WEATHER THERE: sunny, 6C, 5 km/hr tailwinds
WEATHER BACK: sunny, 23C, 17 km/hr tail/crosswinds
Walk? No, bike! No, wait, I should drive! But should I shower before I go to work, or after I get home? I wonder if I should bring lunch, or buy something there. How will I pick up my daughter from daycare after?
This whole morning I wasted my precious brain energy (or brainergy, as it were) going over these rather meaningless questions. Right up until the last moment, I argued with myself about the best option to take.
"Okay, I'm definitely going to shower, but then if I shower I won't have time to walk. And my hair will look so nice and clean, do I really want to mess it up with bike helmet sweat? I should definitely drive - just take 'er easy."
(Twenty minutes later)
"The shower didn't take THAT long, maybe I can still walk!"
(Five minutes later)
"What was I thinking, I'll definitely drive."
(Two minutes later)
"NO! It's so beautiful out! Why waste such a beautiful day driving - and spending $15 on parking - when I can just bike? Come ooooon!"
Another two minutes later, I was out the door, climbing onto my mountain bike to go into work for the afternoon. And am I ever glad I biked today - it was so beautiful out! And after having been riding the road bike for the past few days, I had forgotten how smooth the ride on the mountain bike was. Smooth, and surprisingly fast. I've been feeling really out of shape lately, and yet I was able to cruise along at 22-25 km/hr on flat straight roads and got up to 37 km/hr on a slight descent. I even maintained a speed between 18-20 km/hr going up the hill at the south end of the High Level Bridge. That HAS to be a record for me, Little Miss Hills-Make-Me-Puke.
Huh. I've been feeling so slovenly lately. I guess getting back into biking is improving my fitness anyway, even if it doesn't feel like it. And even if I continue eating unwell (but COME ON, the Halloween candy is out in stores already! Don't judge me!). If only I weren't so tired all the time (thank you, nightmares and midnight tantrums, for introducing yourselves to my daughter's life these past couple weeks!). If I could actually get a full night's rest, everything would seem even better than it already is . . .
Showing posts with label parenting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label parenting. Show all posts
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Slog
WEATHER THERE: sunny, 5C, 15 km/hr tail/crosswinds
WEATHER BACK: sunny, 15C, 26 km/hr headwinds gusting to 40 km/hr
I'm tired. My motivation is low. It's windy and chilly outside today, and all I want to do is curl up with a hot chocolate and a book while wearing pajamas, and in this way spend the entire day to myself. My mind keeps bouncing between my different priorities - working on my dissertation (reading, writing, analyzing, thinking, creating, organizing, editing), trying to deal with the behavioural problems that are starting to show up in my daughter, and somehow finding whatever remains of my productivity to meet deadlines at work. It's a slog.
And riding home into strong wind, swearing under my breath the whole time, is not a great way to end the day after all that. Oh well - it IS only thirty minutes of my day, I can handle it. And besides, after coming home to a hot dinner, a nice tea, and a hug from my daughter, everything seems a whole lot brighter. And, I have to say, it DOES help knowing that I don't have to go in to work tomorrow! Oh part-time job, I love you!
WEATHER BACK: sunny, 15C, 26 km/hr headwinds gusting to 40 km/hr
I'm tired. My motivation is low. It's windy and chilly outside today, and all I want to do is curl up with a hot chocolate and a book while wearing pajamas, and in this way spend the entire day to myself. My mind keeps bouncing between my different priorities - working on my dissertation (reading, writing, analyzing, thinking, creating, organizing, editing), trying to deal with the behavioural problems that are starting to show up in my daughter, and somehow finding whatever remains of my productivity to meet deadlines at work. It's a slog.
And riding home into strong wind, swearing under my breath the whole time, is not a great way to end the day after all that. Oh well - it IS only thirty minutes of my day, I can handle it. And besides, after coming home to a hot dinner, a nice tea, and a hug from my daughter, everything seems a whole lot brighter. And, I have to say, it DOES help knowing that I don't have to go in to work tomorrow! Oh part-time job, I love you!
Monday, October 4, 2010
The New Trailer - And My First Fair-Weather Fall
WEATHER THERE: light rain, 10C, calm wind
WEATHER BACK:cloudy, 14C, 9 km/hr crosswind
On one of my days off last week, I turned weeks of indecision into action: after researching the relative pros and cons of various ways to transport my child with my bike (rear-mount child seat, front-mount child seat, trail-a-bike, and single-child trailer), I bought a single-child trailer from Mountain Equipment Co-op. Though I've used it very little so far - just a short test ride last Thursday (short because of the unfortunate Brazilian that prevented me from biking much at all last week!), another short ride to the park on Sunday, and to-and-from daycare today - it's been great! It's easy to attach and detach from my bike, it's much slimmer than my double trailer and that makes it lighter and less likely to get caught on a curb or on the door frame going in and out of storage, it's more comfortable for my daughter because she's more cocooned in it, and it's sturdy as anything.
Case in point: when taking it for a test ride on Thursday, it had been raining that day and I approached a part of the road where I had to get up onto the sidewalk. There was a big, deep puddle covering the edge of the road where it met with the curb. When I tried to ride up over the curb onto the sidewalk, my wheel caught on a deep pothole that was covered by the puddle, and I was thrown from the bike. I tumbled off, landing on the sidewalk (thankfully not in the puddle!), my bike fell over, and as soon as I landed I looked back in horror to see if my daughter was okay. Sitting calmly in the trailer, she looked at me with some semblance of surprise and said, "You okay, mommy? Mommy, you okay?" The trailer hadn't budged an inch.
I was okay - just a small scrape on my leg, nothing serious, and surprisingly not even a scratch on my hands or a bruise anywhere else. So I mounted back up and we continued on our merry way, none the worse for wear. If she were on a trail-a-bike or in a child seat, she would likely have sustained some kind of injury - or at the very least, been scared by the fall and perhaps developed an aversion to biking with me. Thankfully I went with the trailer instead! No injury, no scariness - just a fun ride.
I suspect that the Velcro used to secure the screen and rain cover will wear out sooner than I want it to, making it impossible to close after some use, and that might prove to be an annoying issue. I might have to sew snaps into the material when that time comes. However, that point hasn't come yet and hopefully won't come for a while. This trailer will hopefully get us through some winter commuting without issue - and, given its performance so far, I'm looking forward to it!
I suspect that the Velcro used to secure the screen and rain cover will wear out sooner than I want it to, making it impossible to close after some use, and that might prove to be an annoying issue. I might have to sew snaps into the material when that time comes. However, that point hasn't come yet and hopefully won't come for a while. This trailer will hopefully get us through some winter commuting without issue - and, given its performance so far, I'm looking forward to it!
Friday, September 24, 2010
A Weird Week
After making homemade hot cocoa with dinner, and spending the evening in cozy pajamas under a fleece blanket while reading, I would have thought that sleep would come easy to me on Monday night. Alas, I had a bit of trouble falling asleep and didn't drift into slumber until sometime after 11:00 pm. By 1:00 am, I was awakened by cranky whining sounds emanating from my daughter's room across the hall. These little sounds came in fits and bursts, and when I would call out to her to see what was the matter, she would stop. Or she would ask for milk, which I would deny her because of her pesky habit of taking the lids off her sippy cups and spilling milk all over her crib. Or she would make some other kind of request that would similarly be shut down. This continued on an off for a couple hours, and between each bout of sadness I remained awake and listening for the next one.
"Moooommmmmy," I heard her wail. "Moooommmy, I'm all wet!" My gritty-with-exhaustion eyes turned groggily to my clock - it was 3:30 am, and I'd barely slept all night. I just wanted to ignore her and try to fall back asleep. "Moooommmmmy, there's pee in there!" Ughhh. I forced myself out of bed to confront the pee-soaked scene.
My daughter keeps doing this - pulling her pajamas off, pulling her diaper off, and peeing in her bed, then spending the rest of the night grieving the loss of her beloved (pee-soaked) blankie which I am forced to throw into the laundry. Because of this fiasco, I didn't sleep a wink for the rest of the night. Tuesday was a write-off. Even when I tried to drop my daughter off at daycare in the morning, I was called back 20 minutes later to pick her up because she was so exhausted and cranky that the daycare couldn't handle her. We spent the day at home, and I went through the day in a zombie fog from lack of sleep. And yet, strangely, I wasn't able to nap at any point.
The whole rest of my week was thrown off by this. Tuesday, typically a work day, was spent at home, so I didn't bike. Wednesday I met a friend for lunch then went into work for the afternoon where I sat barely functioning in front of my computer trying to look like I was being productive when I couldn't possibly have been. I didn't bike that day either. Thursday I took my daughter and myself for travel vaccines then stayed home for the rest of the day while we recovered (she had a slight fever). Once again, I didn't bike. And now it's Friday, and it's only my second full day at work all week, and I'm still feeling groggy and sleep-deprived (though certainly improved from Tuesday!). Using my sore vaccinated arm as an excuse, I didn't bike today either.
Wow. What a crappy week! I only biked once. I've been functioning at the cognitive level of the undead since Tuesday. And now things are starting to pick up - I have projects to complete at work, and a dissertation deadline looming in the next week - and this whole week has basically felt like a write-off. Sigh!
I know these kinds of weeks happen . . . to other people . . . Oh, okay, FINE! They happen to me too. And it's okay. Still, it's hard to feel good when I'm feeling this tired and unproductive. Huh. No wonder I hated my mat leave so much!
