bike

Growing up as a kid, I rode my bicycle everywhere around town.  It was my primary means of transportation between the ages of 6-18.  Then I went off to university and a bike wasn’t needed to get around the 6 block campus.  I met Shae and we moved to our current city.  She grew up in the country and car culture so after our first 19 mile long bike ride she just about keeled over.  In hindsight, maybe that wasn’t the best way to entice her into the world of cycling.

About a month ago, I tossed my $10 garage sale bike on the curb for scrappers to pick up.  It was beyond saving and I hadn’t ridden it in over two years.  I setup a craigslist alert for ‘bicycle’ to see if I couldn’t get a ‘new’ bike for cheap.  The only listings that were getting posted were for $100+ bikes.  I just wanted something cheap that I could zip around on.

Shae had better luck than me.  She found and bought a used $170 bike child seat for just $20 off the classifieds.  I eventually gave up and bought a new $80 Wally World special to get me back on the road.

Frugal Boy was beyond excited when he saw the child seat.  He clearly remembered grandma taking him for rides last year at her house.  He eagerly helped me install ‘his’ seat on my bike.

The neighbors had gifted us with a hand-me-down helmet from their youngest son.

Then we were all ready to go for a ride.

Once we were out in the country there were plenty of mulberry trees with ripe fruit.  We made a short stop to pick some for a little afternoon snack.

Now that we’ve made that initial $100 investment, we can go to a lot more places that we used to have to drive to.

For instance, the library:

The pool:

The Children’s Museum:

and starting this Fall, the school!

I hope that starting Frugal Boy early will help foster a healthy lifestyle for years to come!