spring biking (#errandonnee challenge)

For the last two years I've participated in the National Bike Challenge but it's been a mostly internal/lonely endeavor. I ride my bike, I log my miles, that's it. This spring I got caught up in the idea of joining one of Chasing Mailboxes' bike challenges which have actual rules, and accountability, and a #social component. I considered the 2014 #coffeeneuring challenge but I realized I don't go to coffee shops that often and it could be rather expensive to ride to a shop and buy coffee just to tick the boxes. The newly coined #errandonnee challenge though, that's just going places I was already going to, and to perhaps purchase what I was already going to buy. This one I could do.

spoiler: I didn't quite complete the challenge with only 11 errands in 12 days. I don't normally have that many places to go but I made a valiant effort and had a very busy weekend!

#errandonnee 2015

3/7/15

#1: We're in Seattle for the weekend and I had to try the bike share. Also, I'm tired and don't want to walk back to the hotel if I can bike instead.
Type: Personal Care
Mileage: 1.6

3/10/2015
#2: I'm late for the neighborhood meeting so I bike instead of walking to shave a few minutes off.
Type: Personal Business
Mileage: 0.8

3/12/2015

#3: I'm riding my bike to work for the first time this year and the first time to a new job. I haven't ridden this exact route before but I've mapped it out. Saw 10 turkeys in someones yard on the way there.
Type: Work or Volunteering
Mileage: 11.4

3/13/2015

#4: I have a meeting before work and I don't want to be late so I give myself 15 minutes to get there. It only takes 7 and everyone else was late.
Type: Non-store errand
Mileage: 1.6

#5: I ride to work after my meeting, then home in the afternoon. There are a lot more people on bikes than I usually see and the same rider passes me three times (or it's three different men on red road bikes wearing a high vis jacket and a black backpack - both scenarios are believable). Also, deer!
Type: Work or Volunteering
Mileage: 12

#6: My sister an I ride downtown to the Uncharted Territory collaboration concert and lock our bikes to the power pole support wire. The other three people who ride bikes to the event lock up to the chain link fence poles. We're all near the event security guards. Hipster events should have hipster bike parking, no?
Type: Arts and Entertainment
Mileage: 3.95

3/14/2015

#7: Morning ride to a neighborhood gym for a Yelp Fit event. The gym doesn't have any bike racks so I lock up to one of the railings.
Type: Personal Care
Mileage: 1.09

#8: I may have been the last person to finish the workout, but I'm going to treat myself to a coffee downtown and stop in for a quick visit.
Type: Social Call
Mileage: 0.75

#9: Despite the rain, the annual St. Patrick's Day parade winds through down town. I watch for a bit and then wind my way along the route to my next stop.
Type: Arts and Entertainment
Mileage: 0.75

#10: I check one of my social media apps to see if anyone I know is downtown for the parade and stop in for a beer with some guys from work.
Type: Social Call
Mileage: 1.09

#11: Stopped by the market to pick up beets, salmon and cabbage and then headed home.
Type: Store
Mileage: 1.635

Total Mileage: 35.575