New Seat & Sunshine: It's Time to Ride

Final Details for the Test Run

I decided to put a Yepp seat on the back of my bike. I had an unexpected home repair and that took precedence over a new bike.  I don’t really need a new bike, I want a new bike, a very light weight bike.  What I get is my old bike and a new seat and that is ok.

For the most part I like the Yepp seat. I thought I bought the gray one but the one that came out of the box was orange. That was a nice surprise because not only can you see it better, orange is my favorite color. 

One reader suggested I pull a Weehoo trailer bike.  I like those but in my opinion, my son is a still to small, maybe next year.

We had a test run so that I could gage my center of balance and my strength. My son enjoyed the ride.  One big difference between the front mount seat and the back mounted seat is that..., it is hard to explain. There is a bit more of a disconnect then when he was on the front of my bike. I miss things that my son is telling me about. He misses things that I see.  We do not see the same things.  I have a forward perspective and he has a side view.

My son will say, “What’s that car?” I cannot see where he is pointing and I have already passed by the car. The question gets answered with an, “I do not know." 

Some stuff he says I cannot hear at all. This might get better with time. For me, one of the joys of the bike commute is spending time with my son and that includes the conversations. I hope it is a leaning curve thing. 

To attached the Yepp seat, we took the bike bag and mount off the back of the bike. I considered biking to work this week and it hit me that I no-longer have a way to transport stuff. 

I bought a bike basket and I am happy with it. The day after I attached my bike basket, one reader sent me a link to instructions to attach 5 gallon buckets to a bike. I will say, this is a GREAT idea.  Bike stuff really is not cheap. What I see in stores is well designed and well made and pretty easy to implement, but pricey. I don’t even want to put in print what I spent on the bike basket.

Were Back on the Road.

On the test run, I got my son on the bike. I got on the bike. We had our helmets and sunshine and I pushed-off. It felt great, moving through the fresh air and I was surprised at a little sense of freedom I experienced. Over the winter months I forgot how great it felt to ride. The sensation was such a surprise that I had to check in to make sure I as not missing something. It was like I needed an extra strap or something to restrict me. But no, we were all good to go, I had honestly forgotten the joy of riding a bike. 

Another surprise, this is so naive that I feel dumb even writing about this, the more I attach to my bike, the heaver it is.  Crazy, ah? I had to carry my bike up a few steps and it is heavy, noticeably much heaver than last year. 

With the new seat and the new basket, oh yes I also got a new helmet; I am technically ready to start my bike commute.  After my test run, I have the confidence I can do it. The weather is perfect. My time management and schedule coordination is really lacking. Solving this problem is my goal for the weekend. I am going to come up with a schedule and a plan to ride. I have to get up earlier, budget extra time for the first week (you never know) and it will take a while to figure out a bike-to-work wardrobe, deal with helmet hair but it will be great to get started.

Note: I was going to work from home tomorrow but with it being Bike to Work day and all, I better Bike to Work.