or music (I allow myself to do the one-ear-bud-only-low-volume ride-thing here, then remove them when I'm back on streets), and it reinforces all the things I loved about riding when I was a kid. I also love that animals don't skitter away (as quickly, if at all) when you're on a bike. It reinforces that this mode of transportation is earth-friendly, and people-and-creature-friendly, too. Bike-riding: Just a big ol' batch of awesomesauce.

*    *     *     *    *

Upcoming St. Louis Bikey Events:

• Trailnet hosts a lot of rides throughout the week and on weekends for various speeds and styles of riding. You can check their entire calendar here. 
• In particular, for "ladies of the lane", there is an Arch Women event next week on Wednesday, June 18th - bikey crafts and beer at Perennial. More info here; preregistration is requested. It's free, but they are asking for a $5 donation to cover costs.
• A week from Saturday, on June 21, Trailnet is also hosting a bikey bakery tour ("Bakeries on the Rise"). Info here. Cost is $5.
• BWorks is a local organization that refurbishes and sells donated (to them) bicycles to raise money for bike training and donation to get children riding. How fantastic is that? They are hosting bike drives (to receive donated bicycles) at Weldon Spring on Saturday, June 21, and at Webster Groves on Tuesday, June 24. They are also hosting a family-friendly bicycle ride on Saturday, June 21, at Calvary Cemetery in North St. Louis. Info here. The Calvary ride is free.
• You can also check out Bike St. Louis for events and advocacy!

Gone Ridin'? Mostly.

I did not mean to take a three-week posting break! But here I am, so let's get caught up, shall we? 

The most glaring reason for the break was general busy-ness, exacerbated by lovely opportunities to go for nice weekend rides. On top of that, I had to make the very sudden and difficult decision to put my lovely Charlie-cat to sleep on May 23rd, which was very sad and left our home cat-free, a status change I found nearly as upsetting as losing my best boy-cat in the first place. The impact of that loss and the hole it created in our household meant that The Husband and I ended up interviewing a number of kitties for adoption, and ended up being selected by two year-old ginger boys, who are crazy and affectionate, and now named Calvin and Hobbes.

And so, between socializing the new kitties, introducing them to The Corgi, and general craziness associated with human bikey-socializing and the holiday weekend and LIFE, here we are. Back to the bikes.

Due to the above-mentioned events, I didn't ride to work as planned on Friday the 23rd. That weekend I had a house-guest, and last week was pretty stormy. ('Tis that time of year.) I did ride Thursday May 22 (to try to get a new kickstand fitted for the Linus at a local bike shop), which didn't work out and ended up with a fun, if very wet, ride home in a sudden downpour. Then, last Saturday, I drove the bike to the city and met up with bike friends to do a Tour of Old Carondelet, which is a neighborhood in extreme South St. Louis that used to be its own town separate and apart from STL and is FULL of stories and history and just beginning to come back to life as interest in walkable, bikeable, liveable neighborhoods renews. Some of my favorite photos from the tour:

The next day, I had another bikey-lovely day. In the morning, I rode to church, then I made a pit stop at a local grocer and headed to our "all-church picnic". It was warm both days (and so humid), but there is always a breeze when you're on a moving bicycle.

This weekend, I plan to mostly stay in, but I may squeeze in a trail ride or two, and if we find ourselves with another not-too-hot/not-too-stormy day, I may try riding to work again, but perhaps with another route. 

Cheers, and happy riding!

R

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.

Location, location, location...

I mentioned here that my husband and I went to see about a house in December. And then, last week, that we had submitted an offer. As of a few days ago, we are officially under contract. We are currently waiting for news on a couple of contingencies so that we can formally inspect the home, and hopefully, we won't find anything too surprising. Assuming no deal-breakers, we should close at the tail end of February or beginning of March. We won't move in right away. There is a lot of work to be done to get the home ready - it needs a new kitchen, the plaster walls and ceilings need some major TLC, and there's a little evidence of water damage here and there so that we will want to make sure the plumbing is in good shape throughout the home. There is, of course, the other cosmetic stuff you would always expect: painting, refinishing floors, etc. And we'd like to update the windows, which probably haven't been replaced in 40 years or longer. And, all things being equal, I'd love to convert the fireplace from wood-burning (nonfunctional at present) to gas (warmth at the flip of a switch). At least, those are the things we know about and are planning for now.These things may change.

While, ostensibly, this development has nothing to do with cycling, it really does do, which you likely recall from past posts. The home is in a much more cycling-friendly area. It is four times closer to my office (one-and-a-half miles vs. six), half the distance to the nearest bike trails (one mile versus two), a handful of blocks from a bustling, walkable and bikeable area with racks a plenty, stores, restaurants, and entertainment, and a hop, skip, and jump from the nearest MetroLink stop - I can eschew my car pretty easily, weather-permitting (and frankly, after driving in snow and ice and slush on Tuesday and Wednesday, I'd rather have bundled up and let the light rail whisk me to work and not worry about the terrible drivers out there who don't adjust their driving for weather and road conditions. At all).

