Weekend number dos!

So this weekend wasn't tooo eventful but we did get quite a bit of biking in. Sadly, I didn't get a lot of photos for the blog. We went to the Saturday market again. This time we locked up our bike trailer because I keep hearing about people stealing them. We got coffee and then walked up and down the market looking at all of the venues and musicians playing. It was fun :) we hung out at the Capitol park for a while relaxing, Matt got a craft root beer and we got a bag of mixed veggies from one of the refugee gardeners. We also got two oregano plants, one basil plant and a "mystery" tomato plant for free. Also the neighbor's had a birthday part for their son who turned 1 year old. That was pretty fun and Paisley got to socialize with some other babies.:) Sunday we biked to Shopko and bought two bags of cedar mulch and some soil specifically for vegetable gardens. Matt had to bike that all home in the trailer while Paisley and I wandered Shopko for the first time. She embarrassed  me in the store for the first time...Paisley thought it was a good idea to practice her bird screeching capabilities at full volume for several minutes while I nervously hushed her and awkwardly smiled at all of the people staring at is. That was fun! When Matt got to the store we rode home and worked on the garden most of the rest of the day. It looks a million times better now :) We planted all of the herbs and I planted some summer squash seeds! I ended up giving the tomato plant to my neighbor who really wanted one. Her husband said he would build a cage for our tomato plant we got last weekend... score! Overall it was a great weekend! Here are some pics...

We planted three squash seeds here.

The Truth is

So while we have talked about the great side of biking instead of driving... it's really got quiet a bit of downsides too.. and we want to give a fair perspective to the whole thing

1: Sleep is CRITICAL (especially to me)
   
         Think this through with me. You wake up early enough to bike into work (for me that's 6AM.. not bad  really I woke up at 5 to drive in so really I get an extra hour of sleep these days), and the first thing you think is, alright I need to get up! I have a 40 minute battle with traffic and hills ahead of me. Ughhhghghghgh I am so tired, maybe I should just call in sick today... followed by WHAT THE HECK HOW IS IT 7:30!
       There is seriously nothing worse to think about when you wake up tired and groggy than having to bust your butt to get to work when you know you can take the day off and still get paid.

2: Sleep is CRITICAL

        Wait didn't you just say that.... yep! Your body needs time to rest to rebuild those muscles you are tearing up... you'll be sore every day of the week (because you don't get a break from biking!) You need as much sleep as possible so your body has time to rebuild

3: Food sucks...

       All the sudden you look at that free doughnut in the break room and think all you're going to do is weigh me down and make my job harder... BUT YOU LOOK SO GOOD. You suddenly fight with yourself over what food/drink you will have because each one makes a difference in how your ride will go. For some that doesn't matter because you already eat healthy. (And cue off subject rant...3...2...1... and GO) One look at my frame it will tell you I haven't been Health Conscious for some time. 2 years ago I was 60 pounds lighter and could ride 4 more miles to work each day at 4:30 AM without a problem and work a 12 hour shift on my feet. 10 months ago, I worked 2 jobs from Thursday to Saturday my schedule went, wake up at 7 get to work at 8 get off at 5 go home eat and change go to work at 7 get off anywhere  from 3-5am sleep until 7 wake up go to work at 8 get off at 5 go home eat and change, go to work at 7 get off anywhere from 3-5 go home sleep until 12ish get up take some time to relax and connect with the wife. go to work at 7 get off anywhere form 3-5. I also worked Monday nights. so 5 days a week at my day job and 4 days at my night job. I was away from home about 100-110 hours a week and put in about 95 hours of work. Now I am beat up from 5 days of work and an hour of exercise... anyways moving on.

4: Sweating this much sucks...

      I sweat like a pig sitting still. Imagine what I look like after my bike to work each day... wait you don't have to look here. It's disgusting to see, and even worse to feel and smell

5: Showering at work sucks...

      The way the showers work at my job is they're inside the men's bathroom. I don't know about you but, I don't feel 100% clean after showering with umpteen guys coming into the bathroom and doing their business just a few feet away from me while I shower.

6: Biking is not easy!

      If I had a car right now I wouldn't bike to work everyday... trust me. Every morning I wake up I think... man I wish I had a car right now, I need a day off from biking. I would think that every morning with a car too and drive in. It's so bad that if I see a car that looks like someone I know I HOPE they stop to pick me up haha. There is a truck on our block in a empty parking lot that has some paint pen writing on it that says "Please Move" and I couldn't read the rest. But I was hoping I could move it to work... with my bike in the bed.

That's not all the bad stuff there is but, I will just stop there. I will, however, give you why its worth it and rewarding and just incredible and what outweighs all the negatives.

I am loosing weight and feel so much better every day. I got to work and another bicyclist and I were talking and he said something so true.. "You're definitely awake by the time you get here" and that's true for the whole day. I am so much more alert and my mind is so much clearer each day. My wife can attest to it too, I have SO MUCH MORE energy everyday. I used to get home and just want to sit on the couch and be a lazy bum because "I was so warn out". Now I get home, help with the baby, make dinner, do the dishes and get ready for bed, without feel warn out most days.

