Crazy Cold Commute

“You biked to school this morning, you must be crazy.....and frozen!” This was exclamation of a co-worker as she held the door for me as I arrived at school. When I started out at 6am and the temperature was a crisp 15 degrees I was incline to believe that I was actually suffering from some kind of sleep deprived idea of grandeur.

Read the rest of the story at Austin on Two Wheels.

Donuts by Bike (excerpt)

“Let’s go get donuts Dada!” From the steamy mornings in August to the cold and windy mornings in February, this little tradition now starts our weekend more often than not. Just a year ago we would do this trip by car, but thanks to 30 Days of Biking, we started loading up a well-worn bike trailer and heading the 3 miles by bike. With three boys under the age of 3 there is no such thing as sleeping in on a Saturday, actually there is never sleeping in regardless of the day.

Read the rest of the story at Austin on Two Wheels.

Baby Boy turns 3

Without trying to get too unbelievably sappy.....MY BABY BOY IS GETTING BIG. There are certainly days in the past where I wished this moment would come so much faster. Those days where you are changing diapers for a kid that who is having a full conversation with you, while at the same time trying to fight off the gag reflex because of the overpowering smell.

Don't worry I still get to experience plenty of that since the Twinkies are just coming into their own, now that they are each just over a year old. It has become particularly real this weekend, when we went out for a walk and The Boy took his new bike out for a spin. Like his father, he has a number of bikes in the stable back home, but this new bike is the closest thing to the bikes I ride on a daily basis, except it doesn't have pedal's. Without turning this into an infomercial, the basic premise is that the kid learns how to balance a two wheeled bike and once you have done that you add pedals that the rest is gravy.

Now back to the story. When he got his new bike for Christmas he couldn't care less about it, in fact, his bigger cousin rode it nearly everyday she was there and was doing quite well at the whole balance thing. However, within the last month, he has started to ride the balance bike more and more. Starting first with both feet shuffling along, but hardly ever leaving the ground, to now, where he does three or four big kicks and then glides with his feet up for as long as he can. I was shocked when he went nearly 50 yards down a gentle grade without ever touching the ground. When he was done, he turned to me (with my big stupid grin on my face) and yelled "I did it, Dada". He sure did, and he now knows he is much closer to going for a bike ride together with dad, instead of being pulled behind in the trailer.

I wonder how many of these little milestones I have missed just hoping for the next big milestone. How do I pick the "big" milestones? I don't think that you can, and so as The Boy moves into the terrific 3's, I vow to appreciate the simple daily milestones more and stop waiting for all the big ones.

This is Austin

We have been trying to get through this weekend, what with sick boys, Mrs. B completing 1st term grades, and all the pre-holiday madness. Today on the way home from helping a friend load an engine block into the back of her truck we saw a sight that pretty much sums up what Austin is all about. We were driving back home to have lunch and I was pointing out how well thought out the bike lane was on this portion of 620, highlighting how the group of cyclist were able to avoid getting "right hooked" because of the design. Then we saw it, or maybe I should say "them." Mrs. B was remarking how the group of cyclists were older, when we rolled by their leader.

He looks like your normal, happy, weekend warrior, and by all appearances he was, but he was also carrying along a friend. (At this point, I would like you to form a mental image of what this friend could look like before scrolling down.)

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I bet you didn't see that coming. I know I didn't. The part of this story that makes it really funny is the fact that for about five miles we kept leap frogging the group trying to get a picture of the doggie co-pilot. After five failed attempts using the Iphone, we floored it to get home and get the Nikon. After rushing into the house to grab the camera, I set up on the corner near our house, that I figured they would pass. About thirty seconds later the group came around the corner with the lead dog out in front. By this point the guy was laughing pretty hard because we kept trying to get the picture.

I don't know who this guy was, but he obviously had been out for a pretty significant ride with the group. This guy is representing three of the things that make Austin such an awesome place to live.

1. Bikes - the ATX is the best bike town in America...especially this time of year (it was about 60 degrees when I took this picture at noon).

