Cars

       Some people say that cars are great because of the speed the get you places or because it takes hardly any effort to power them. While I admit I am sometimes tempted to hop in the car, I don’t and I always try to remember how good it feels to be using alternate transportation like biking. It feels good to just be doing something different from other people’s daily lives. Besides making me feel good, riding a bike gives me freedom rather than living by my parents schedule I completely control when I go places and where I go. Just try it. Try only living on your schedule, and your bike for one day.

An Evening Ride

         Yesterday evening my family joined my grandfather and Grandmother for an early dinner. My way of transportation was naturally by bike. My father and I biked through Carpentaria along the service road though Summerland up Sheffield Road to his house. After dinner my dad and I raced my sister, my Mom, and my little brother home. Although they were in a car we thought it was likely we could beat them due to the large amount of traffic on the freeway. Sadly, when we raced a green mini van on the freeway, they quickly sped out of sight. Our hope diminished a bit, but we still had a fun ride. The downhill from my grandfathers house to the bottom of Sheffield was especially fun. When we arrived at home my sister told us she had hardly beaten us here.

An Inconvenience

       Today I rode my bike to my family's ranch to replace the break pads on my bike. When I got there I turned my bike upside down and went about fixing my bike with my dad. After a while of unsuccessfully  trying to replace the hydraulic disc break pads on my bike my dad and I realized some sort of unknown liquid was leaking out of the hydraulic brake cable on my bike. My dad and I learned that fixing hydraulic disc brakes was a bit beyond our skills at the moment so I rode my dad's bike and he rode my one-braked bike to a bike shop.

The First Day

      Today was my first day. I did not do much besides swimming and Baby sitting my Brother although I did not get in a car. I am sad that I did not ride my bike either. Today was not a win or loss. Tomorrow I plan on doing much more if I can. One thing that stands in my way if I want to bike into Santa Barbara I have to convince someone to accompany me and not many people like to bike 30 miles for the fun of it. I can always bike around Carp town maybe I with hang out at Rincon Beach.

A Summer to Remember

       This summer I am going to try to challenge myself and do something different so starting today I am going to try not to get in the car. Inspired by my school, Santa Barbara Middle School, the biking-est school in America. I am going to spend the summer on my bike, however I have two challenges heading my way. This summer I have to go to Menlo Collage to attend soccer camp and am committed to a road trip to La Jolla with a friend. Although I am going to try my best I realize I will be lucky to pull away from the summer and into the school year with out having hopped in the car once or twice.