Mother's Day Ride - Shooting video for the RPM project

We had a great weekend, celebrating Mother's Day with a bike ride that we decided to film for the Cargo Bike Documentary,  (R)Evolutions Per Minute.  We took over 40 short videos ranging from a few seconds to a few minutes, downloaded them to the laptop and then immediately uploaded them to Liz Canning's website. It was a really quick, easy process and we had a lot of fun filming.

I couldn't resist sharing some of the video here and made this little movie today, enjoy:

 

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Wonderful music by Pink Martini, Andalucia 

Grocery haulin', tot-toting and enjoying the day

This morning Jack and I met some friends for coffee at the local bakery, then took a quick trip to the grocery store.  Beautiful fresh spring onions and asparagus called for the BBQ, and the greens we picked up will make a delicious salad. My own spinach in the garden is coming along nicely and should be ready to start harvesting in a few weeks. Today's haul wasn't huge, but tomorrow we'll be setting out another ride, by buying small I necessitate the need for numerous rides- works well for me!

Back in the saddle!

Beautiful weather combined with finally having a reprieve from stress made for a lovely ride today. Jack and I loaded up the Yuba shortly after lunch, slathered on some sun screen and took off for a little rural ride, out towards the radio station I worked at in my early twenties.

I won a free pizza in a competition so we had to go to the station to pick it up, even took a peek at the studio I used to work in, it hasn't changed a bit!

Next door a beautiful new winery has been built in recent years, Jack thoroughly enjoyed making music by beating on the casks!

 

Sadly the winery wasn't open, so no tasting for me.

 

Jack obviously had a really fun time today, we both did actually. It was so lovely to get back on the bike, I had certainly missed it. I didn't even bother bringing the bike back in the house as I'm sure we'll go back out again later, it's just too lovely a day to limit ourselves to one ride, so maybe we'll go pick up our free pizza!

Fairly Chaotic

Since I last checked in on Saturday, life has been fairly chaotic and not very conducive to riding my bicycle.  As I have mentioned in the past, my Mother has been having some fairly serious health issues in the last two months.  We even heard the dreaded "cancer" word mentioned a few times. On Monday my Mum had surgery to remove a large Fibroid and we received the much awaited and welcome news that she is unlikely to have cancer...what a relief! There are still some other issues we need to work on, but none of them are life threatening and we feel so very, very fortunate.

A picture from last week...

Mum has been convalescing at our home this week and my Brother has been staying with us too. It's been an extremely emotional time for all of us, but Mum is recovering well and will be going back to her own home tonight or tomorrow. I think Jack will miss having his Nanny and Uncle here, he has been thriving on all the extra kisses and cuddles!

I'm exhausted both emotionally and physically and very aware that it will be a challenge to get back to my routine. I must admit to not keeping up on my May goals- I haven't tracked my food intake and groceries have been shopped for in my Brother's car (It was fun to ride in a fancy new Prius however). Tomorrow I'm hoping to recover some semblance of normal life and get out on the bike, even if just for a short ride.  I will have to push harder for the rest of the month to make my goal of 100 miles, and I will be sure to re-start my food journal and grocery shopping goals in the next few days. One thing I know to be true about any long term challenge, is that you will undoubtedly go through periods of time when life throws obstacles in your path, it's important at these times to not beat yourself up, but rather get your momentum going again and stay true to your goals. I'm looking forward to riding my bike tomorrow!

Reaching for goals on Cinco De Mayo

I woke up in over-achiever mode today, loaded the bike with all manner of items of questionable necessity and set off to achieve my goal of cycling to the farmer's market for opening week. I anticipated the extra weight pulling me down in momentum, ended up overcompensating and got there in a record 40 minutes.

I wasn't feeling very well before we left, by the time we got there I felt positively sick and shaky. We waited in this shady spot for a friend to meet us, she made me laugh by telling me there is very little difference between the words motivation and vomitation...who knew huh? Gotta love a friend that can make you laugh through the pain.

We had some beautiful bicycle company today at the Walla Walla farmer's market. It was refreshing and inspiring to be surrounded by amazing arts and crafts.

Of course the fresh quality produce was beautiful too!

 

The live music and people watching was top notch! Jack had a great time chasing bubbles and decorating the ground with chalks. We got ready to leave when the little guy started showing signs of crankiness, I still wasn't feeling very well, but was determined to get a few more miles in. We headed for Whitman College, a stunning campus with sprawling grass areas and perfect bicycle pathways beside creeks and ponds.

Today was certainly a triumph for sheer determination or possible just plain stubbornness, either way we logged 11 miles with a head on wind all the way home, which is usually where we get to take it easy. We didn't actually do much shopping, which means tomorrow we will be off cycling again to fulfill this weeks grocery needs. I won't however let Jack help me pack tomorrow, so I can lighten the load without the extra few balls, bat, teddy bear, bubbles and of course the stroller can stay home too.

Welcome to Bike Month - Commitments Defined

It's time to set my month of May commitments in stone. After a lot of thought I have decided on the following-

• As many of you already know, I joined the National Bike Challenge, which started today. I'm going to be track my miles and have set my goal at 100 logged miles on Endomondo this month (that will include cycling and walking).

• Another goal I have set, is to do 100% of our grocery shopping either by bicycle or on foot, which will mean Kyle won't be using the Moped to grab things I forget, which he has been doing in the past on occasion. 

• Lastly and possibly the hardest of all three, I have committed to keeping a food journal for the remainder of this month and tracking my calorie and nutrition intake. To be clear, I don't believe highly calorie restrictive diets are healthy. Rather than focus on specific numbers and limitations, my goal is to up my raw food intake and to enjoy a more balanced diet. The diary will basically help me see what and when I'm eating, look for trends and weaknesses.

After my month of daily cycling I'm still at my highest weight ever, but my pants are far looser and I'm feeling strong. It's hard to not focus on specific numbers, whether they represent miles, weight or even dollar bills. I firmly believe focusing on those numbers detracts from the process, bicycling should be about the journey not the destination and I want my year long commitment to reflect that, with the focus being on the process and not the numbers. 

Today we made our first trip to the grocery store for the month.  We didn't need much, but I've been craving a BBQ, so we got some veggies to grill. The tomatoes were so fragrant I could smell them, which made me long for the Farmer's Market. One of my goals that I set back in January was to be able to cycle to the Farmer's Market by opening weekend, I'm excited to be able to achieve that goal this coming weekend.

"Look Mum, this juice isn't green!"

I get such mixed reactions with these little grocery carts, most people like them and smile at Jack as he takes his time strolling along. But then you have the people who have obviously long since forgotten what it was like to be 2 years old, and they seem impatient and irked by him and his tiny cart. 

We seem to have raised a very friendly little guy, he smiles and waves at everyone we meet, calling out hello at the top of his lungs. Today a man yelled "nice bike" as we rode by his veranda,  I replied "thank you" and Jack said "thank you" too, matching my tone and waving. It seems to me we'd have a much happier, healthier nation of people if we could have more interactions like these. Humanity is so easily hid behind a steering wheel and a pane of glass, whereas being on a bicycle puts us out in the community. 

The family ride event that I'm organizing is happening later this month, I hope we get a good turnout this time. I would love to meet some other parents that ride, or maybe encourage some new people to take it up. I'm hoping to get posters printed up this week and begun plastering them around town this weekend.

I just went to the fridge and realized we forgot milk, so I think another grocery trip is in our near future. I knew this grocery shopping challenge would keep me busy!