2. Dogs - dogs are everywhere in Austin....it only seems fitting they are on bikes, as well.

3. Weird - by unbelievably finding a way to combine the previous two, he will also get a shout-out to the weird.

There is no question that Lance is the master of the bike, but I would wager he has never taken his favorite four legged friend for a spin like this.

Home with the Boys

I had an opportunity to spend the afternoon with the boys today. It was an unexpected surprise and we all made the most of our time together. After rushing home midday, we took Mrs. B to work and then came home for lunch. It was like feeding a Sarlacc, food was disappearing faster then I could bring out reinforcements. Between the 3 boys they polished off a helping of mac and cheese, 3 whole oranges, 2 bananas, nearly half a wedge of cranberry cheddar, 3 pieces of toast, and a couple of cookies each. The scary part of the whole thing was "the Boy" ate the least of anybody, I think the Twinkies would have kept on eating if I hadn't just stopped bring them food.

Everybody got a good nap and then we decided to "ride bikes" down to the park. What that really means is that "the Boy" rides his bike while I bring the Twinkies in the stroller. We headed down to do a little swinging.

"the Boy" likes to swing this way, but we did also swing "like Addie and Mina" (ie. sitting in the seat)

The Twinkies are quite content to be pushed for hours and were shivering by the time we left, but they were still both unhappy about having to stop.

Never short on adventure around this place, we ended the night with a bang (or maybe a plop). For the last three evenings one of the twin's has "released some hostages" while still in the bath. The first night, I caught it quick enough to grab Twinkie #1 and put him on the potty so he could finish his business, which he did without a problem. Last night Twinkie #2....well lets just say we had ourselves a Level 6 bio hazard once he was done, and everybody had to be thoroughly rewashed. The quote of the night was from "the Boy" who as we were rapidly removing him from the water said "He didn't make it to the potty tonight momma!" NO HE DID NOT.

Rather then face the possibility of Poop Soup for a third night, I just went the shower route, which everybody was very happy about. We made it all the way through an extended shower without incident, and I took Twinkie #1 to get his PJ's on while "the Boy" and Twinkie #2 finished picking up the toys. When I come back, Twinkie #2 is standing there with this big stupid grin on his face and a pile below him (SEE BELOW). I will admit I was tempted to grab the camera to document that grin, but my inner Mrs. B told me that wouldn't be such a good idea, so I had to settle for a picture once I got everybody clothed and safely away.

Bikes and Kids......piece by piece

I am starting to wonder if I have undertaken a task that is way over my head because I don’t have the required knowledge. I hope that I am not the only father who feels this way when it comes to my parenting. I have been described as the human equivalent of the dog from the movie “UP”, I am passionate about lots of stuff, and I have absolutely no trouble jumping headfirst into a situation before I really understand or have even thought through the entire process, but I am also easily distracted.

My current headfirst venture is to build a commuter bike up completely from scratch and start riding it to work a couple of times a week. Up until this moment, my previous bike repair experience is…..(big empty silence)……..ya, that’s it….as I type this I am beginning to realize it sounds like an even dumber idea the more I talk about it. Building this bike is much like being a father, I don’t know what I don’t know, but I sure as heck am going to get it figured out as I go along. For each part that I add to the frame, the bike gets one step closer to completion, and each day I learn how to be a better father by taking the lessons previously learned and trying to avoid the same mistakes. Part by part this thing is going to come together. There are going to be mistakes, but like most mistakes that will arise whilst putting the bike together, with a little more practice and elbow grease we will get them worked out. Thankfully I have a highly knowledgeable friend who has constantly been offering advice on the bike construction (albeit from 2000 miles away…thanks AJ) and when it comes to fatherhood I have some wonderful examples (thanks Dad and Grandpa) and partners (the lovely and talented Mrs. B) to help support and inspire me. Building a bike and fatherhood are possible by yourself, but they are both so much more fun when done with fun people that you love and respect.

Wordless Wednesday