Elsa (recently turned three) learned to pedal a little bike like this about 10 days ago.   It has an 8 inch wheel and the crank is connected directly to it.  You could call it a fixed gear, but it doesn’t have any gears.  It’s just fixed.

We most often bike to church and when we do my eldest rides her bike and Elsa rides in the trailer.  Elsa’s recent ability to pedal her own bike coupled with her recent coming of 3 years of age has given her a new found sense of power and determination.  So yesterday she told me she wanted to ride her bike to church too.  Why not?  Worse case scenario she hops in the trailer.  So Lydia rode her scooter, Elsa rode her fixie, and I walked behind with my bike and trailer.

Turns out I didn’t need the trailer.

Elsa biked the entire way to and from church, for a grand total of one mile on her wee little bike powered by wee little legs and a great big determination.

I know it was mother’s day, but still I couldn’t be more proud as a father.

Check out my thurible I’m proud of my thurible.
Jodi will probably blog about the blessing in the next few days at humblewalkchurch.org.
Micah Taylor takes nice photos, eh?
Thanks to Joe Autumn and Scott for all the mechanic skills.
And thanks to Express Bike Shop for the old freewheels.

But no trinity jokes?  Or references?  All the same, best of luck guys!

On Sunday afternoons our family heads off to Humble Walk Lutheran Church.  HWLC meets in a vacant spot on the corner of W. 7th and Randolph.  By and large everything used for worship goes back and forth between the building and our spacious 2 bedroom bungalow, which also hosts the church office and a utility room that I now refer to as the Janitor’s Closet.  Part of the glory of being married to the pastor is that I get to help schlep all the gear.  Thankfully, considering most churches’ set ups it’s not much.  Oddly enough though we can’t fit two kids, two parents, two rubbermaids, two djembe’s (lately there’s been a pre-service drum circle) and a guitar in one Honda Civic.  So we have to use the mini-van.  But I want to sell the mini-van.  So with the help of http://bikecart.pedalpeople.com/ I built this bike trailer:

It can also pull four kids up and down the alley.  And the kids like it.  I once jokingly said it was a quarter for a ride.  I made 5 bucks in about 12 minutes.  Suckers!  Their parents made me give it back.

The Reverend thinks it makes me look homeless.  I think she knew I’d take it as a compliment.  (Funny thing is I’ve had preschoolers ask me if I was homeless before.  Apparently the homeless population in St. Paul is handsome, smart, creative, funny, and an all together likeable group.)

So please, buy the mini-van already.

Or hire me to build you a trailer.  Better gas mileage and more trunk space than a Honda Civic.

My latest tall bike – two old Schwinn Varsity frames – one from Joe who used to live in the yellow house behind me, and one from Donald, my neighbor across the street.  Thanks neighbors!

Friday morning I woke up at 5:30 am.  I put on my jeans, pearl snaps, and boots and drove to WI.  The first song to come on the radio was Lucinda Williams Car Wheels on a Gravel Road featuring Buddy Miller.  I pulled into Super America to get some cash.  They were out of cash, but I got free coffee because I brought my mug from home.  Note to travelers:  Always travel with a ceramic mug.  You may get stopped by airport security, but that’s a small price to pay when everybody starts giving you free coffee.

I made it to a gas station off of 23 in WI where I met up with a guy from the Chippewa Falls area.  I bought a pedal steel from him.  And I got a freakin’ great deal on it!  Then I drove back to St. Paul and got home around the time Lydia got on the bus for school.

Mid morning I took off to finish a writing project that I had started back in… October?  It was a large project that I had admittedly grown a bit weary of, though I will say I was happy with the work I was turning in all along the way.  Well at about 2pm I came home and sent in the final manuscript.  It felt great.

Then I checked the mail and I had recieved comp copies of an earlier project I had been a part of.  The Bible.  That’s right kids, I wrote the Bible.  (Are you starting to see why this was such a good day?)  Actually the Bible that I had been a small part of was the new Spark Bible from Augsburg Fortress.  I’ve done a lot of writing for Augsburg Fortress and I must say that this is the thing project I am most proud to be a part of so far.  It’s an aesthetically pleasing, reader engaging format that every third – sixth grader should have. 

For supper I made pizza.  I love pizza. 

