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 

Adding Bicycle Bling to the Yuba Mundo, the Peanut Shell and the Trek 3500

Mother's Day started with an uninterrupted sleep that continued past 7am, followed by a large steamy mug of coffee upon raising and then a plate of bacon and eggs shortly afterwards. Rarely does a day start any better than that, but because they love me, my boys treated me to a shiny chrome mirror for my handlebars!

 I then had my brakes checked by my exceedingly handsome bicycle mechanic.

 

Yesterday we picked up this handy bottle for Jack and I attached it with a little stroller holder to the Peanut Shell. This should keep the little guy from getting dehydrated in the blazing hot weather we expect this Summer. 

We picked up some handle bar extenders for Kyle's Trek 3500, hoping it might make his ride a little more comfortable.  He has been suffering from wrist pain and actually has his wrist wrapped right now. He also traded out his stock saddle for the saddle that came on the Yuba, it certainly looks like it should be more comfy.

Jack is taking a nap, when he wakes up we're off to enjoy the day a little more with a ride, each of us hopefully enjoying our new bicycle comforts! I hope you are enjoying Mother's Day too!

Happy Mother's Day

cargo moms, a photo by wittco.gmbh on Flickr.

Look at this awesome artwork from our friends at Transportland - Have a Happy Mother's Day! 
You can also visit them on Facebook HERE!

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.