E-biking around town

My kids are finishing up 2 weeks of swimming lessons tomorrow. I must brag for a moment and say that their swimming skills and comfort level in the water has definitely increased! Ian and Janie are being instructed at the local city pool, which is about 4 miles away from our house. As important as it is for them to learn how to swim, I was dreading driving them back and forth 4 times each week. For those of you who don't know me, I don't particularly enjoy driving and I feel rather Scrooge-like filling up the tank, especially with gas prices creeping upward again.

These factors led to me declaring that I would bike them there instead. (Disclaimer: My bike has been converted to be electric or pedal-assist with an E-bike kit. I still pedal all the time out of fear that my range will exceed the battery's capacity but all the work of hills is drastically minimized. It's like being a kid riding a bike when it's still easy to go up hills.) To give myself additional motivation I urged Kirk to take my car to work instead of his truck. I reasoned that if I wasn't driving it we may as well save some money on gas for Kirk's commute. He reluctantly agreed because, hey, my car has air conditioning. For the duration of swimming lessons I determined that I would take a break from Couch-to-5K training so I would have energy to bike.

The verdict is... it worked out great! We did have one rainy day and there was one day that I wound up driving. Rain fell yesterday and actually felt good. For the first time in weeks I felt cool. The kids were covered and dry in the trailer. Once we arrived home my clothes dried (on my body) in about 20 minutes. The driving day also encompassed grocery shopping at 3 different stores. I do not currently have the capacity on my bike to carry all of what was purchased on that adventure and it seemed reasonable to drive. Interestingly, the only day we ran late for lessons was the day we drove there. The bonuses are 1)we have saved approximately $19 off Kirk's commute and $30 off my driving around town and 2)I incorporated daily exercise into my life with both kids.

While I'm not ready to downsize a car my confidence in e-biking around our hilly city has greatly increased. There were a couple of *grouchy* drivers that I encountered but overall people were accommodating and gave us plenty of room. For short trips (5 miles or less one way) I am planning to bike there. Much of what we do is within this range and since I only plan 1 activity per day, it will be easy for Kirk to use my car to commute on those days.

Families with 2+ Children:
If you are reading this and thinking that biking can't work for your family because you have more than 2 children you might be interested to know that there are options for you. Box bikes (or trikes) can hold 4 children! And then there are family tandems...