"Moooommmmmy," I heard her wail. "Moooommmy, I'm all wet!" My gritty-with-exhaustion eyes turned groggily to my clock - it was 3:30 am, and I'd barely slept all night. I just wanted to ignore her and try to fall back asleep. "Moooommmmmy, there's pee in there!" Ughhh. I forced myself out of bed to confront the pee-soaked scene.
My daughter keeps doing this - pulling her pajamas off, pulling her diaper off, and peeing in her bed, then spending the rest of the night grieving the loss of her beloved (pee-soaked) blankie which I am forced to throw into the laundry. Because of this fiasco, I didn't sleep a wink for the rest of the night. Tuesday was a write-off. Even when I tried to drop my daughter off at daycare in the morning, I was called back 20 minutes later to pick her up because she was so exhausted and cranky that the daycare couldn't handle her. We spent the day at home, and I went through the day in a zombie fog from lack of sleep. And yet, strangely, I wasn't able to nap at any point.
The whole rest of my week was thrown off by this. Tuesday, typically a work day, was spent at home, so I didn't bike. Wednesday I met a friend for lunch then went into work for the afternoon where I sat barely functioning in front of my computer trying to look like I was being productive when I couldn't possibly have been. I didn't bike that day either. Thursday I took my daughter and myself for travel vaccines then stayed home for the rest of the day while we recovered (she had a slight fever). Once again, I didn't bike. And now it's Friday, and it's only my second full day at work all week, and I'm still feeling groggy and sleep-deprived (though certainly improved from Tuesday!). Using my sore vaccinated arm as an excuse, I didn't bike today either.
Wow. What a crappy week! I only biked once. I've been functioning at the cognitive level of the undead since Tuesday. And now things are starting to pick up - I have projects to complete at work, and a dissertation deadline looming in the next week - and this whole week has basically felt like a write-off. Sigh!
I know these kinds of weeks happen . . . to other people . . . Oh, okay, FINE! They happen to me too. And it's okay. Still, it's hard to feel good when I'm feeling this tired and unproductive. Huh. No wonder I hated my mat leave so much!
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
The Open Door
WEATHER THERE: partly cloudy, 6C, 6 km/hr headwinds
WEATHER BACK: overcast, 11C, 15 km/hr crosswinds
Now that I have a strong, sturdy mountain bike as my trusty steed, I've been trying to get back into the habit of hauling my daughter to daycare in the bike trailer. She doesn't mind it too much - sometimes she finds splashing through puddles and going over bumps quite fun - and I'm sure it's great for her to get into the habit of bike-commuting with Mommy. The downside is that it adds a few minutes to my trip compared to driving her there, and dealing with that big double trailer can get quite awkward (which is why I've been seriously contemplating shelling out the - shudder - $300 for a narrower, lighter single-child trailer).
I have to back-track past my house to get to work, and on my way home from work I look longingly to my home as I pedal past it to get to the daycare. Normally this isn't much of an issue, except for the occasional slight pangs of desire I feel at the end of a long workday to stop at my house and be done for the day instead of having to continue on to the daycare. Then again, my desire to take in that glorious sight of my daughter running at me with arms wide open and a big smile on her face far outweighs it and I keep trudging on to get her.
As I was riding home on Tuesday I cast a longing eye towards my house as I was pedalling past it. But something was very different - and quite amiss. The front door was wide open. Robbers!! In a panic, I pulled my bike over and clamoured up the front steps, afraid of finding my house ransacked and robbed. Or worse - finding someone in my house and willing to hurt me to get out. I darted through the front door and looked around the porch.
"Odd," I thought, stopping in my panicked tracks, "They didn't touch the road bike." Mike the Bike was parked up against the porch wall where is always was, completely unmoved from when I saw it last. That would have been so easy to steal! Why didn't they take the bike? Looking around, I noticed that, in fact, nothing looked out of place on the porch. Well, okay, maybe not here - but I have more valuables inside the house. I peered through the window into the house and saw my purse hanging off a chair back right in front of me. It was still there, untouched. Nothing was out of place inside my house, either.
So - not robbers, then? What the Hell could have happened? Then it occurred to me:
"Oh CRAP! Did I leave my door open this whole freakin' time??" Maybe after fighting the bike trailer out of the front door in the morning (where every day it succeeds in ripping more chunks off my weatherstripping because it's too damn wide for the doorway), then bringing my bike out, and hooking them up, and putting my daughter in the trailer - maybe I just forgot to go back and shut the door. Maybe I just mounted my bike and took off. Could I have possibly been so careless? Me, who has had a different home broken into? Me, who is usually fairly paranoid about that sort of thing and always keeps all windows and doors locked even when I'm at home?
I thought back to the events of the morning and realized that it may have indeed been the case. My daughter was being difficult and putting up a fight about going into the trailer and going to daycare all morning. I remembered her aiming her yelling, thrashing anger at me as I was strapping her into the trailer, even as I feebly tried reasoning with her about how fun daycare was going to be and how much she always likes it once she's there. Maybe I was distracted, tired, fed up with her tantrums. Maybe I was just focused on getting her to daycare on time. So I mounted up and pedalled away, still trying to reason with her over my shoulder, while the front door to my humble abode remained wide open like an invitation. And it remained like that for the next nine hours.
The most remarkable thing is that nobody stole anything. Not my bike on the porch, not the purse just on the other side of the inner door, nothing! Kudos to everyone for leaving my stuff alone despite my incredible safety blunder. I feel a lot better about the trustworthiness of my neighbourhood now. And that sound you just heard - that was my faith in humanity jumping up a notch.
WEATHER BACK: overcast, 11C, 15 km/hr crosswinds
Now that I have a strong, sturdy mountain bike as my trusty steed, I've been trying to get back into the habit of hauling my daughter to daycare in the bike trailer. She doesn't mind it too much - sometimes she finds splashing through puddles and going over bumps quite fun - and I'm sure it's great for her to get into the habit of bike-commuting with Mommy. The downside is that it adds a few minutes to my trip compared to driving her there, and dealing with that big double trailer can get quite awkward (which is why I've been seriously contemplating shelling out the - shudder - $300 for a narrower, lighter single-child trailer).
I have to back-track past my house to get to work, and on my way home from work I look longingly to my home as I pedal past it to get to the daycare. Normally this isn't much of an issue, except for the occasional slight pangs of desire I feel at the end of a long workday to stop at my house and be done for the day instead of having to continue on to the daycare. Then again, my desire to take in that glorious sight of my daughter running at me with arms wide open and a big smile on her face far outweighs it and I keep trudging on to get her.
As I was riding home on Tuesday I cast a longing eye towards my house as I was pedalling past it. But something was very different - and quite amiss. The front door was wide open. Robbers!! In a panic, I pulled my bike over and clamoured up the front steps, afraid of finding my house ransacked and robbed. Or worse - finding someone in my house and willing to hurt me to get out. I darted through the front door and looked around the porch.
"Odd," I thought, stopping in my panicked tracks, "They didn't touch the road bike." Mike the Bike was parked up against the porch wall where is always was, completely unmoved from when I saw it last. That would have been so easy to steal! Why didn't they take the bike? Looking around, I noticed that, in fact, nothing looked out of place on the porch. Well, okay, maybe not here - but I have more valuables inside the house. I peered through the window into the house and saw my purse hanging off a chair back right in front of me. It was still there, untouched. Nothing was out of place inside my house, either.
So - not robbers, then? What the Hell could have happened? Then it occurred to me:
"Oh CRAP! Did I leave my door open this whole freakin' time??" Maybe after fighting the bike trailer out of the front door in the morning (where every day it succeeds in ripping more chunks off my weatherstripping because it's too damn wide for the doorway), then bringing my bike out, and hooking them up, and putting my daughter in the trailer - maybe I just forgot to go back and shut the door. Maybe I just mounted my bike and took off. Could I have possibly been so careless? Me, who has had a different home broken into? Me, who is usually fairly paranoid about that sort of thing and always keeps all windows and doors locked even when I'm at home?
I thought back to the events of the morning and realized that it may have indeed been the case. My daughter was being difficult and putting up a fight about going into the trailer and going to daycare all morning. I remembered her aiming her yelling, thrashing anger at me as I was strapping her into the trailer, even as I feebly tried reasoning with her about how fun daycare was going to be and how much she always likes it once she's there. Maybe I was distracted, tired, fed up with her tantrums. Maybe I was just focused on getting her to daycare on time. So I mounted up and pedalled away, still trying to reason with her over my shoulder, while the front door to my humble abode remained wide open like an invitation. And it remained like that for the next nine hours.
The most remarkable thing is that nobody stole anything. Not my bike on the porch, not the purse just on the other side of the inner door, nothing! Kudos to everyone for leaving my stuff alone despite my incredible safety blunder. I feel a lot better about the trustworthiness of my neighbourhood now. And that sound you just heard - that was my faith in humanity jumping up a notch.
Friday, September 10, 2010
The First Ride of the New Year!
WEATHER THERE: Overcast, 9C, 11 km/hr tailwinds
WEATHER BACK: Raining, 15C, 13 km/hr crosswinds
What an auspicious (re)start to biking! The first day of the week - Tuesday - was my first day of my new job, and given that I hauled in an entire suitcase full of decorative knicknacks, textbooks, framed art/degrees/certificates, and dissertation-related documents, I figured it would be best to drive. I spent most of the first day arranging my little office into something I'd be comfortable living and working in for the next nine months. I didn't do any sort of nesting like this when I did my internship last year - and who knows - maybe that contributed to me feeling so burnt out by the end. So, I determined to make a greater effort not to let myself burn out this year. With just a little decorative flair, a few scented candles, and dark-wood-framed degrees and certificates for some narcissistic demonstration of my accomplishments, now I've got a charming little office to call my home-away-from-home! Much better than the industrial chic I'm used to.