There are a couple of trade-offs. We'll be (relatively) a lot farther from the grocery store (at least one mile from the nearest one, and probably farther for preferred stores), and my commute to church will become eleven miles instead of two. And I go to church frequently (I volunteer extensively there, and will continue to do so at least through the remainder of 2014, and I'm not even considering changing churches).

It's about a wash for my husband's commute. It's shorter, but the principal routes to/from are more congested, though the option of the MetroLink becomes available to him if we move into the new home. Similarly, the yard is smaller, but will also require less work to maintain, and less water, too. Both neighborhoods have a strong sense of identity and are perfectly lovely.

In total, the benefits really seem to outweigh the drawbacks. I go to work at least five days per week versus usually no more than three days at church (there are weeks when I'm there four or five days out of seven, but that's fairly rare). There are a number of days when I need to work late, and so does the husband, and being able to get home quickly to have lunch with the dog would be good for both of us (me; the dog). The shorter commute makes walking (half an hour versus not-an-option) or biking to work (10-15 minutes versus about 50) a real and meaningful option. The very close proximity to parks and trails makes getting outside to play more often another easy option for us (especially since we won't have to drive to get there). We can walk over to all these great restaurants. On nice days I can walk to see a movie or a band play live at a couple of different venues, too, activities I truly enjoy. 

Really, it's about buying into a change of lifestyle. We can walk to a few things now (grocery store, a couple or three restaurants, a couple little shops), but we usually don't. It requires crossing a large arterial road and walking through parking lots, which is, frankly, kind of awful. When we walk, it's most often when we want to pick up or drop off a Redbox movie, because we can at least take the dog with us. "We" can bike to a trail and church, or over to the neighboring 'downtown' without interacting with the arterial road, but by "we", I almost always mean "me", since my husband prefers to stick to trails (he doesn't feel safe or comfortable on many roads), and most of my riding friends don't live in the area. Where we are is safe, and suburban, without crossing into exurban territory, but I've been itching for a more urban experience for a while. Our trips to Europe in 2008 and 2012 and Australia in 2010 have only cemented this desire for me. (I also spent four summers in London in 1990, 1995, 1997, and 2003, lived in Massachusetts and relied on rail to commute in 2000-2001, and embraced the bus as a means of traveling to and from college classes for three of the four years I was in undergrad. I really loved the ability to get to different places without a car that each spot offered.)

I read a post recently by Santa Cruz cyclist Richard Masoner (@cyclicious), whom I've recently begun following on Twitter and the message really resonated with me. 

[Being green // avoiding traffic // saving money // exercise] aren’t reasons to bike — they’re just nice bonuses. If I felt like I had to bike to work to save the planet and my wallet, I’d probably hate it. The Santa Cruz County Bike To Work website repeats those “reasons” to bike to work, which is fine, but ignores the most important reason: We bike because we like it. Biking is fun. It feels good.

I don't want to pursue this lifestyle change (which includes, among other things, cycling) just because I should. I want to do this because it feels good, and it's exciting.

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!

Quiet Winter Days

Hi there,

I know it has been quiet on the blog lately. My days have been long on activities, but short on light, and I don't have a lot to report on the bike front. I want to post things which are interesting or beautiful or useful for anyone reading, rather than filler. So things may be quiet as we embrace the winter solstice and hunker down for Christmas in my corner. I'll be back and posting as I have more to report. 

A few anecdotes...

I am reading, and enjoying, Elly Blue's Bikenomics. I will post a full report when I finish the book. 

Melissa has published her report on the Great Rivers Greenway bike infrastructure program of last month. 

My mom recently found a bright yellow Columbia jacket from when I was in college. I think this will be a  great commuting jacket in the winter and spring. 

I have inspired a fellow cycling enthusiast to ride to our choir rehearsals! He has been really fabulous about using two wheels instead of four to travel the short distance between his home and the rehearsal venue, and we have fun chatting about bikes and lights and what to wear while riding. I hope to return to the shorter commutes soon, too. I miss riding, and he is excited to see the updated Motobecane (one of his bicycles is a 60s Raleigh).

Finally, and who knows what will come of it, but the husband and I have been chewing on a possible move at some point. I currently live 2 miles from church and 6 miles from work. I'd love to shorten the work route without drastically lengthening the ride to and from church, though those neighborhoods are few and far between. It's been exciting to contemplate a shorter work commute, though--I can afford a longer ride to and from church, and would be able to ride to work much more regularly if I could make riding and driving more interchangeable, time-wise. When it takes 15-18 minutes to drive vs 50+ (!) to ride, and especially with night falling at 4:30pm, it's been way too easy to be lazy and take the car. 

However you're spending these winter days, wishing you warm and cozy ones, happy holidays, and the best as we head into the New Year.