Errand bike thread....

[Blue_Wildflower]

Yeah, yeah, I remember saying that too and then 75 lbs later....

I must say that the two yams that I bought were just delightful and worth the trudge/drudge home. I popped one into the microwave for 6 minutes (it was very fat) then slathered it with butter, added lima beans on the side and it was a grand dinner.

Let me know what you draggged home in your basket!

LOL. I will let you know.

I will have to limit my load to my basket. My bf has a road (a.k.a his mistress) and mountain bike. Pigs will fly before he puts a rack, basket or panniers on either bike. He has offered to ride my girl bike if I buy too much. lol.

I am looking forward to buying some sweet potatoes and apples. I love our local farmer's market.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Blue, I too look forward to your first farmer's market trip report. I know just how excited you are...I am going through the same thing now myself!

Though I have done plenty of errands to town by foot and by bike over the past several years (we live 1/2 mile from town, 1 mile from supermarket), I am now making a very determined effort to do even more errands and shopping by bike and leaving the car at home even more often than before.
I work at home so it's not like I can pick up stuff on the way home from work in my car. If I need to buy something or do PO or bank, I'm leaving from home to do it as a dedicated trip.

Today I thoroughly enjoyed doing a whole slew of little errands on my bike all around town at midday....I mailed a package at the PostOffice, went to pay my dentist, did bank deposit, hardware store purchase, and stopped for a grilled cheese sandwich as my reward. All on an otherwise uninspiring dark cloudy day.
Now I know why my husband is forever hopping on his bike to "take a quick spin to the bank/PO/etc"....doing errands by bike is addictive!

[malkin]

My best, most fun bike errand ever was after work a few weeks ago, Brewer rode up to meet me, and we rode together down to the 'out-of-network' hospital to pick up my old mammogram film. I tucked it in my messenger bag and we rode home.

It was a pretty lame excuse for an afternoon ride together, but it seemed so PURPOSEFUL.

[Zen]

Every time I read this thread title I see "Errant Bike Thread"

[salsabike]

That is EXACTLY what I think every time I see this thread title. Then I go off into a little thought haze on what might make a bike "errant"...I usually have to shake my head to snap out of it.

[SouthernBelle]

errant bike: Has driven off the straight & narrow path onto side roads. Probably the ones with gin mills, saloons and houses of ill repute.

[xeney]

I use my two single speed mixtes as errand bikes. The Puch (lighter weight, no rack or baskets, bullhorns) is more fun to ride so I use it when I don't need to carry very much, or when I'm just going out to work at a coffee house or something. It is so much fun to ride that my husband uses it as his main errand bike these days, too, even though it's a bit too small for him and is a women's bike to boot.

The Nishiki is also fun to ride but the weight, the balance (it is back-heavy because of the rack and baskets), and the brake set up with the Albatross bars mean that I tend to want to ride it a bit more slowly. I just finally got the baskets back on it after having them off for more than a year so I am looking forward to running more errands now. (We took off the baskets to reduce the weight, because during pregnancy the Nishiki was the only bike I felt comfortable riding.)

I am looking at a front-mounted baby seat for the Nishiki, probably a Bobike Mini. Right now bike errands only happen when someone else is watching Penelope, because there is no good way to lock up the trailer.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

errant bike: Has driven off the straight & narrow path onto side roads. Probably the ones with gin mills, saloons and houses of ill repute.

Well, those side trips could be considered 'errant errands'....

[shootingstar]

Since I'm hardly doing any bike to work commuting at all these days, I continue to rely on my weekend fitness rides with errands..usually towards the end of the ride.

After not riding for last 6 days, did only 38 kms. today with 2 longish hills..which later included some food shopping, then along the way home, cycled to train station to pick up tickets for our Christmas snowshoeing vacation getaway and then cycled, stopped over for more groceries and shrimp dim sum takeout.

2 hrs. later...took the bike out to drop it at LBS down the street to have brake pads replaced for front and back. Then walked over to vote for municipal elections during LBS install waiting time. Last few wks. was gettin' scary just braking properly going downhill towards busy intersections..

Got a new "cheap" saddle at a discount to replace my damaged one with chunks that got knocked out when it fell from car rack onto a major highway. We know the LBS owner who was in same car when bike fell off rack...he's a business partner with my sweetie.

Doing errands bike is usually great especially when all interwoven with work commuting and fitness. In other years biking from work, I did do errands more often since total work commute distance, at that time were shorter distances.

But for all I need to do via bike plus cycling for fitness we're lucky to live in an area to do all this without much planning and stress with many choice bike routes.

[PscyclePath]

errant bike: Has driven off the straight & narrow path onto side roads. Probably the ones with gin mills, saloons and houses of ill repute.

That sounds exactly like my old Fisher MTB... It isn't silver & green, is it?

Hopefully the #$%@&*! who nicked it last year found a good and loving home for it.

Sadly the Caliber that replaced it and its new cousin the Cross-Check have developed the same bad habits of wandering off onto the long ways around and other paths less traveled...

[Blue_Wildflower]

Blue, I too look forward to your first farmer's market trip report. I know just how excited you are...I am going through the same thing now myself!

Well, I did not make it to the Farmer's Market. Had my first fall on Saturday. Twisted my left ankle, which is still a little sore. It rained heavy in Northern VA last Friday night and early Saturday morning. I put too much pressure on my front brake while going down a hill. My back wheel slipped out and I did a lovely fish tail down a paved trail. While sliding, trying to break my fall, screaming and praying, my ankle got twisted in my bike frame. I walked the bike down a hill, rode to a spot where I can sit and my boyfriend rode to get his car and pick up the bike and me.

I have to run some errands this weekend to get ready for my Turkey Day tour, so this weekend I should have a better update.