Wednesday and Thursday are my days off, and those days this week were spent working from home and attending a few meetings to get my dissertation kick-started again after a year-long hiatus. Between working from home on Wednesday and attending three meetings in three different locations back to back with very little commuting time alotted between each, I was unable to bike for either of those days.
So - Friday! My first official day back to bike-commuting! I took the new mountain bike - name still to be determined - and appreciated the smoothness of the ride even as I encountered roads deeply pockmarked with potholes, small rocks, and numerous puddles. Though it wasn't raining when I left the house in the morning and it wasn't calling for rain later in the day, it had rained overnight and left puddles all over, so I opted to wear my rain jacket. This proved to be a most prudent decision, as the late afternoon sky opened up and started pouring rain just before I left the office for the day. Note to self: always bring rain gear!
I still need to equip my new bike with a bell and lights, and I also just noticed that the bike didn't come with reflectors so I'll have to get those too. I'll also need a reflective leg band to keep my right pantleg off the chain, as the bike didn't come with a crash guard so my pants manage to get sucked into the whirling vortex of the front chain ring more often than I'd like. Despite the rain, and despite how I was panting so hard I kind of felt like puking after cresting the hill at the end of the High Level Bridge, it felt damn good to get back to it today. I know my strength will come back, and so will my stamina, and every day that stupid hill is going to get easier. Meanwhile, I'll get to save money on parking and gas, start my day with pink cheeks and a rosy glow, get some much-needed exercise as we enter into the cold season, and demonstrate to my daughter how natural, easy, and fun daily exercise can be as I haul her to daycare in the bike trailer.
Bike commuting: 1. Driving: 0.
WEATHER BACK: Raining, 15C, 13 km/hr crosswinds
What an auspicious (re)start to biking! The first day of the week - Tuesday - was my first day of my new job, and given that I hauled in an entire suitcase full of decorative knicknacks, textbooks, framed art/degrees/certificates, and dissertation-related documents, I figured it would be best to drive. I spent most of the first day arranging my little office into something I'd be comfortable living and working in for the next nine months. I didn't do any sort of nesting like this when I did my internship last year - and who knows - maybe that contributed to me feeling so burnt out by the end. So, I determined to make a greater effort not to let myself burn out this year. With just a little decorative flair, a few scented candles, and dark-wood-framed degrees and certificates for some narcissistic demonstration of my accomplishments, now I've got a charming little office to call my home-away-from-home! Much better than the industrial chic I'm used to.
Wednesday and Thursday are my days off, and those days this week were spent working from home and attending a few meetings to get my dissertation kick-started again after a year-long hiatus. Between working from home on Wednesday and attending three meetings in three different locations back to back with very little commuting time alotted between each, I was unable to bike for either of those days.
So - Friday! My first official day back to bike-commuting! I took the new mountain bike - name still to be determined - and appreciated the smoothness of the ride even as I encountered roads deeply pockmarked with potholes, small rocks, and numerous puddles. Though it wasn't raining when I left the house in the morning and it wasn't calling for rain later in the day, it had rained overnight and left puddles all over, so I opted to wear my rain jacket. This proved to be a most prudent decision, as the late afternoon sky opened up and started pouring rain just before I left the office for the day. Note to self: always bring rain gear!
I still need to equip my new bike with a bell and lights, and I also just noticed that the bike didn't come with reflectors so I'll have to get those too. I'll also need a reflective leg band to keep my right pantleg off the chain, as the bike didn't come with a crash guard so my pants manage to get sucked into the whirling vortex of the front chain ring more often than I'd like. Despite the rain, and despite how I was panting so hard I kind of felt like puking after cresting the hill at the end of the High Level Bridge, it felt damn good to get back to it today. I know my strength will come back, and so will my stamina, and every day that stupid hill is going to get easier. Meanwhile, I'll get to save money on parking and gas, start my day with pink cheeks and a rosy glow, get some much-needed exercise as we enter into the cold season, and demonstrate to my daughter how natural, easy, and fun daily exercise can be as I haul her to daycare in the bike trailer.
Bike commuting: 1. Driving: 0.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Hobbies vs. Relationship
My boyfriend and I recently broke up after dating for about three months. Without either of us really realizing or intending it, our relationship very quickly became a serious, all-encompassing thing that squeezed out time for socializing with our friends and having alone-time. This was more of a problem for me than for him, which caused some friction (perhaps unfairly, as it wasn't necessarily anyone's fault). I suspect it was just an artifact of me having so little time and so much to do that adding one extra thing to my life forced me to ignore other equally important things, and over time that turned into resentment for everything that demanded my time.
Looking back on the past three months, I noticed it was around the start of that relationship that I began to bike less and less. I think a few factors were at play, including the fact that I was starting to feel very burnt out at work and the weather took a turn for the very rainy. Combine those factors with my ex-boyfriend's generous willingness to pick me up from work on days I didn't feel like biking home, my sense of needing to rush home and get everything sorted out before he came over for our late-night hang-outs, and my accumulated loss of sleep (between my daughter's occasional overnight wake-ups, the late-night hang-outs, and our tendency to engage in into-the-night fights when tensions arose) - and you've got a recipe for not biking.
Now, beginning a few weeks ago I had legitimate mechanical issues with my bikes - both of them - and legitimate indecision about what to do with them. Still, I think that if I felt more motivated to bike and felt like I had more time for it, I would have resolved those issues much faster than I did. After all, there was just about nothing that could stop me from biking in the winter months when my motivation was high and I only had three things in my life: work, daughter, and biking. I had a pretty sweet set-up going: I went to bed at the same time every night, I prepared for my next commute in the ample time I had to myself every night before bed, and nothing interfered with my sleep except the occasional daughter's late-night wake-up.
When taken together, all of this has left me to conclude that my former relationship tended to work against my biking habit. That relationship took up a lot of my time and energy, leaving me too crunched for time and too emotionally and physically exhausted to invest in my only hobby. As much as my ex was very supportive of my biking and my other efforts to get healthier, factoring our relationship into my life squeezed out my capacity and motivation to keep doing it. So, now that the relationship is over, I'm elated that I will actually be able to get back to biking again! Huzzah!! Three cheers for silver linings!
I have three more days left of my internship. Then, starting next week, I will be working three days a week at the university and spending the remaining two days a week working on my dissertation. Given that there is a lot of wrapping up I have to do, and cleaning out my office, and transferring my stuff from one building on campus to another, I may not end up biking for another few days. But the moment I get back in the saddle I will be sure to report it here first.
Yippee!! I can't wait!!
Looking back on the past three months, I noticed it was around the start of that relationship that I began to bike less and less. I think a few factors were at play, including the fact that I was starting to feel very burnt out at work and the weather took a turn for the very rainy. Combine those factors with my ex-boyfriend's generous willingness to pick me up from work on days I didn't feel like biking home, my sense of needing to rush home and get everything sorted out before he came over for our late-night hang-outs, and my accumulated loss of sleep (between my daughter's occasional overnight wake-ups, the late-night hang-outs, and our tendency to engage in into-the-night fights when tensions arose) - and you've got a recipe for not biking.
Now, beginning a few weeks ago I had legitimate mechanical issues with my bikes - both of them - and legitimate indecision about what to do with them. Still, I think that if I felt more motivated to bike and felt like I had more time for it, I would have resolved those issues much faster than I did. After all, there was just about nothing that could stop me from biking in the winter months when my motivation was high and I only had three things in my life: work, daughter, and biking. I had a pretty sweet set-up going: I went to bed at the same time every night, I prepared for my next commute in the ample time I had to myself every night before bed, and nothing interfered with my sleep except the occasional daughter's late-night wake-up.
When taken together, all of this has left me to conclude that my former relationship tended to work against my biking habit. That relationship took up a lot of my time and energy, leaving me too crunched for time and too emotionally and physically exhausted to invest in my only hobby. As much as my ex was very supportive of my biking and my other efforts to get healthier, factoring our relationship into my life squeezed out my capacity and motivation to keep doing it. So, now that the relationship is over, I'm elated that I will actually be able to get back to biking again! Huzzah!! Three cheers for silver linings!
I have three more days left of my internship. Then, starting next week, I will be working three days a week at the university and spending the remaining two days a week working on my dissertation. Given that there is a lot of wrapping up I have to do, and cleaning out my office, and transferring my stuff from one building on campus to another, I may not end up biking for another few days. But the moment I get back in the saddle I will be sure to report it here first.
Yippee!! I can't wait!!
Monday, July 12, 2010
Week 46 - Day One: Rain, Rain, Go Away
BIKE: Mike
TIME THERE: 24 min.
TIME BACK: 26 min.
WEATHER: a few clouds, 17C, no wind there; raining, 15C, 24 km/hr head/crosswinds back.
WHAT I WORE: yoga pants, t-shirt, zip-up hoodie (waterproof shell on the way home)
NOTES:
I woke up this morning and could barely keep my eyes open. They were grainy and red from a lack of sleep that accumulated over the weekend from two late nights in a row and no afternoon naps to compensate for them. Huzzah for having a social life! Jeers to the consequences!
All morning I forced myself through my morning routine as a nagging voice within me insisted that I drive instead of bike. The nagging voice was bolstered by the epic tantrums that were thrown by my over-tired daughter at every turn. I try to brush her hair - tantrum. I try to change her diaper - tantrum. I offer her some milk - tantrum. I offer her some cheese - she throws her milk on the ground, then tantrums. Come on!! All of this charming activity made us run late, and that voice in my head kept pushing me to take it easy today and just drive, right up to the last moment that I got on the bike and headed out.
