Stick a fork in me

I’m done.

Today’s ride was brutal. I am not really sure why but my legs just weren’t on board with the whole “let’s ride the bike” thing. We had to get off and walk up “hills” (we don’t have real hills in Sacramento- these were closer to really big bumps) and I’ve never had to do that before. Weak! It might be all the boot-camp, running, and swimming at the gym, the VERY full cargo bags, and/or the fairly stiff headwind we had during the ride out. It also could have been the exceptionally wiggly kids. Some snippets from today’s ride: “Get your hands out from under my butt!” Said after Schroeder had wedged his hands between my rear-end and the bike seat. “Get your hands out from under my shirt!” Again Schroeder, but this time his hands were up the back of my shirt because “they chilly”. “Quit jumping around Linus!” This came after Charlie (on his own bike) had gotten close enough to tickle/flick/throw something. Usually I am able to ride fast enough to ensure that he is far enough behind me as to be out of arm’s reach. On top of all this I got sunburned. So yes, today’s ride was difficult.

It’s another beautiful day here (minus the wind) so I thought I’d pick Schroeder up at preschool and then take the kids down to Old Sacramento. I needed to get the bike tuned up a bit – the shifting has been a bit rough – so we stopped at Practical Cycle. We left the bikes there for Tim and Cassidy to work their magic and went to 10/22 for lunch. We’ve never been before but I’ve heard it is kid friendly. That’s a good thing because I’ve got some kids. They provided some of those waxy strings and activity sheets as pre-food entertainment and it worked for everyone but Peanut. Actually, it worked for him too. He tasted one and then spent the rest of the time trying to eat the rest. The food was excellent – a bit pricey – but very good. Everyone cleaned their plates. Even Peanut, so I can only presume the food was preferrable to wax covered strings.

1. Outside school

2. All ready to go

3. Lunch

4. Wax string bicycle

After lunch I took the boys over to the train museum. I had promised I would. I thought, erroneously, that biking there would make the experience more bearable. The train museum is a personal hell. I HATE the train museum. It turns out that I hate it even more after a difficult ride. Who knew? The boys, however, had a great time. After suffering through most of the first floor I finally managed to bribe them out with promises of candy.

5. Train Museum

Sugar in hand we went back to Practical Cycle to pick up the bikes. Apparently the cargo bag is interfering with the derailleur which is why the shifting is off. Maybe the bag was indeed too full.  Tim thinks that the running boards – plastic shelves that go under the bags – will help. This is actually good news because I’ve kinda wanted to get those anyway. Right now I can’t ride without the bags. The bags not only give my kids a foot rest of sorts but they also keep small feet (and hands probably) out of the spokes. So yay! It’s always nice when you need what you want. :)

6. Peanut's done too :)

Long story shorter, we made it home. I think tomorrow I’m going to take a break from the kids and go watch a movie or shop or something. Or, maybe I’ll just go watch other people shop. It’s cheaper that way.

Have a great weekend!

Kate