Longer ride

Mostly, I've been biking around Boston and Brookline, but tonight I went to a meeting in Belmont. According to Google Maps, it was 7.3 miles each way. I'd figured it might take me an hour, given traffic, to get there, but it only took 45 minutes. On the way home, with no traffic and a big downhill on Belmont Road, it only took me 35 minutes. Both were much faster than it would have taken me by T.

I'm very glad that I bought a new high-powered front light yesterday ($45), because the way was pretty dark, and Belmont Road and Mt. Auburn have some pretty gnarly potholes. It also helped a lot on the Charles River bike path, which is pretty dark and narrow. (I sure do wish they'd sink some money into upgrading it. It could/should be a brilliant bike/pedestrian path, but it's got a long way to go.)

This was a good chance to check out my range, and ( think 7 or 8 miles one-way is very do-able for events. The weather was great, which made for an especially pleasant ride.

Bike Book Suggestions? Bike repain classes in Boston?

The chain broke on Noah's bicycle this week, so yesterday we headed to REI to pick up a new chain, chain lube, a chain tool, and a new light for my bike (we sunk about $100, but the light wasn't cheap). I normally prefer to use a smaller bike shop, or even a local chain (Landry's), but they all require a lot more riding in traffic, while the REI is a straight shot down the Riverway/Muddy River bike path, which is a lot easier with a nine-year-old along (plus it's near ice cream, which helps motivate my young rider. And me).

One of the things I like about shifting away from using a car and to using bicycles is that they are (theoretically) machines that I can much more easily repair and maintain myself. I'm even thinking about buying a bike repair stand, to make it easier to manage.

I find a lot of bike repair info on the web, which is great. Especially videos. But I'm a book guy at heart. I'd be interested in suggestions for a basic book on bike maintenance and repair. Please let me know your favorites. I'm starting from almost zero knowledge, but I want to learn.

Also, I'm considering taking a class on basic bike maintenance. Have any of you done this? If so, which ones did you try? Please let me know of ones you've tried.

Got to Drive a Truck (still loving Zipcar)

Yesterday, we rented a pickup truck from Zipcar to transport three bales of salt marsh hay over to our community garden plot. I LOVE that Zipcar has pickup trucks available. I was able to reserve this one with just one hour's notice. In two hours, Noah and I got bought the hay, laid it out in the garden, and returned the truck. (I think the cost was about $25 for the truck.) It was a Toyota Tacoma--it fit the bales perfectly, and it reminded me how much fun it is to drive a pickup. (Not that I want to own one.) It'd also be the perfect tool for an IKEA trip (hmm)--in fact there was even an IKEA shopping list left behind from a previous driver.

Having Zipcar around is really making the whole car free thing a LOT easier.

Ka-Ching. Money in the mail.

The financial aspect was a big factor in getting rid of our car. That was brought home recently when we got checks in the mail with rebates on money that we'd already coughed up for our car. Our insurance company sent us a refund of our insurance (very promptly, I might add) for $436. And the town of Brookline refunded our excise tax to the tune of $25.

Besides buying pizza and ice cream (the default choice for any money that comes our way), I want to look into signing up for a class on bike repair and buy a bike repair stand and maybe a few tools. Being able to do repairs ourselves is a big advantage for us over owning a car (I wasn't good for anything but the very, very simplest repairs to our car, if any). Trips to the bike shop can add up, and now that they're getting more miles, it's important to keep them in good shape.

(I think there still will be some money left over for ice cream.)