During my ride home today I started regretting that decision. It rained on and off throughout the day. By the afternoon I kept taking every bathroom break as an opportunity to find a big window facing the outside world to see whether it was raining or just cloudy. It was just cloudy as of 3:00 pm, but by the time I left work at 4:00 it had started raining. Sigh. I reluctantly pulled on my waterproof shell and headed out into the wet and cold after a long, busy, tiring day. Somehow, this was easier in the winter.
I arrived home 26 minutes later, drenched and harbouring a chill deep within my bones that didn't leave my body until a hot shower scared it off three hours later. It has been raining ever since. It's supposed to rain up to 65 mm in the next 24 hours, with some crazy wind tomorrow. Methinks I will opt to drive.
I have to say, I preferred winter biking to all this rain biking. At least snow never trickled down the back of my neck and made my underwear wet!
TIME THERE: 24 min.
TIME BACK: 26 min.
WEATHER: a few clouds, 17C, no wind there; raining, 15C, 24 km/hr head/crosswinds back.
WHAT I WORE: yoga pants, t-shirt, zip-up hoodie (waterproof shell on the way home)
NOTES:
I woke up this morning and could barely keep my eyes open. They were grainy and red from a lack of sleep that accumulated over the weekend from two late nights in a row and no afternoon naps to compensate for them. Huzzah for having a social life! Jeers to the consequences!
All morning I forced myself through my morning routine as a nagging voice within me insisted that I drive instead of bike. The nagging voice was bolstered by the epic tantrums that were thrown by my over-tired daughter at every turn. I try to brush her hair - tantrum. I try to change her diaper - tantrum. I offer her some milk - tantrum. I offer her some cheese - she throws her milk on the ground, then tantrums. Come on!! All of this charming activity made us run late, and that voice in my head kept pushing me to take it easy today and just drive, right up to the last moment that I got on the bike and headed out.
During my ride home today I started regretting that decision. It rained on and off throughout the day. By the afternoon I kept taking every bathroom break as an opportunity to find a big window facing the outside world to see whether it was raining or just cloudy. It was just cloudy as of 3:00 pm, but by the time I left work at 4:00 it had started raining. Sigh. I reluctantly pulled on my waterproof shell and headed out into the wet and cold after a long, busy, tiring day. Somehow, this was easier in the winter.
I arrived home 26 minutes later, drenched and harbouring a chill deep within my bones that didn't leave my body until a hot shower scared it off three hours later. It has been raining ever since. It's supposed to rain up to 65 mm in the next 24 hours, with some crazy wind tomorrow. Methinks I will opt to drive.
I have to say, I preferred winter biking to all this rain biking. At least snow never trickled down the back of my neck and made my underwear wet!
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Week 45 - Day Three: Car vs. Bike Trailer - No Choice
BIKE: Mike
TIME THERE: 26 min. (from daycare)
TIME BACK: 25 min. (to home, not daycare)
WEATHER: partly cloudy, 16C, 9 km/hr tail/crosswinds there; raining, 17C, 33 km/hr headwinds back.
WHAT I WORE: yoga capris, t-shirt, zip-up hoodie (zip-up hoodie was traded in for a waterproof shell on the way home because it was raining haaaaard!)
NOTES:
How appropriate, given the blog I had just posted. When I got home from work yesterday, I noticed something was missing from my panniers: the car key. Hmm. Problematic. I emptied all the contents from the panniers to search for the key, and when I couldn't find it there or in any of my clothes' pockets I searched around my front lawn and the sidewalk outside my house. The frustration mounted as I spent 5 minutes, ten minutes, fifteen minutes searching frantically for my key to no avail. What the hell?
It occurred to me that the key might have fallen out of my pannier pocket when I threw my panniers under my desk at work, as I do every day when I first arrive there. I hoped it would be there, sitting idly under my work desk when I came back to work this morning. In the meantime, without a spare key (the spare was stolen during a home burglary a couple years ago and I never bothered replacing it), I was stuck without access to my car. That means I was stuck using the bike and trailer to transport my daughter to daycare. The same bike and trailer she refused to use yesterday to get to daycare.
On some level, I saw this as a good thing: maybe my daughter didn't care for the trailer because she's simply out of practice with using it. Maybe she doesn't remember how much fun it can be to play with all the straps and buckles inside and to go over bouncy bumps in the road. When I wrestled her into the trailer this morning, she quickly dropped the fight in favour of playing with a neat little buckle she found. Well, that was easy. She then proceeded to be a cooperative and even giddy little passenger the whole way to daycare:
"Hi, mamma!" she would call out from behind me.
"Hi, Sophia!" I would respond over my shoulder.
"Whoooooa, big bump!" she would exclaim joyfully as we hit a pothole. If only that pothole had been as fun for me . . .
When I got to work this morning I found the car key sitting under my desk, exactly where I hoped it might be. And now, my daughter and I are both back in the habit of using the bike trailer. Hopefully this lost key incident has kick-started a positive trend: less driving, more biking, even when I have to transport my daughter and/or other precious cargo. Oh, how the world works in mysterious ways! It all works out in the end.
TIME THERE: 26 min. (from daycare)
TIME BACK: 25 min. (to home, not daycare)
WEATHER: partly cloudy, 16C, 9 km/hr tail/crosswinds there; raining, 17C, 33 km/hr headwinds back.
WHAT I WORE: yoga capris, t-shirt, zip-up hoodie (zip-up hoodie was traded in for a waterproof shell on the way home because it was raining haaaaard!)
NOTES:
How appropriate, given the blog I had just posted. When I got home from work yesterday, I noticed something was missing from my panniers: the car key. Hmm. Problematic. I emptied all the contents from the panniers to search for the key, and when I couldn't find it there or in any of my clothes' pockets I searched around my front lawn and the sidewalk outside my house. The frustration mounted as I spent 5 minutes, ten minutes, fifteen minutes searching frantically for my key to no avail. What the hell?
It occurred to me that the key might have fallen out of my pannier pocket when I threw my panniers under my desk at work, as I do every day when I first arrive there. I hoped it would be there, sitting idly under my work desk when I came back to work this morning. In the meantime, without a spare key (the spare was stolen during a home burglary a couple years ago and I never bothered replacing it), I was stuck without access to my car. That means I was stuck using the bike and trailer to transport my daughter to daycare. The same bike and trailer she refused to use yesterday to get to daycare.
On some level, I saw this as a good thing: maybe my daughter didn't care for the trailer because she's simply out of practice with using it. Maybe she doesn't remember how much fun it can be to play with all the straps and buckles inside and to go over bouncy bumps in the road. When I wrestled her into the trailer this morning, she quickly dropped the fight in favour of playing with a neat little buckle she found. Well, that was easy. She then proceeded to be a cooperative and even giddy little passenger the whole way to daycare:
"Hi, mamma!" she would call out from behind me.
"Hi, Sophia!" I would respond over my shoulder.
"Whoooooa, big bump!" she would exclaim joyfully as we hit a pothole. If only that pothole had been as fun for me . . .
When I got to work this morning I found the car key sitting under my desk, exactly where I hoped it might be. And now, my daughter and I are both back in the habit of using the bike trailer. Hopefully this lost key incident has kick-started a positive trend: less driving, more biking, even when I have to transport my daughter and/or other precious cargo. Oh, how the world works in mysterious ways! It all works out in the end.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Week 45 - Day Two: Bike Trailer vs. Car - Toddler's Choice
BIKE: Mike
TIME THERE: 24 min.
TIME BACK: 29 min.
WEATHER: clear, 14C, 17 km/hr tail/crosswinds there; a few clouds, 22C, 30 km/hr headwinds back.
WHAT I WORE: yoga pants, t-shirt, zip-up hoodie (hoodie in panniers on the way back)
NOTES:
This morning, while sipping at my lemon-infused water, I read an article from last Friday's newspaper about Premier Ed Stelmach's defense of the Canadian oilsands via an editorial letter to a newspaper in the U.S. This article got me thinking about my personal reliance on oil and gas, which is something I lament to some degree. I was hoping that by this time of the year I'd be so comfortable on my bike that I'd be using it for just about everything except long distance drives and the occassional large shopping trip. Sadly, that's not the case. I haven't even been biking my daughter to daycare for a while. After reading this article, however, I felt determined to change that around.
Me: Hey honey, let's take the bike trailer today.
Daughter: No, CAR!
Me: Come on, it's fun in there. Let's take the bike trailer.
Daughter: No, carrrrrrrrr! (starting to whine)
Me: But isn't the trailer fun? It's bouncy!
Daughter: No bike trailer. Car! (stomps foot, threatening an imminent tantrum)
Hard to fight such compelling arguments as she presents for the benefits of the car over the bike trailer. I would like to take the bike trailer, but I'm not convinced it's worth a fight. I've already wrestled with my screaming daughter to clean the breakfast mess off her face, I don't really feel like wrestling her into her helmet and the trailer with its less-than-easy five-point harness. I've only been awake for 45 minutes; how many bouts of toddler-wrestling is one expected to put up with so early in the morning?
Sorry, bike trailer: car it is. I can just picture Steady Eddy Stelmach nodding his head in approval.
TIME THERE: 24 min.
TIME BACK: 29 min.
WEATHER: clear, 14C, 17 km/hr tail/crosswinds there; a few clouds, 22C, 30 km/hr headwinds back.
