Another post about bikes

So, we're a biking family now. This morning, now that we finally have three bike locks, I was able to take Dutch and Skipper to Dutch's school by bike. We left Dutch at school with her shiny pink bike locked up outside, and Skipper and I pedaled off for the 2-mile trip to her nannyshare. Skipper likes to hector me as we ride - she yells strange praise like "Mama, you're SO tall!" and unhelpful warnings like "Mama, watch out for those cars!"*

Speaking of cars, Dutch had her first near-dooring episode last week. She was paying attention (unlike the driver) and not moving very quickly, so it all worked out okay. It was a kind of a rite of passage. I'm pretty sure I didn't have MY first near-dooring episode until I was maybe two decades older than she is now.

I'm liking this Biking Thing a lot. I still don't really like biking, and I don't think I'm going to start riding downtown or very long distances. I'm not interested in bikes, and I don't care about them at all. What I LIKE is things that are convenient. I like things that are healthy. I like things that are fun. Bikes can get me and my kids from home to school to daycare in about 45 minutes (door to door), maybe 15 minutes longer than it would take by car, except that we get exercise along the way, don't burn any gas, and don't jeopardize anybody else's health through noise pollution, air pollution, resource-raping, or collisions. And it's fun. (Mostly for Dutch, but I allow as I how I do enjoy biking more than say, driving a car, or riding in a bus.)

*Parked cars, with no occupants... not the dangerous kind of cars.