It’s April! That means 30 Days of Biking and biking every day and hopefully blogging about it each day.

Horrible start to the day, jarred awake at 5am (over an hour too early) by horrible menstrual cramps, something I rarely experience. These were so bad I didn’t even get to the point of worrying how to bike to school with the kids, I couldn’t fathom making them breakfast. I felt marginally better by the time we left the house, but it was later than usual so we took a more direct route with one block of an arterial with a bike lane we usually avoid. We made it on time, but I think my off morning is reflected in the fact that my eight-year old parked his bike facing the wall. He’s taken to parking aimed out for a quick getaway from school at the end of the day.

During our trip to school I mused about how we’d get there if I couldn’t bike. We could walk three blocks to a bus stop and take a bus that would drop us five blocks from school. These are little blocks, but still that much walking with having to time an infrequent bus probably would be more of trouble than biking no matter what. When the school year started a neighbor offered to carpool the kids with him if ever it rained (he didn’t know us very well back then) so I could always look into that. I guess it’s a good sign that I don’t have a backup plan. I’d feel safe with the kids walking themselves to school, but the thought of them biking alone currently makes me nervous. And that’s a sign we should work towards that now before the school year runs out!

But that’s all for another day, and I felt fine to pedal an additional seven miles to a meeting about a bike parade in a cafe as soon as the kids were safely delivered. My friend Andrew, leader of the En Plein Air Coffee Club in Seattle, was in town and joined me at the end of my meeting to bike around town together. We went to Rivelo to say hi to John and buy fun little things (me John’s Irish Straps, Andrew a knife) and lunched at Taqueria Los Gorditos.

My two favorite products at Rivelo: Jonh’s Irish Straps and my book, Urban Cycling!

Andrew came along for a tour of my neighborhood (fun fact: we lived in the same neighborhood in Seattle so I could whine about all my least favorite hills to him and he knew exactly where I meant). Turns out Andrew likes hills so I gave him directions up Mount Tabor for on his way back. I also realized that the route I think of as kid-friendly but not as direct (quiet side streets vs. the bike lane on an arterial) is also nice for biking with a friend since we can ride side by side and talk. And it’s only ever so slightly out of the way. I don’t think our old neighborhood had any gravel other than in playgrounds so it was fun to show him that, too. Bike: Surly Big Dummy.

Later on I biked to the Kidical Mass planning meeting which was awesome: the 2018 calendar is shaping up splendidly, bike camping decisions were made, and Sara named me co-director! After a rainy morning and a nice afternoon, the evening was pure summer! Mid-sixties and I biked home in short sleeves. Bike: Surly Straggler.

April trips tracked on Strava
Today’s miles: 29.58
Total April miles: 157.92