WHAT I WORE: yoga pants, t-shirt, zip-up hoodie (hoodie in panniers on the way back)
NOTES:
This morning, while sipping at my lemon-infused water, I read an article from last Friday's newspaper about Premier Ed Stelmach's defense of the Canadian oilsands via an editorial letter to a newspaper in the U.S. This article got me thinking about my personal reliance on oil and gas, which is something I lament to some degree. I was hoping that by this time of the year I'd be so comfortable on my bike that I'd be using it for just about everything except long distance drives and the occassional large shopping trip. Sadly, that's not the case. I haven't even been biking my daughter to daycare for a while. After reading this article, however, I felt determined to change that around.
Me: Hey honey, let's take the bike trailer today.
Daughter: No, CAR!
Me: Come on, it's fun in there. Let's take the bike trailer.
Daughter: No, carrrrrrrrr! (starting to whine)
Me: But isn't the trailer fun? It's bouncy!
Daughter: No bike trailer. Car! (stomps foot, threatening an imminent tantrum)
Hard to fight such compelling arguments as she presents for the benefits of the car over the bike trailer. I would like to take the bike trailer, but I'm not convinced it's worth a fight. I've already wrestled with my screaming daughter to clean the breakfast mess off her face, I don't really feel like wrestling her into her helmet and the trailer with its less-than-easy five-point harness. I've only been awake for 45 minutes; how many bouts of toddler-wrestling is one expected to put up with so early in the morning?
Sorry, bike trailer: car it is. I can just picture Steady Eddy Stelmach nodding his head in approval.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Week 45 - Day One: Discomfort
Last week I only bike-commuted for two days. I drove to work on Wednesday because I had a co-workers' birthday party to attend right after and wouldn't have had time to get home and change out of my cycling clothes, wash up, and re-do my makeup then get to the party on the opposite end of town on time. Then Thursday and Friday I had off (happy birthday, Canada!!).
Thursday morning I piled myself, my daughter, and a bunch of our stuff into the car and took off for the greener pastures of Calgary. Well, there's nothing "greener" about Calgary per se, but the draw was that my baby-daddy (my daughter's dad) lives there, and we had arranged that this would be his first weekend to take care of her all by himself. So I drove her to Calgary and dropped her off with her Dadda, then took off to the genuinely greener pastures of beautiful Canmore, AB. Nestled in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, and only an hour's drive from Calgary, it was the perfect place for me to take some time away from parenting and have a real weekend off - even from the ups and downs of single-parenthood.
The weekend was relaxing, refreshing, and everything I could have hoped it would be. Of course, eating too much and not drinking enough water came with the territory. As a result of this, in combination with using the hotel's waterslide, pool, and jacuzzi, I managed to develop a brutal urinary tract infection by Saturday night. I spent Sunday morning in a Medicentre waiting room getting my diagnosis and a prescription for antibiotics, and managed to make the 3-hour drive back to Edmonton Sunday afternoon without incident.
However, when I woke up this morning I questioned whether bike-commuting would be a good idea. I've only managed to take three antiobiotic pills so far, so I still have some symptoms of the bladder infection - particularly the remarkably painful it-burns-when-I-pee syndrome - and given the way my body weight is distributed on Mike the Bike's saddle, I figured it might be wise to wait another day for the medication to work its magic before I get back on the bike.
So, I drove. Which isn't so bad because it's pouring rain outside today. The plan is to get back in the saddle tomorrow - a solid week since the last time I bike-commuted. Man, this is already shaping up to be a less-than-epic weight loss kind of month!
Thursday morning I piled myself, my daughter, and a bunch of our stuff into the car and took off for the greener pastures of Calgary. Well, there's nothing "greener" about Calgary per se, but the draw was that my baby-daddy (my daughter's dad) lives there, and we had arranged that this would be his first weekend to take care of her all by himself. So I drove her to Calgary and dropped her off with her Dadda, then took off to the genuinely greener pastures of beautiful Canmore, AB. Nestled in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, and only an hour's drive from Calgary, it was the perfect place for me to take some time away from parenting and have a real weekend off - even from the ups and downs of single-parenthood.
The weekend was relaxing, refreshing, and everything I could have hoped it would be. Of course, eating too much and not drinking enough water came with the territory. As a result of this, in combination with using the hotel's waterslide, pool, and jacuzzi, I managed to develop a brutal urinary tract infection by Saturday night. I spent Sunday morning in a Medicentre waiting room getting my diagnosis and a prescription for antibiotics, and managed to make the 3-hour drive back to Edmonton Sunday afternoon without incident.
However, when I woke up this morning I questioned whether bike-commuting would be a good idea. I've only managed to take three antiobiotic pills so far, so I still have some symptoms of the bladder infection - particularly the remarkably painful it-burns-when-I-pee syndrome - and given the way my body weight is distributed on Mike the Bike's saddle, I figured it might be wise to wait another day for the medication to work its magic before I get back on the bike.
So, I drove. Which isn't so bad because it's pouring rain outside today. The plan is to get back in the saddle tomorrow - a solid week since the last time I bike-commuted. Man, this is already shaping up to be a less-than-epic weight loss kind of month!
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Week 43 - Day Three: Family Visit (Drove)
My brother, his girlfriend, and their son (who is two months younger than my daughter) came to town last night for a short visit - they're leaving tomorrow morning. They arrived around 10 pm on Tuesday night, and I spent the couple hours I had before that making sure the place was relatively clean, freshly vacuumed, and that the guest bedroom in particular was functional for them.
My still-new boyfriend came over and stuck around long enough to meet them when they arrived. He did this, even though it made for a really late night for him, because he knew it meant a lot to me for him to meet my family (who, by the way, are objectively the greatest people of all time). It's always a big moment: the new boyfriend meeting the family for the first time. I put a lot of stock in it because I can't imagine being with someone who doesn't fit in with my family. They all got along really well, even though the meeting was quite short, and that was a huge relief to me. Way to jump that hurdle, old chap!
Because I wanted to leave as late in the morning as possible and arrive home as early as possible - even ducking out of work an hour early to maximize the amount of time I could spend with my family - I drove today. With no regrets. I got home shortly after 3 pm instead of 4:45, and I spent the whole rest of the afternoon and evening hanging out with my brother and his family. The little toddler cousins played and watched lame toddler movies and shared in their own strange conversations with each other (they way they converse is so cute given that language is so new to both of them!). We went to the Cheesecake Cafe for dinner. It's one of those establishments that was family-friendly enough to take the kids to while introducing the visiting adults to a restaurant they can only DREAM of in their hometown of Lloydminster. It worked out well. We all had belly-aches by the time we were through with it.
I love when family comes to visit. It'll be sad when they leave. These are the days that I desperately wish I were back in Regina, living in a city teeming with family and social supports. My daughter would have a relationship with her cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandma. Sure, maybe Regina wouldn't be the best place for me to set up an ambitious private practice and become a millionaire (insert smirk here), but it would sure be wonderful to be around family. So, that begs the question (one I discussed at great length with my brother as we digested cheesecake): what's more important at this stage of my life, family or career? And if I can figure that out - and I think I can - where the Hell am I going to live when I graduate from this program?
Oh, the questions! None of which have easy answers.
My still-new boyfriend came over and stuck around long enough to meet them when they arrived. He did this, even though it made for a really late night for him, because he knew it meant a lot to me for him to meet my family (who, by the way, are objectively the greatest people of all time). It's always a big moment: the new boyfriend meeting the family for the first time. I put a lot of stock in it because I can't imagine being with someone who doesn't fit in with my family. They all got along really well, even though the meeting was quite short, and that was a huge relief to me. Way to jump that hurdle, old chap!
Because I wanted to leave as late in the morning as possible and arrive home as early as possible - even ducking out of work an hour early to maximize the amount of time I could spend with my family - I drove today. With no regrets. I got home shortly after 3 pm instead of 4:45, and I spent the whole rest of the afternoon and evening hanging out with my brother and his family. The little toddler cousins played and watched lame toddler movies and shared in their own strange conversations with each other (they way they converse is so cute given that language is so new to both of them!). We went to the Cheesecake Cafe for dinner. It's one of those establishments that was family-friendly enough to take the kids to while introducing the visiting adults to a restaurant they can only DREAM of in their hometown of Lloydminster. It worked out well. We all had belly-aches by the time we were through with it.
I love when family comes to visit. It'll be sad when they leave. These are the days that I desperately wish I were back in Regina, living in a city teeming with family and social supports. My daughter would have a relationship with her cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandma. Sure, maybe Regina wouldn't be the best place for me to set up an ambitious private practice and become a millionaire (insert smirk here), but it would sure be wonderful to be around family. So, that begs the question (one I discussed at great length with my brother as we digested cheesecake): what's more important at this stage of my life, family or career? And if I can figure that out - and I think I can - where the Hell am I going to live when I graduate from this program?
Oh, the questions! None of which have easy answers.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Week 38 - Day Two: Bad Day, Happy Ending
BIKE: Mike
TIME THERE: 24 min.
TIME BACK: 27 min.
WEATHER: clear, 17C, 15 km/hr headwinds there; clear, 30C, 30 km/hr cross/tailwinds back.
WHAT I WORE: yoga pants, tank top, zip-up hoodie (hoodie in panniers on the way home)
NOTES:
Biking to work today, I was about half-way there when someone barreled past me on a mountain bike. At first I tried pedaling faster to try to catch him, but he was going so much faster than me that even when I stepped up the pace the distance between us grew and grew, and I had to give up. Damnit! I hate being beaten! Later on, as I rode onto campus and got closer to my building, a woman riding without a helmet rode past me on a hybrid bike, overtaking me just before I reached my destination. This one pissed me off. Come on! You don't even have a helmet! You're not supposed to be able to ride faster than me if you're not even serious enough to wear a helmet!