After supper I put my guitar in the bike trailer and headed up the road to play at the Bean Factory with Jason, his djembe and his smile.  It’s not everyday you get to play a gig with the president of Drummers for a Brighter America.  We played songs we haven’t played in 7+ years!  Including hits like ‘Our Better Days’ and TV’s and SUV’s (a song written before we owned a mini-van and I got hooked on LOST). 

After the show Jason and Erin took my guitar and I raced them home.  I love riding my bike and one of the best riding scenarios is a warm summer night and Friday’s unseasonable warmth hit the spot.  Back at home Jodi had put the girls to bed and the four of us stayed up late with the finest Milwaukee, Chippewa Falls, and Ft. Collins has to offer.

Yep.  It was a good day.

Today Lydia and I bought a pink Schwinn Pixie.  Pretty much identical to this photo I found online, except Lydia’s has the front fender also.  An early 80’s model.  Lydia is crazy excited to have an ‘old school’ bike like Mom and Dad (a lot of our neighborhood jaunts are on our Schwinn Suburbans).  We got home and started cleaning it up.  I’m going to try and get the internal stuff up to par tonight and tomorrow we should be ready to start working on training wheel free living.  It’s going to be a good summer.

I always ride my bike to the music class I teach on tuesday mornings.  Usually I have a trailer with kids and/or instruments.  It’s less than half a mile away so it’s really no big deal – in fact I think it’s easier than driving.

Last week was a little dicie.  We had a ton of snow and to the best of our knowledge the city of St. Paul had hired one guy with a four wheeler and a plow attachment to take care of the entire city.  At least that was Jodi’s take on things.  She’s usually right so I believe her.  Anyways, it was nuts riding a bike let alone pulling a trailer through the sludge.  Lot’s of spinning out and fishtailing and precarious starts.  But I made it.

So this morning even though it was 8 below before the windchill I thought I’d bike again.  Good news – clear streets.  Bad news – freaking cold.  Once back when I was single and didn’t own a car and bike everywhere I actually had the condensation from my exhalation freeze one of my eyelids shut.  That was wierd.  But today I had a first.  The condensation from my exhalation (I just like typing that phrase) actually froze my goatee to my scarf.  Then everytime I moved my head it was like having someone yank hairs off my chin.  Kind of like when facial hair gets stuck in a harmonica holder.  Totally bizarre.  Totally painful.

And I’m totally driving to the 400 bar tonight.  Hope you are too!

Nate.

Please don’t read too much into my crappy parenting, that’s not what this blog is about.

Last night I had a chance to hang out with my buddies Justin and Jonathan to get a little music business done.  Justin has been exercising.  I’m proud of Justin.  Jodi has known this for days because she gets up to the second updates on all sorts of ephemera via spacebook, the chain letter of the future.  Super valuable.  Hearing that Justin is exercising is wonderful, not because I was in the least bit worried about his not exercising, but because it benefits me, and I look for that in all things.  How does it benefit me?  Inspiration, my friend, inspiration. 

So I went running today.  With new silver running shoes.  A blog unto itself. 

Then I rode my bike to get stamps and coffee.  I ride my bike just about every day, but usually on short rides so I take out my Schwinn Suburban that my friend Deanna gave me.  It’s an old beautiful bike, not really made for speed, though it has 5 of them.  Jodi has a matching one with a basket.  I really love these bikes and they’re great for going to music classes and church and the post office.  Fun old bikes.  But today I thought I’d take my road bike out.  It’s nothing fancy, but it’s nice and I love it and I usually only take it out if I’m going more than 5 miles or up hills.  Or both. 

So I put on my pro riding gear (good will pants, socks that don’t stay up, flannel shirt, yellow jacket of inspiration, stocking cap that’s all stretched out, and 4 dollar safety goggles from Menards) and took off looking every bit the part of tour de zaster.  I haven’t had time to go for a real ride in about a month or so and holy cow, I forgot how much I love this bike!  And how fast and smooth it is.  Someday I’ll live up to this bike’s potential.

I also forgot how freakin’ cold it was outside.  By the time I got to the Post Office I was starting to wonder about the next leg of the journey, but as I pulled up to the bike rack I noticed a bit of graffiti on the side of the post office wall that read, “It’s worth it.”

Sentimental ending:  Maybe this time I was the one that had gotten worthless and worth it confused.

Actual ending: Heck yeah!