Back in the Saddle

After a dreadful week that included absolutely zero bakfietsing, this past week I was able to get back to my old biking ways. I'm still not totally meeting my goal of only getting in the car to travel more than 5 miles, but I'm nearly there. I was amazed at how quickly I could lose a percentage of my biking strength after just a week of no biking. My bakfiets was actually having some trouble (something was rubbing against the chain and making a horrible noise, but I was able to fix it easily myself), and before I figured out what was wrong with it, I tried taking my old bike into town for an errand. The seat wasn't quite high enough (on purpose because I need to be able to touch the ground a little bit), and I overdid it (the bike felt so light), and injured my knee. Which resulted in 3 days of difficulty walking and definitely no ability to ride (until I finally fixed the bakfiets, which doesn't stress my knees at all).

So now I have a renewed love for my sweet Bakfietsy Rose. Yes, she finally has a name! "Bakfietsy" was Lena's suggestion, and while I was resistant to the idea, the name has definitely stuck. It fits in with Lukas and Jasper's tradition of naming their stuffed animals by simply adding a "y" to the end of the animal's common name. For instance, their most prized stuffed animals are named "Crocodiley" and "Orangutany." This is actually a practice that drives me crazy ("Come on! Think of something more creative!"), but I admit it is a bit contagious. And "Rose" was Jasper's suggestion from day 1. He was insistent, and I thought it was sweet (I also thought it was sweet when he insisted that we name the baby "Danny," but not sweet enough to listen to him), and that's how "Bakfietsy Rose" got her name.

Here are a couple of little bakfietsing movies that we made. I took the first one on our way to the library yesterday afternoon. Luke and Jaz were a little concerned about my ability to hold the camera and steer at the same time, but it really wasn't as sketchy as it may appear. I was looking where I was going, not at the camera.



Lukas took this next one as we rode through town (post-library, on the way to pick up burritos for dinner).



While we were getting our burritos, poor Bakfietsy Rose was hit pretty hard by an intense storm, but we were safe and dry inside, and she did fine. The restaurant actually lost power while we were in there, but luckily not until after they'd taken our order. We rode home in yet another rainstorm, which is becoming a bit of a pattern these days. I got a little bit yelled at by the kids for not having thought to bring the rain cover with us, but I think they sort of enjoy the adventure of being caught out in a storm with our Little Bakfiets That Could. I know I do.