Argh!! I've been pissed off all day. My competitive spirit ruined my ride this morning, then someone I know seriously disappointed me, then two clients in a row canceled on me, I had a frustrating final session at the end of the day, and I had a windy ride home during which I thought I might be tossed off my bike by the crosswind as I was traversing the High Level Bridge. Today just hasn't been going my way.
Luckily, by the time I got home things settled down. My daughter was being adorable and sweet, she ate most of her dinner, she played with me, and even had a bath without any kind of fight or tantrum. While we were playing around upstairs after her bath, she even let me know when she was tired: "Bedtime, mommy?" I put her to bed with a toy and a book, and she's been sitting quietly in her crib ever since.
Sometimes my daughter makes my day!
TIME THERE: 24 min.
TIME BACK: 27 min.
WEATHER: clear, 17C, 15 km/hr headwinds there; clear, 30C, 30 km/hr cross/tailwinds back.
WHAT I WORE: yoga pants, tank top, zip-up hoodie (hoodie in panniers on the way home)
NOTES:
Biking to work today, I was about half-way there when someone barreled past me on a mountain bike. At first I tried pedaling faster to try to catch him, but he was going so much faster than me that even when I stepped up the pace the distance between us grew and grew, and I had to give up. Damnit! I hate being beaten! Later on, as I rode onto campus and got closer to my building, a woman riding without a helmet rode past me on a hybrid bike, overtaking me just before I reached my destination. This one pissed me off. Come on! You don't even have a helmet! You're not supposed to be able to ride faster than me if you're not even serious enough to wear a helmet!
Argh!! I've been pissed off all day. My competitive spirit ruined my ride this morning, then someone I know seriously disappointed me, then two clients in a row canceled on me, I had a frustrating final session at the end of the day, and I had a windy ride home during which I thought I might be tossed off my bike by the crosswind as I was traversing the High Level Bridge. Today just hasn't been going my way.
Luckily, by the time I got home things settled down. My daughter was being adorable and sweet, she ate most of her dinner, she played with me, and even had a bath without any kind of fight or tantrum. While we were playing around upstairs after her bath, she even let me know when she was tired: "Bedtime, mommy?" I put her to bed with a toy and a book, and she's been sitting quietly in her crib ever since.
Sometimes my daughter makes my day!
Monday, May 10, 2010
Week 37 - Day One: The Pleasure Rider
BIKE: Mike
TIME THERE: 26 min.
TIME BACK: 27 min.
WEATHER: clear, 4C, 6 km/hr crosswinds there; partly cloudy, 14C, 6 km/hr tailwinds back.
WHAT I WORE: yoga pants, t-shirt, sweatshirt
NOTES:
Is this what spring/summer bike-commuting is like? Wiping dew off my saddle before setting off, feeling the sun on my skin, running into three fellow bike-commuters within three minutes of starting off, not being yelled at by drivers, arriving at work more glowing than sweaty? I could get used to this. Having started my bike-commuting adventure in the fall/winter, I have to say: this spring riding is just lovely!
One of my colleagues loves cycling and does it as a hobby. He doesn't bike-commute, but he does try to take some time every evening to go for a nice ride through the city. It's how he relaxes and gets a bit of exercise into his day. I know someone else who bike-commutes and also rides for pleasure, spending his weekends touring the river valley because his commute is all road. I bike-commute, and I rarely ride for pleasure. In fact, I think I may have done it once, when I recently took my daughter out for a bike ride on some weekend morning and we toured around our surrounding neighbourhoods. She fell asleep in the trailer, and I had a really nice ride without thinking of what time I'm making or what I'll have to do when I get to work.
I daresay I need to do more leisurely, pleasurely riding. Perhaps this weekend, weather permitting, I should pack up a little picnic and ride my daughter into the river valley and spend some time playing with her there. That would make for some really nice mommy-daughter time. And it would get me out on the bike for something other than the utilitarian reason of getting to work. Perhaps if I (re?)discover the pleasure of cycling for cycling's sake, I will come to appreciate the commute more. Wouldn't that be even nicer than it already is? Believe it or not, that IS possible.
TIME THERE: 26 min.
TIME BACK: 27 min.
WEATHER: clear, 4C, 6 km/hr crosswinds there; partly cloudy, 14C, 6 km/hr tailwinds back.
WHAT I WORE: yoga pants, t-shirt, sweatshirt
NOTES:
Is this what spring/summer bike-commuting is like? Wiping dew off my saddle before setting off, feeling the sun on my skin, running into three fellow bike-commuters within three minutes of starting off, not being yelled at by drivers, arriving at work more glowing than sweaty? I could get used to this. Having started my bike-commuting adventure in the fall/winter, I have to say: this spring riding is just lovely!
One of my colleagues loves cycling and does it as a hobby. He doesn't bike-commute, but he does try to take some time every evening to go for a nice ride through the city. It's how he relaxes and gets a bit of exercise into his day. I know someone else who bike-commutes and also rides for pleasure, spending his weekends touring the river valley because his commute is all road. I bike-commute, and I rarely ride for pleasure. In fact, I think I may have done it once, when I recently took my daughter out for a bike ride on some weekend morning and we toured around our surrounding neighbourhoods. She fell asleep in the trailer, and I had a really nice ride without thinking of what time I'm making or what I'll have to do when I get to work.
I daresay I need to do more leisurely, pleasurely riding. Perhaps this weekend, weather permitting, I should pack up a little picnic and ride my daughter into the river valley and spend some time playing with her there. That would make for some really nice mommy-daughter time. And it would get me out on the bike for something other than the utilitarian reason of getting to work. Perhaps if I (re?)discover the pleasure of cycling for cycling's sake, I will come to appreciate the commute more. Wouldn't that be even nicer than it already is? Believe it or not, that IS possible.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Week 36 - Day Three: Spring Storm Day 2
After Spring Storm 2010 yesterday, I wasn't convinced it was safe enough to bike with my studless tires due to the slowly melting snow leaving patches of ice on the roads and sidewalks, so I drove again. Geez, three days in a row of driving. How lazy!
Around campus, I saw numerous people riding bikes. Not as many as usual, mind you, but still enough to make me second guess my decision to keep my bike at home. The moment I'd feel guilty about driving, though, I would look over at the sidewalks and notice the accumulation of ice and snow there, and I'd scan the curbs of the road to find ice and puddles and puddle-covered ice, and I would be assured that I'd made the right decision.
It also helped that today was my daughter's SECOND BIRTHDAY!!! It was helpful because by driving I had the time to let her sleep in, then make her a nice birthday breakfast without being too late for work. I was also able to transport the two-dozen cupcakes that I had bought to her daycare so she could have a little party there - something that would be pretty difficult to do by bike. I dropped her off late at daycare and picked her up early, and that seemed just right for her birthday. God, I can't believe it's been two years already. Two years ago I went from being a single person to having a family overnight. Two years ago my life changed irrevocably. Two years ago, the most perfect human being in the history of the world was born. And ever since, I have been so lucky to be her mom.
Around campus, I saw numerous people riding bikes. Not as many as usual, mind you, but still enough to make me second guess my decision to keep my bike at home. The moment I'd feel guilty about driving, though, I would look over at the sidewalks and notice the accumulation of ice and snow there, and I'd scan the curbs of the road to find ice and puddles and puddle-covered ice, and I would be assured that I'd made the right decision.
It also helped that today was my daughter's SECOND BIRTHDAY!!! It was helpful because by driving I had the time to let her sleep in, then make her a nice birthday breakfast without being too late for work. I was also able to transport the two-dozen cupcakes that I had bought to her daycare so she could have a little party there - something that would be pretty difficult to do by bike. I dropped her off late at daycare and picked her up early, and that seemed just right for her birthday. God, I can't believe it's been two years already. Two years ago I went from being a single person to having a family overnight. Two years ago my life changed irrevocably. Two years ago, the most perfect human being in the history of the world was born. And ever since, I have been so lucky to be her mom.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Week 32 - More Sickness
Really, body? Is this necessary?
It turns out that there was a reason for me feeling so tired this past week, and why my daughter wasn't sleeping through the night: we were both getting sick!! She got it before I did, causing those up-every-hour-through-the-night sleeps during the week that made it reeeeeally difficult to get up and get to work the next morning. By Thursday, it had started catching up to me and I developed a sore throat. So I drove to work. That sore throat turned into sinus pressure and body aches by Friday - again, I drove to work. By today - Saturday - I've spent the entire day barely able to respond to my demanding, high-energy toddler while looking like this:
No, that's not technically a Snuggie I'm wearing, but I am wrapped in a fleece blanket, and that's close enough. Body chills. Aches everywhere. Sore throat. Eyes half-closed. Sinus pressure. Plugged nose. Whatever it is (and given that my specialty over the past two years has been sinus infections, I have an idea what the culprit might be), it ain't pretty. And it ain't fun.
I'm just hoping that if I lay low for the weekend I'll be well enough to bike to work on Monday. Or, hell, I'll settle for being able to show up for work on Monday! Because if I feel the same way then as I do now, I can't imagine getting through the day at all, let alone biking there in the cold and wind . . .
