Boys With Bikes

When my youngest brother-in-law came for an extended visit in Edmonton, the three brothers let me tag along and snap a few biker shots. These, ladies and gentlemen, are the Charlie's Angels of my life.



For those of you who don't know, my husband, sons, brothers-in-law, and I are all bicycle commuters. I'm a recent convert. Although I have always ridden my bike a lot, when I returned to work this year after an extended maternity leave, I had no desire to pay the over-inflated parking rates, and so decided that my daughter and I would make the trek on 2 wheels. No, we aren't granola-eating hippy tree-huggers who go on conquests to save the planet or anything - we just genuinely enjoy the clean, efficient bike as our preferred mode of transportation.

I've come to really love our bike rides. Instead of sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic cursing the icy roads or suffering a failing air conditioner, I coast along silently, stealthily, steadily. Now that my husband has me riding a single-speed, I challenge myself to pedal at different rates, some days going for steady pedalling, other days alternating cruising with sprinting. Much nicer than wondering when the yabbohead in the car behind me is going to spill that cup of coffee, get electrocuted from the cell phone, and subsequently rear end me.

Most days the weather is pretty average, and only occasionally do I really feel like I'm "stuck" in bitter cold or driving rains or sweltering heat. And I did get a whole new MEC wardrobe out of the deal. I will never be a fashion icon; I'm a fashion onion, with many, many layers - warm ones, light weight ones, water proof ones, windproof ones... Nevertheless, I appreciate the long sigh of watching the sun rise and listening to the birds twittering on my way to work, and cruising along the river valley or zipping up Whyte Ave on the way home with all the sights and sounds of the changing seasons. What a pleasant way to decompress at the end of the day.

Rain or shine, and sometimes snow, my daughter happily sits in her Chariot, eating leftover bits from her lunch and giving a running dialogue (often in song) about everything from her lunch to the puppy on a leash 'ober dere.'

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