Woo Hoo!  30 Days of Biking is done!  And now, the National Bike Challenge: A free program from May 1 to August 31 with the goal of uniting 50,000 people to bike 10 million miles.  You sign up with Endomondo, download GPS tracking software to your smartphone (or just enter your rides on the website), and start riding. (BTW, please sign up for Team Worcester Earn-a-Bike).
The 30 Days of Biking is a great idea, because once you start thinking about how you'll use your bike every day it becomes a normal part of the daily routine.  Now that April is over, I see no need to give up biking everyday, and yeah, I signed up for the National Bike Challenge so if I ever am tempted not to bike I'll remember that I've got to add more miles.  I'm a very lazy person at heart and if there isn't some kind of goal in sight I'm likely to sleep late and skip the biking.

Here's a picture of the Cycle Analyst readout from my 18.4 mile trip to work.

The 30 Days of Biking Challenge is almost up - only 1 more day and I will have done it! Luckily it's going to be a beautiful day here in New England, and I'm planning to commute by bike tomorrow. My total mileage this month (about 400 so far) is probably the most I've ever done this early in the season. Feels great.
Today, a lazy Sunday after a very busy Saturday collecting bikes for Earn-a-Bike, the only ride we did was down to the local coffee shop. Paula rode the Mundo today, and she is "charged up" about electric biking.

Paula on the Mundo at the Pleasant Street coffee/bbq/mini-mart outdoor fiesta.

Just finished out the week with 4 out of 5 days of riding to work and back.  Couldn't (wouldn't) do it on Monday because of pouring rain.  Nonetheless, that's like 160 miles just for commuting this week.  Nice!  Next week, if the weather cooperates, all 5 days!
Long distance commuting on car-centric roads is interesting, definitely want to talk about that some more. Suffice to say that there are some car drivers out there that need some bike-awareness education.  Had a guy today tell me to ride on the sidewalk on a stretch of road through Northborough that doesn't even have a sidewalk.  Brilliant!

What can an (electric) bike do?  How about commute back and forth to work (18.4 miles each way) rather painlessly.  And zip around the city doing errands in the April showers but not worrying about getting a little wet?
Things I love about the Mundo so far:
- seems to be built very well, I see myself having this bike for at least as long as I've had my 1967 Raleigh.
- The stock saddle is surprisingly comfortable - I ride more than 40 miles a day in my work clothes.
- The stock fenders really do a good job of keeping the wet road off of me and the rest of the bike.
- The ability to load up a lot of stuff: computer, lunch, snacks, drinks, classroom materials, and still have room to pickup groceries on the way home.
- The disc brakes (avid bb7) which work flawlessly in the wet weather.
- The handling of the bike: this is a _fun_ bike to ride!

Haven't had a chance to post for a few days, last week was very busy getting ready for the big Worcester Earn-a-Bike fundraiser party.  The party was a great success, but I must admit that the only bike ride I took on Saturday was on the stationary bikes attached to the roller racing setup.  But hey, I did three 500 meter sprints, so I think that still counts for the 30 days of biking.

Sunday was the Earth Day Critical Mass in Worcester, but my tired feeling from the night before {The wages of sin are death, but after they take out for taxes it's just sort of a tired feeling :-) (Paula Poundstone)} combined with some wet weather prevented me from participating.  I was on my way to the critical mass meeting place at the Turtle Boy statue, but I was wet and cold and I decided to go back home instead.  Weak.

Today, however, I did go out in the rain and do my afternoon errands on the Mundo, and I must say the fenders that come on the bike work very well.

And finally, I'm including a picture of one of the patches that we had as prizes at the Earn-a-Bike party.  Stephanie grabbed a picture from a facebook album of me racing at the George Street Challenge for Major Taylor, photoshopped it up and made a silkscreen and printed a whole lot of patches.  I am truly honored!

A pic of me riding up George St. in Worcester printed on some awesome patches.

Mundo inspiration: In February Paula and I visited our son Lowell in Berkeley, CA, and one day we rented bikes on the Embarcadero in S.F. and rode across the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausilito, where we were lucky enough to visit the Yuba Bicycle Headquarters.  Tried out the bikes, fell in love with the ride, and the rest is history.

Gray at Yuba HQ in Sausilito

Just a quick update: The savings are starting to add up, only 26 days into the project and have saved over 10% of the cost of the bike (not counting the electric kit, need to update that).  Also, very impressed with the bike, the electric assist, and myself for riding about 125 miles in the last 3 days.  It's 38 miles a day round trip to work plus all the regular errands, and the system is working flawlessly!