It turns out that there was a reason for me feeling so tired this past week, and why my daughter wasn't sleeping through the night: we were both getting sick!! She got it before I did, causing those up-every-hour-through-the-night sleeps during the week that made it reeeeeally difficult to get up and get to work the next morning. By Thursday, it had started catching up to me and I developed a sore throat. So I drove to work. That sore throat turned into sinus pressure and body aches by Friday - again, I drove to work. By today - Saturday - I've spent the entire day barely able to respond to my demanding, high-energy toddler while looking like this:
No, that's not technically a Snuggie I'm wearing, but I am wrapped in a fleece blanket, and that's close enough. Body chills. Aches everywhere. Sore throat. Eyes half-closed. Sinus pressure. Plugged nose. Whatever it is (and given that my specialty over the past two years has been sinus infections, I have an idea what the culprit might be), it ain't pretty. And it ain't fun.
I'm just hoping that if I lay low for the weekend I'll be well enough to bike to work on Monday. Or, hell, I'll settle for being able to show up for work on Monday! Because if I feel the same way then as I do now, I can't imagine getting through the day at all, let alone biking there in the cold and wind . . .
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Week 32 - Day One: Dating
TIME THERE: 27 min.
TIME BACK: 30 min.
WEATHER: partly cloudy, 4C, 13km/hr wind there; partly cloudy, 13C, 13 km/hr wind back.
WHAT I WORE: yoga pants, work shirt (long sleeve cotton/poly blend - what was I thinking??), sweatshirt, running gloves
NOTES:
Dating is time-consuming. It can be really tricky to try to find the time for it, fitting it in around work and biking and parenting. Today, I stayed an extra half-hour at the end of work to try to make up for some lost time with my daughter being sick, then I biked home, picked up my daughter from daycare, and biked her home. I rushed to get supper ready, change my clothes, wash my face, do my makeup, straighten my hair, and feed myself and my daughter in 45 minutes. Then my blessed friend who volunteered to watch my daughter arrived (saving me $30-40 in babysitting - THANK YOU MY DEAR!!!), and off I went to meet up with someone for a first date.
By the time I got to the wine bar, I was already fading. On weekdays, I really just need to stay home in the evenings - get into pajamas right after dinner, spend some time with my daughter, have a tiny bit of down-time after she's asleep, and go to bed early. We ordered drinks and we hung out for a couple hours, sipping wine and chatting. By the last hour, I was yawning and struggling to keep up my end of the conversation. I was just beat.
When I got home, I chatted with my friend for a bit and then she left, and I took a moment to survey the damage. In my rush to get out the door, I hadn't cleaned up after dinner so there were crumbs on the counter and dishes piled in the sink. The dishwasher had to be emptied. The cats needed to be fed and have their litter box cleaned. I needed to make a breakfast and lunch for the next day. I was starving because I hadn't eaten much for dinner. I looked at the clock: it was 10:00 pm, and I had a lot of work to do. Sighing in defeat, I did the bare minimum that I could get away with: took care of the cats, had a small snack, made my lunch for the next day . . . The dishes would just have to wait one more day. I went to bed late and exhausted, wishing my daughter would sleep through the night so I could just get one decent night's sleep.
Note to self: no more mid-week dating!! I'm too damn busy for this!
TIME BACK: 30 min.
WEATHER: partly cloudy, 4C, 13km/hr wind there; partly cloudy, 13C, 13 km/hr wind back.
WHAT I WORE: yoga pants, work shirt (long sleeve cotton/poly blend - what was I thinking??), sweatshirt, running gloves
NOTES:
Dating is time-consuming. It can be really tricky to try to find the time for it, fitting it in around work and biking and parenting. Today, I stayed an extra half-hour at the end of work to try to make up for some lost time with my daughter being sick, then I biked home, picked up my daughter from daycare, and biked her home. I rushed to get supper ready, change my clothes, wash my face, do my makeup, straighten my hair, and feed myself and my daughter in 45 minutes. Then my blessed friend who volunteered to watch my daughter arrived (saving me $30-40 in babysitting - THANK YOU MY DEAR!!!), and off I went to meet up with someone for a first date.
By the time I got to the wine bar, I was already fading. On weekdays, I really just need to stay home in the evenings - get into pajamas right after dinner, spend some time with my daughter, have a tiny bit of down-time after she's asleep, and go to bed early. We ordered drinks and we hung out for a couple hours, sipping wine and chatting. By the last hour, I was yawning and struggling to keep up my end of the conversation. I was just beat.
When I got home, I chatted with my friend for a bit and then she left, and I took a moment to survey the damage. In my rush to get out the door, I hadn't cleaned up after dinner so there were crumbs on the counter and dishes piled in the sink. The dishwasher had to be emptied. The cats needed to be fed and have their litter box cleaned. I needed to make a breakfast and lunch for the next day. I was starving because I hadn't eaten much for dinner. I looked at the clock: it was 10:00 pm, and I had a lot of work to do. Sighing in defeat, I did the bare minimum that I could get away with: took care of the cats, had a small snack, made my lunch for the next day . . . The dishes would just have to wait one more day. I went to bed late and exhausted, wishing my daughter would sleep through the night so I could just get one decent night's sleep.
Note to self: no more mid-week dating!! I'm too damn busy for this!
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Week 31 - Day Two: Windy, Part I
TIME THERE: 25 min. (woot woot!)
TIME BACK: ?? (GAH! forgot to check again!)
WEATHER: partly cloudy, 2C (-2C with windchill), 15 km/hr wind there; partly cloudy, 11C, 28 km/hr wind back.
WHAT I WORE: yoga pants, undershirt, sweatshirt, running gloves (traded out my yoga pants for my work pants on the way home to expedite being ready to go out for dinner right away)
NOTES:
I would not recommend biking into 28 km/hr headwind. I would not recommend biking into 28 km/hr headwind when running late. I would not recommend biking into 28 km/hr headwind when running late for meeting up with your coworkers for a 5:00 pm dinner reservation while wearing thigh-hugging work pants. It's stressful, and exhausting, and generally not very pleasant - especially showing up to dinner caked in dry sweat and road dust and bike grease on my pants. Well, I guess with my makeup and nice clothes still on from work, nobody really noticed - score a win for Johnson!
Tonight's saving grace was that my daughter was an absolute delight at dinner. She was adorable and sweet and didn't tantrum once at the restaurant. She asked for things politely, played peek-a-boo with my co-workers, and ate a lot of really good food (we shared a fabulous salmon teriyaki at Japanese Village - yum!). She didn't even make too huge a mess, considering I didn't bring a bib or baby wipes!! And it thrills me to no end to hear people commenting throughout the meal about how adorable, well behaved, and funny she is. Good on you, Sophia . . . you really made my day today.
Oh yeah, and the food was AWESOME!! And by the time I got there - 20 minutes late, filthy from the bike ride, physically exhausted and HUNGRY as a mo-fo - I felt like I had really earned my dinner. And, I daresay, eating good food in that kind of context is the definition of satisfying.
TIME BACK: ?? (GAH! forgot to check again!)
WEATHER: partly cloudy, 2C (-2C with windchill), 15 km/hr wind there; partly cloudy, 11C, 28 km/hr wind back.
WHAT I WORE: yoga pants, undershirt, sweatshirt, running gloves (traded out my yoga pants for my work pants on the way home to expedite being ready to go out for dinner right away)
NOTES:
I would not recommend biking into 28 km/hr headwind. I would not recommend biking into 28 km/hr headwind when running late. I would not recommend biking into 28 km/hr headwind when running late for meeting up with your coworkers for a 5:00 pm dinner reservation while wearing thigh-hugging work pants. It's stressful, and exhausting, and generally not very pleasant - especially showing up to dinner caked in dry sweat and road dust and bike grease on my pants. Well, I guess with my makeup and nice clothes still on from work, nobody really noticed - score a win for Johnson!
Tonight's saving grace was that my daughter was an absolute delight at dinner. She was adorable and sweet and didn't tantrum once at the restaurant. She asked for things politely, played peek-a-boo with my co-workers, and ate a lot of really good food (we shared a fabulous salmon teriyaki at Japanese Village - yum!). She didn't even make too huge a mess, considering I didn't bring a bib or baby wipes!! And it thrills me to no end to hear people commenting throughout the meal about how adorable, well behaved, and funny she is. Good on you, Sophia . . . you really made my day today.
Oh yeah, and the food was AWESOME!! And by the time I got there - 20 minutes late, filthy from the bike ride, physically exhausted and HUNGRY as a mo-fo - I felt like I had really earned my dinner. And, I daresay, eating good food in that kind of context is the definition of satisfying.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Week 31 - Day One: I'm BAAAAAAACK!
BIKE: Mike
TIME THERE: 26 min.
TIME BACK: ?? (forgot to check the time on the way home!)
WEATHER: clear, 3C, 7 km/hr wind there; clear, 15C, 11 km/hr wind back.
WHAT I WORE: yoga pants, work shirt, running gloves, waterproof shell there; yoga pants, work shirt, sweatshirt on the way home
NOTES:
It's been three weeks since the last time I was on my bike. And let me tell you, baby - it's great to be back!
Sure, I'm feeling pretty tired right now at the end of the day, and my lungs burned from panting so hard in dry air (I'm pretty sure I tasted lung-blood in my mouth by the time I got to work this morning), and my under-bits feel like they've been punched up but good (thank you, ass-ravaging seat!). Nevertheless, I'm feeling great! With no snow or ice on the ground, I was able to take the old residential route again, and I could take turns without slowing to a crawl, and I even pedaled downhill (instead of riding my brakes and wincing with fear of an imminent fall)! It was great!
