Bicycle Commute

Last week, I had to take the car in for an oil change, so I offered to swap kid transportation duties with Amy: she would take Aaron, and I would take Jada, since the auto shop was close to Jada's school. But one little trip to Jada's school wore me out completely, because I'm an absolute softie when it comes to rush hour driving.

So I amped up my insistence that I bike Jada to her school and she could walk Aaron to his school. Earlier this week, I got a chance to test out this permutation: Aaron stayed home, so me taking Jada to school made sense, since I could go from there to work, whereas if Amy did it, she'd have to take Aaron and then come right back home.

Jada enjoys bike rides, and I do too, so I was very much looking forward to the father-daughter excursion. Well, the daughter part of that tandem had fun, kicking her feet and watching the world whiz by. But I badly miscalculated how much more difficult this form of biking is than when I bike for fun. For starters, I was using Amy's bike, since mine is getting a tune-up, so my legs were cramped and the gears were all out of whack. Plus I had a full work bag worth of files. And a heavy bike lock. And a 35-pound little girl in the back seat. And I was wearing a full suit. And it was muggy.

Needless to say, I was a sweaty mess by the time we arrived at Jada's school. But her happiness made up for it all, as did her excitement at seeing me when I pulled in that evening. So methinks we'll do this again soon. Hopefully it'll be on my bike, I'll remember to travel lighter and dress appropriately, and it won't be so oppressively humid.