Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Maybe I'll go for a Guinness tonight. Sláinte!



Hey, spring is almost here!

Are you traveling for business or pleasure?

It’s been a weekend of weather extremes here. On Friday evening we headed over to our favorite hill for some long overdue sledding fun.

Most of the six inches of powdery snow still remained since temperatures had stayed near the freezing mark all week. By Saturday morning, the mud was beginning to peek through the snow as some kids tried to squeeze in a few last rides before the warmer afternoon arrived. The big meltdown must have started late Saturday night, as the temperature had already reached 59°F by 9:00 a.m. Sunday. Since I had a lunch date in the afternoon, we took our bikes out after breakfast for a ride through a nearby neighborhood. My daughter took a few photos of some of the beautiful houses there.


The streets were streaming with water from the rapidly melting snow, and my daughter quickly acquired a spatter stripe up her back, thanks to her missing rear fender. Good thing she wasn’t wearing her cycle-chic-best, since we had rushed out the door. After I returned from lunch, the weather was still beautiful and warm, and I needed to make amends for ordering the more-dessert-than-lunch Pineapple Rum French Toast with Crème Anglaise. So we decided to take care of some business by bike and deliver an order of Girl Scout cookies to my sister less than a mile away.

I may need to make a few more business-paced rides to work off that plateful of pleasure, and it looks like the weather might help out by staying in the 40s and 50s all week.

Escape Route

We had 6 inches of snow earlier this week, but the weather forecast says more temperatures in the 50s will be here on Saturday and Sunday. Good thing I shoveled a path to the bikes. Hmm, where shall we go this time?

Seize the day and shoot the ducks

When Mother Nature treats you to 53°F on the first day of February, it’s only polite to get outside and enjoy it. My husband decided to take his bike to scenic Kelly Drive in Philadelphia for a ride on the Schuylkill River Trail, and although it’s one of our favorite places to ride, my daughter and I didn’t join him since he intended to go at a much faster pace for a real workout. In fact, my daughter didn’t want to go anywhere at all on the bikes. I pleaded, prodded, poked, tried the carrot-and-stick approach (library? pretzels? bakery??), all to no avail. Just as I was about to give up, she begrudgingly picked up her helmet and muttered one word – “Ducks.” She was willing to ride down to the park to visit the ducks that gather next to the creek, a favorite stopping-off point on our ride home from school. Not exactly the distance I was hoping for, but at that point I would have been happy just to roll up and down the driveway on my bike.
We arrived to find the creek rushing like a river due to the melting snow and more ducks than usual on the slush-covered banks. One duck walked over to greet us while the other ducks stayed a safe distance away.

Most likely she was hoping we had come to feed them (as we’ve seen the nearby homeowners doing), but it was surprising how she continued to waddle around us even after it was clear that we had no food for her. Maybe it was our bikes that intrigued her. My daughter was thrilled to be so close and made the most of the opportunity by taking more than 40 photos.



As I uploaded them to our computer, I discovered she had also been practicing her video skills.

One Lone Duck from BIKE Lite on Vimeo.
(Titles added by me. Used with permission.)

I think I may put the filming duties on her in future. She's got much more dramatic flair than I.

Warm Ears and Warm Pretzels

A brief flash of snow flurries inspired my daughter and I to go for a bike ride to test out our new bike helmets with winter lining (removable for summer). The cold weather affects my daughter more than me, since she is legally required to wear a helmet (full of head-cooling vents), while I may opt for a thick knit cap to pull down over my ears. But when there is the threat of icy patches, I'd feel much safer with a helmet. So we found some Bern Berkeley helmets with a removable, faux-shearling lining to keep our ears warm and our skulls dent-free.

Our destination was Pretzel Boy's for some fresh, warm Philadelphia-style soft pretzels.The helmets passed the test, and the pretzels hit the spot.I feel like Penelope Pitstop in my new helmet. (Hmm, where's my other glove?)

Back at home, we transformed into Princess Peach and Baby Peach and hopped onto our motor bikes for some wild rides on Mario Kart Wii. Wii bike, do you?

It's a beautiful morning for a bike ride!

Don't you agree? My daughter didn't, unfortunately. I need to be more firm. Another chance of snow predicted for next week...

Good things come to those who bike

This is National Education Week, and our school has planned many activities involving the parents. There are opportunities to observe a lesson in your child’s classroom, or join them for a special event, such as today’s Thanksgiving Lunch in the cafeteria. With parents coming and going to school throughout the week, parking is scarce at all times of the day, not just the usual drop-off and pick-up times. Naturally, I chose to ride my bike to today’s lunch date. When you have a terrible habit of always running late, it doesn’t make sense to waste time looking for a parking spot and walking blocks to school when there is an empty bike rack waiting for you just outside the door. The ride to lunch was a special treat itself because a snow shower kicked up just as I got on my bike. The unseasonably cold weather has been hovering just above and below freezing all week, with winds adding an extra bite, but today was calm and the pedaling kept me warm. It was exhilarating to be on my bike, riding amidst the snowflakes, instead of sitting in my car watching them die on the windshield.

Dead snowflakes

The kids were disappointed that the snow had stopped during lunch, but as they went out for recess, the snowflakes magically reappeared. My daughter and her friends held their breath while trying to get a close look at the beautiful crystals on their coats and gloves.

Live snowflakes

They waved as I rode away from the playground, and I could tell my daughter regretted taking the bus today after arguing that it was “too cold to ride our bikes”. I think we’ll both be hoping for more snow tomorrow.