Today was the first day in - well - forever (except for one brief premature effort when there was still snow and ice all over the road) that I biked my daughter to daycare in the bike trailer. I managed to get the helmet on her without a fight, both there and back, which was quite the triumph. Of course, on the way home she kept saying "All done, all done . . . mama! Mama, all done!", as though I would hop off the bike and let her walk the rest of the way. I managed to pedal quickly and get us home before she started screaming about wanting out. So all in all, it was a success! If only the trailer wasn't so damn cumbersome to get in and out of the front door. It's an epic battle every time! And the weatherstripping around the door is completely chewed up now. BAH! But I digress . . .
Yes, I'm glad to be back on the bike indeed. It's been FAR too long.
TIME THERE: 26 min.
TIME BACK: ?? (forgot to check the time on the way home!)
WEATHER: clear, 3C, 7 km/hr wind there; clear, 15C, 11 km/hr wind back.
WHAT I WORE: yoga pants, work shirt, running gloves, waterproof shell there; yoga pants, work shirt, sweatshirt on the way home
NOTES:
It's been three weeks since the last time I was on my bike. And let me tell you, baby - it's great to be back!
Sure, I'm feeling pretty tired right now at the end of the day, and my lungs burned from panting so hard in dry air (I'm pretty sure I tasted lung-blood in my mouth by the time I got to work this morning), and my under-bits feel like they've been punched up but good (thank you, ass-ravaging seat!). Nevertheless, I'm feeling great! With no snow or ice on the ground, I was able to take the old residential route again, and I could take turns without slowing to a crawl, and I even pedaled downhill (instead of riding my brakes and wincing with fear of an imminent fall)! It was great!
Today was the first day in - well - forever (except for one brief premature effort when there was still snow and ice all over the road) that I biked my daughter to daycare in the bike trailer. I managed to get the helmet on her without a fight, both there and back, which was quite the triumph. Of course, on the way home she kept saying "All done, all done . . . mama! Mama, all done!", as though I would hop off the bike and let her walk the rest of the way. I managed to pedal quickly and get us home before she started screaming about wanting out. So all in all, it was a success! If only the trailer wasn't so damn cumbersome to get in and out of the front door. It's an epic battle every time! And the weatherstripping around the door is completely chewed up now. BAH! But I digress . . .
Yes, I'm glad to be back on the bike indeed. It's been FAR too long.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Daughter Day
I had another weird dream last night: this time, my tiny adorable 22-month-old daughter was trying to kill me and I was terrified of her. Really? She's two feet tall and weighs 20 lbs! What the hell is there to be afraid of?? If I dare try to analyze it, I might attribute the "my daughter's killing me" theme to the fact that as much as I love her like crazy, she adds a HUGE amount of stress into my life (financial, relational, time management, etc.), and stress has been driving me a bit bonkers lately. Maybe that's just it - this weird dream might be an indication that the high stress I've been dealing with especially over the past month needs to go, because this stressy lifestyle is killing me. TA DA! Officially analyzed.
This afternoon I needed to go grocery shopping. I didn't want to drive because it's really just a few blocks away, and driving short distances always feels so wasteful now that I'm a bike-commuter. At the same time, I couldn't take the stroller (it couldn't possibly fit everything I needed to buy and would have require multiple trips), and I also didn't want to bike because that would have meant putting a helmet on my daughter, and given her propensity to tantrum over EVERYTHING, that sounded like a battle I would have rather not picked. Then it occurred to me - didn't the Schwinn bike trailer come with attachments that turned it into a stroller? Hmmm . . .
I took a few minutes to put on the accessories and then - voila! - I had an embarrassingly large stroller! At least I knew it definitely had cargo space, and it helped to know that the weight limit was 100 lbs. Okay, groceries, you're ON!
I walked to the store, mostly with my daughter walking along beside/behind me because she refused to stay in the stroller beyond a couple of blocks. It made the stroller look even more ridiculously huge because it didn't have anything in it, and I took up just about the whole damn sidewalk anyway! I stuck to side streets to hide my shame.
Shopping was unpleasant as usual, as my daughter refused to go in the stroller (I tried - she threw a fit - I tried to ignore said fit - her tantrum outlasted my patience - she got to walk around). I darted between checking my shopping list, searching for my grocery items, and chasing my daughter down whenever she'd get away from me. People glared at me for taking up so much room in the aisles with my giant stroller. People glared at me as I ran after my daughter while she flailed awkwardly down the aisles laughing maniacally. Some people looked on with sympathy, others with an appreciation for the indescribable adorableness that my daughter exudes. I was sweating by the time I got to the check-out line - partly from the physical exertion of chasing my toddler, partly from being flushed with embarrassment, and partly from the panic that enveloped me every time I lost sight of my daughter (who, by the way, enjoys playing hide-and-seek with me - without my prior knowledge or consent - in the produce aisles).
After having to squeeze through the tiny space left between the stroller and the candy shelf at the check-out counter to chase down my daughter once again, it occurred to me WAAAAY too late in the game to bribe her into sitting in the stroller while we waited in line. "You can have these delicious Cadbury Mini Eggs if you sit nicely in your stroller," I told her, waving the package of candy in front of her brightening face. She sat in the stroller and patiently allowed me to buckle her in, then proceeded to quietly and calmly make her way through her Mini Eggs. Why the Hell didn't I think of this BEFORE????? GAH!
I managed to fit $150 worth of groceries into the bike-trailer-turned-stroller, including two 4L jugs of milk, a 4kg bag of cat food, and a whole whack of fresh produce. Hahahaha!! Screw being embarrassed at the size of it - I was damn proud I owned the thing! The best part was that it was so well designed, it took hardly any extra effort to push it home. I only really noticed the extra weight of the groceries when I had to lift it - groceries, toddler, and all - over curbs that weren't ramped. Oh, Schwinn trailer, you complete me!
I got home, put the groceries away, and made a faaaabulous well-rounded dinner while my daughter mercifully amused herself. I felt like SUPER-MOM!! I was AWESOME! Screw needing a car, screw needing a partner! I can exercise, do my part for the environment, get household duties done, and involve my daughter in important life tasks while teaching her counting skills and colour recognition ALL ON MY OWN! For a couple hours there, I was a domestic goddess.
I spent $250 on the Schwinn trailer that my daughter has rarely ridden in since I got it, mostly because she hates wearing a helmet. Today, I have to say: it paid for itself in awesomeness just for making my day.
This afternoon I needed to go grocery shopping. I didn't want to drive because it's really just a few blocks away, and driving short distances always feels so wasteful now that I'm a bike-commuter. At the same time, I couldn't take the stroller (it couldn't possibly fit everything I needed to buy and would have require multiple trips), and I also didn't want to bike because that would have meant putting a helmet on my daughter, and given her propensity to tantrum over EVERYTHING, that sounded like a battle I would have rather not picked. Then it occurred to me - didn't the Schwinn bike trailer come with attachments that turned it into a stroller? Hmmm . . .
I took a few minutes to put on the accessories and then - voila! - I had an embarrassingly large stroller! At least I knew it definitely had cargo space, and it helped to know that the weight limit was 100 lbs. Okay, groceries, you're ON!
I walked to the store, mostly with my daughter walking along beside/behind me because she refused to stay in the stroller beyond a couple of blocks. It made the stroller look even more ridiculously huge because it didn't have anything in it, and I took up just about the whole damn sidewalk anyway! I stuck to side streets to hide my shame.
Shopping was unpleasant as usual, as my daughter refused to go in the stroller (I tried - she threw a fit - I tried to ignore said fit - her tantrum outlasted my patience - she got to walk around). I darted between checking my shopping list, searching for my grocery items, and chasing my daughter down whenever she'd get away from me. People glared at me for taking up so much room in the aisles with my giant stroller. People glared at me as I ran after my daughter while she flailed awkwardly down the aisles laughing maniacally. Some people looked on with sympathy, others with an appreciation for the indescribable adorableness that my daughter exudes. I was sweating by the time I got to the check-out line - partly from the physical exertion of chasing my toddler, partly from being flushed with embarrassment, and partly from the panic that enveloped me every time I lost sight of my daughter (who, by the way, enjoys playing hide-and-seek with me - without my prior knowledge or consent - in the produce aisles).
After having to squeeze through the tiny space left between the stroller and the candy shelf at the check-out counter to chase down my daughter once again, it occurred to me WAAAAY too late in the game to bribe her into sitting in the stroller while we waited in line. "You can have these delicious Cadbury Mini Eggs if you sit nicely in your stroller," I told her, waving the package of candy in front of her brightening face. She sat in the stroller and patiently allowed me to buckle her in, then proceeded to quietly and calmly make her way through her Mini Eggs. Why the Hell didn't I think of this BEFORE????? GAH!
I managed to fit $150 worth of groceries into the bike-trailer-turned-stroller, including two 4L jugs of milk, a 4kg bag of cat food, and a whole whack of fresh produce. Hahahaha!! Screw being embarrassed at the size of it - I was damn proud I owned the thing! The best part was that it was so well designed, it took hardly any extra effort to push it home. I only really noticed the extra weight of the groceries when I had to lift it - groceries, toddler, and all - over curbs that weren't ramped. Oh, Schwinn trailer, you complete me!
I got home, put the groceries away, and made a faaaabulous well-rounded dinner while my daughter mercifully amused herself. I felt like SUPER-MOM!! I was AWESOME! Screw needing a car, screw needing a partner! I can exercise, do my part for the environment, get household duties done, and involve my daughter in important life tasks while teaching her counting skills and colour recognition ALL ON MY OWN! For a couple hours there, I was a domestic goddess.
I spent $250 on the Schwinn trailer that my daughter has rarely ridden in since I got it, mostly because she hates wearing a helmet. Today, I have to say: it paid for itself in awesomeness just for making my day.
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