Wednesday, February 13, 2013

BACK! No, REALLY!

Okay, it's been since September. But I have a very good excuse. I was LIVING MY LIFE.  Seriously, when the fall weather was at its best, I was on my bike almost every day so I didn't have time.

Then during the holidays we had an Italian student living with us. He was adorable, and we would have kept him except AFS had other plans for him. He is now in Ohio and living the American dream. We're still happy for him even though we miss him.

January 2013 ... well, bad weather and bad attitude. Nuff said.

So now I am officially OUT of my funk and back on the bike. I'm participating in something called an Errandonnee -- using one's bike to accomplish errands. All the details are at www.chasingmailboxes.com

In a nutshell, it's 12 errands, over 7 out of 11 categories, 12 days, and at least 2 have to be during darkness. And 30 miles. It sounds daunting but it really isn't. If you just think about the errands you run, and get on your bike instead, the distance gets eaten up quickly.

I know some of you live out in the country. Okay -- take your bike with you to town on the car. Park the car, and resolve to do all errands in town on the bike. Sure, there are some that won't work so well (picking up dry cleaning) but most others are easy.

For the Errandonnee we document our errands via photo and "something we've discovered or learned." I'm down to the last two -- the ones after dark. I was going to ride to our PTSA meeting tonight but it's supposed to be snowing so I think I'll wait until this weekend. I've already passed the 30 miles.

Here are my initial photos. Can you tell what the categories are?

Feb 11

Feb 11
Feb 11

Feb 11
Feb 11


Feb 12
Feb 12


2 comments:

The Bug said...

What a cool idea! No way would I be doing that this time of year in Ohio (well, there have been some days I could have, but then there's snow...). I recognized most of the places - banking, post office, groceries, library, shopping (office supplies - bike store??), but I'm not sure about the categories...

Mary said...

Good for you for riding! There are way too many hills around here for me; or maybe I'm just being too lazy! Plus, I don't have a nice bike...can you say Target bike? :)
Glad your exchange student worked out. We were involved with AFS when I was in school, so I know it's a good organization. Much better than the one we dealt with! :)