New Thing #171: Bungee Cords

First of all, let's make this perfectly clear: I did not bungee jump, nor will I bungee jump as part of '365 New Things In 2013'. But I did purchase two 32'' bungee cords.

I had the idea that, if I was going to bike to pick up the vegetables, I could strap them down to the back of my bike with the bungee cords.

It was a great idea.

And this post is also my way of telling you that I biked 18 miles on Monday when I picked up the vegetables.

When I bought my bike, my oldest daughter was a baby. Or a toddler. I forget. But the point is I added the rack on the back of the bike so that I could attach the little baby seat and take her for rides. I did it a few times with her, one time I used that baby seat to carry groceries, and I don't think I've used it since. Perhaps this summer I could get the 2-year-old in there. But the seat has been sparsely used.

As a result, the rack has been sparsely used as well. But I'm always aware it's there, and I enjoy thinking about possible uses for it. I know there are bags - kind of saddlebag-type bags - that drape over the rack. I might get one of those so I don't have to worry about keeping things in my pockets during bike rides. But I'm thrilled that in picking up the vegetables (and bringing back the empty box) I now have a use for the rack.

But I knew that I couldn't just plop the veggies on the rack by themselves and expect to get them home. That's where the bungee cords came in. I went to a hardware store over the weekend, almost bought the 24'' cords, followed my wife's advice and went a step bigger, and they were perfect for the size of the veggie box and hooking onto the rack.

So Monday I set out and biked the nine miles to the farm. Framingham to Sudbury is a fairly easy ride, if you follow the main roads. A couple of hills, but nothing too terrible.

Coming back, I decided to take a slight detour past the street where my wife grew up. I had biked that way before and I didn't remember it being too terrible. Well, there's a huge hill there, and that hill, coupled with the fact that I had already biked nine miles, almost did me in.

But I made it over the hill, and then I made it home. (I think Sudbury to Framingham is slightly hillier.) And I'm proud of that. I like biking for pleasure well enough, but I love when I can bike with a purpose.

(I also like when I feel like taking my bike helps the environment. Unfortunately, this wasn't exactly an environment-saving move - that day I drove through Sudbury twice, so I could have easily picked up the vegetables one of those times without doing any extra harm to the Earth.)

I'm not sure this was my longest bike ride ever. Last year I rode my bike from Watertown into downtown Boston, and that was about the same distance, but it was much flatter. So it might have been my most complex.

You might think I'm making too much of this. I don't really know how to explain to you how much I enjoy taking a long bike ride. Growing up I had a bike, but I don't know that I ever took it more than like, three blocks. One time in Montauk we rented bikes and went for a long ride, but I was younger. It probably wasn't more than 5 miles or something.

I like when I can walk or take my bike somewhere - to a destination, rather than just a loop for exercise. I like exercising with a purpose! And now that I have these bungee cords, well, maybe I can work in an extra chore or two on future bike rides.

New Thing #158: Bike Phone Mount

I think I got this for Christmas, because it's been sitting around for a long time and I haven't had the opportunity to use it yet. It's a mount for my iPhone that attaches to the handlebar of my bike.

Don't worry - it's not a distraction for me - I won't be getting into any accidents.

If anything, it actually keeps me more focused on riding my bike than before I used it.

I attached the mount to my bike and took my bike out for the first time this past weekend. It was great bike-riding weather.

And I was able to mount my phone and use my bike-riding app to see how long I was riding and how many miles I was piling up.

Why was this less of a distraction?

Well, in the past I'd still try running that app, but it was while the phone was in my pocket. And with the athletic shorts I was wearing, with not-so-deep pockets, I'd check my pocket about 100 times during a bike ride to make sure my phone didn't fall out of it.

Now I worry occasionally that the phone will slip out of the mount, but all it takes is one tap for me to feel how secure it is in the mount and I can continue with my ride worry-free.

It was easy to assemble and mount, as I said it's secure, and it allows me to check the time of day pretty quickly as well. (I haven't worn a watch in a long time - I rely on my phone, so this also prevents me from having to reach for my phone in my pocket to see what time it is while on a bike ride.)

I assume I could pop my iPhone on speaker phone and this would be a pretty convenient way to talk on the phone while I was riding my bike as well....but let's not try that.

That would be a distraction.

New Thing #153: Doing Dad Things

I don't mean to mislead you with that title. I've always done "Dad things".

It's just that for so long those things have entailed feedings and diaper changings and the like.

Things that I don't remember my dad doing because I was too little.

But now, as my kids are getting older, I'm doing some of the things for them that I remember my dad doing for me.

And that's what I think of when I think of "Dad things".

On Saturday, I spent some time doing these sorts of things.

I had to get the girls' bikes ready for the bike-riding season.

My first task failed - I have a pump at home and I tried to pump up their bike tires. I can't figure out that pump for anything. But the tires were passable enough for our ride.

The next thing was adjusting the seats. For some reason, this brought back a flood of memories from when I was younger and we'd get our bikes out, and my dad would adjust the bike seats.

It went well - a regular wrench did the trick on one bike, and then on the other bike I had to use an allen wrench. The cool thing about that is that I had never used an allen wrench for anything but the ready-to-be-made furniture (shelves, desks) that you buy at Bed Bath & Beyond or Target. Where the wrench and everything you need to make the thing comes in the package.

When I saw my daughter's bike seat I was shocked - there was no nut for a wrench or spot for a screwdriver or anything. Then I realized it looked like the kind of hole allen wrenches go into, so I tore through my toolbox to see if there was something in there that would fit in that hole.

Imagine my surprise when I saw that I owned a set of allen wrenches - including one that was perfect for this task.

It was very dad of me.

Next up, sometime in the next month - no more training wheels for my oldest daughter's bike.

Don't worry - I'll figure out a way to get them off.

I'm a dad.