I get to see my constant progess. Remember those hills I could only climb two of. Tuesday was the first time but, today I climbed them all and look at my time! 35 minute (if you don't have it Moves is a great activity tracker that you don't have to do anything to use... just leaving it running.)

Also I get to see things that generally you won't pay attention to in a car. Look at this view I got this morning!

(Click any of the images to make them larger) (also as a caveat to the 35 minutes that's with stopping to take this picture...)

I would not have stopped to appreciate this view. (I'm no photographer but you get it) also I get a lot of time to reflect and spend time thinking, meditating, and contemplating about life, my day, my family and everything in between. 

All in all its a give and take but, from what I've seen it gives much more than it takes.

Family Photos June 2014

Slow Down Time and Live More

Time for some information on deciding to bike. First, probably not good to just hop on a bike after leaving it out all winter. My wheels/spokes got pretty rusty and well I kept popping spokes so Thursday after I hoped on to ride to work I got to the end of my block and realized that something just wasn't right and noticed I had broken another one. The good thing though is I have an awesome Boss who let me take the day off, so that was definitely a plus for the day but the $70 and almost 2 hours spent at a bike shop was not so awesome. Especially when I was told it would be $40 and take minutes, oh well.

Friday I woke up super late but after doing some bike adjustments and getting that new lighter rear rim on Thursday, I was able to actually shave off 4 minutes from my normal ride! 36 minutes is a great ride for me. If you're riding an old steel bike like we are, getting some Aluminum Alloy wheels to help with the weight is definitely a good idea. I am going to try and get a front one now and possible a carbon fork. The less my bike weighs the better haha. Then I need a new free wheel/rear axle mine seems to be bent.

What I am learning is, in biking you can have all the technique and will in the world but without a decent bike it means nothing, its all the little things that you don't think should really make a difference... that truly make the difference

So now onto the weekend. We've had a full and beautiful weekend, one we wouldn't have had with a car (but you could have done the same things if you owned a car... says the sceptic/cynic. Trust me we wouldn't have) 

Saturday we got up and went down to our favorite coffee shop in town and then walked down to the farmers market. We picked up a few veggies and I got to try so locally brewed root beer (I don't drink but I LOOVE me some well crafted root beer). We also bought a Black Krim Tomato plant that I planted when we got home. After digging the hole and planting it, I got pretty warm so we walked down to the river and set up our lawn chairs in the water and just enjoyed the sun and the river. People float down the Boise River in kayaks/inflatables and Paisley made sure to wave at everyone as they passed by :)

Later that evening we had our second outdoor movie night, we watched The Lego Movie with the neighbors, its fun to watch outside with our projector. The neighbors get excited when we tell them were going to do it haha

Today has been less eventful overall, more of just a time to relax. We spent the morning watching a documentary about 4 bicyclist who went on a journey to bike in like 4 different countries. It was pretty interesting so we decided to hit the green belt and do some biking of our own. We biked for about two hours and stopped off at the river for some time of refreshment.

 And after all this fun were finishing off now with some root beer floats, relaxing in bed and napping!

I hope some of you are inspired to try living car free for a month. You don't have to sell your car like we did, but honestly, we wouldn't be doing this if we hadn't sold our car. Cars are just too tempting! But, one week in and I can tell you that it has been incredible, we've done more, seen more, and felt better than we have in like the past two years and I think it's really just the beginning for us. We are really enjoying this time in our lives. It feels almost like were able to slow down time, and live more.

First grocery trip

I was getting pretty excited to take our first trip to Trader Joes. Mainly because our fridge was looking super empty and I was out of coffee creamer. The lazy side of me wanted to just got buy a car right away but Matt did a great job of motivating me. He showed me how to set up the bike trailer and we got Paisley packed in the car seat and set off. 

We are very lucky to live in such a beautiful place. Most of the ride was next to the Boise River. The weather was perfect, earlier it was raining but the clouds left and the sun was out by the time we went for our eveing ride. My legs were burning because I am so out of shape. This is the first major trip I have done since Paisley has been born and man you really feel the weight when you're pulling a trailer. 

I had no idea that we lived so close to Trader Joes, it was a pretty easy ride overall! The only part that made me nervous was riding on the sidewalk of Capitol BLVD but it was only like 2-3 blocks. I was going super slow and being cautious. It would be nice if everything was literally right off the biking path haha!

 

So we got there and did our shopping! We got so much food for $115. I love Trader Joes, you get tasty food made with ingredients you have at home, or at least you know what they are! My main tip to moms is to shop at TJ's if you can. They have good prices, food you can just heat up in a skillet or oven, and it's pretty healthy compared to most premade food. We filled up the back of the bike trailer, I was amazed it all fit!! 

 

The best part of the trip was Paisley not screaming and crying on the way. She hates the car, she will scream non stop. She really enjoyed the trip, I could hear her cooing in the trailer on the way and by the time we got home she was sound asleep! Overall it was a great experience and I am sore!