Pushing boundaries

(Boxcycle with Girlpie's yoga mat and my dry cleaning)

I have been pushing my boundaries. It feels wonderful. Slowly but surely, each day I come home and jump up and down telling B what I have done that day for the first time.

Tuesday instead of going to the farmer's market as usual I decided that we seriously needed to return a book to a community library across town. The book had been lost on our bookshelves until Girlpie and I culled her books in order to donate books to the very same library. I quickly noted it's telltale pink star sticker on the spine. So, not only did I have a book that was likely due last march to return, but I also had a paper shopping bag full of picture books and easy readers to drop off as well.

Going to the community library is a trip I always wanted to do by bike, but it's 2.6 hilly miles away. It would have taken me way too long to do it without a motor and it wouldn't be very fun doing it. However, with motor, we arrived very quickly- perhaps about 25 minutes or so. ( The route requires I stop at crosswalks and wait for the ped light in several places making my time longer than if I was VC riding straight in traffic the whole time- which I wouldn't at these huge crazy intersections).

Heading home, Girlpie reminded me that we needed to buy poster board for her project that is due Thursday and so we rode past home and down toward the CVS in our neck of the woods and then back home again. Total milage with the kids was 7.1 miles. I never broke a sweat or struggled and we had a load of fun. We might have done the loop a bit faster by car but we were gone from 2:15-4 so I can't think it would have been that much shorter- eh sure we would have been able to stay longer at the library ( closing time was 3 so we would have gotten there probably around 2:25ish instead of 2:40). But the trip to CVS and home would have been pure hell with parking being a prime pain in the rear. Instead we were in the sunlight and feeling good.

Wednesday, I had a meeting 2 miles away and then I needed to return a voltage converter to Radio Shack on Needham street. I seriously have never ridden on Needham street but decided that I would give it a try. I really didn't want to ride to the meeting and then home only to pick up my car to deal with the radio shack errand. Both kids were in school until 3 and I had nothing but time. I decided to do the route on the sidewalk as Chestnut street is awfully narrow and I knew I'd take Needham by sidewalk as well. It worked out ok. Sidewalk riding is so much slower and indirect and I often hop off to pass pedestrians or go over huge curbs or obstacles ( it was garbage day in that neighborhood), but I made it. I stand by my sidewalk riding decision. Needham street is insane and people simply are not looking for anything that isn't a huge car. I did flip off a few people who zoomed past me in a crosswalk. So it was insane, but doable for me.

Dealt with Radio Shack, stopped in at TJMaxx and got a ski jacket for myself and a fleece for Tuber. I stuffed all of that into my bag and was pedaling away when I remembered my friend works on Needham and it was 11:30am. I stopped and texted her and we ended up having a perfectly time lunch together. If I had been driving, I never would have stopped ( I would have had to park somewhere and then call and then drive to park in her office's lot.... as it happened I had stopped literally right across the street from the office building.)

(Bike & box store. A first date, but it looks like a long relationship in the making.)

After lunch I continued on the sidewalk until I got to Centre Street and took the road again into Newton Center to run into a store for a minute before heading home to chill out for an hour before switching bikes to go pick the kids up at school and drop Girlpie off at her yoga class.

My morning's errand run put me at 7.6 miles and the school yoga run added another 2 miles.

I'm so glad I pushed my boundaries. While each time I ride it replaces a car trip, days like Tuesday and Wednesday really show me how much I am replacing my car each day. I'm not just going one mile to yoga and back home, but instead I am doing multiple errands and accomplishing a lot in the same time with a hell of a lot more fun.

Tomorrow calls for morning downpours and I won't feel the least bit guilty or bothered taking my car down to yoga. I've used my car about three times since Labor day.