Le Tour de Frenchie…

Get the yellow jerseys ready—little Olive Juice had her debut bicycling trip! I have wanted a doggie bike basket since before I even had a cycle, let alone Olive, but the cost vs risk put it on the backburner. On friday, I spotted the spotty bike complete with adorable jimmy on black eiffel and the wheels started to turn in my head. The ‘screw it, never know unless you try it’ moment finally occurred on Saturday night when David and I went out for an absolutely glorious twilight bike ride. We popped into Kensington Gardens as the night had some light left, and rolled down to the Serpentine in Hyde Park and back around. It was so nice to get out and one of those times that I truly feel like we’re making the most of where we are…we chatted about how we should do it more often, but felt guilty about leaving Olive at home on her own when she could be with us…

So yesterday I entered a mission to find a basket and if it didn’t work, well then at least we would know. I had long ago settled on a Basil rear dog basket as it seemed to be the only one suitable for a fattie frenchie like Olive. I wasn’t able to track down the optional frame top (will have to order online if we want it) but found the basket and saved 20 pounds since no one had bothered to update the price since 2006. Victory! We pranced home (okay, I did, David was probably rolling his eyes the entire way home. I couldn’t see past my excitement). We put a harness on Olive, threw a towel in the bottom and fastened her as tight as we could to make exiting the basket near impossible. And off we were! I rode next to Olive, giving moral support as David got used to the weight change. We swapped over halfway through and I”m very happy to say it was a success. She spent the entire time putting her head on the drivers hip and craning her neck to see around us, but didnt’ seem the least anxious about the journey, just seemed to be looking at everything fly by (just like her beloved bus journeys). Yay, tour de frenchie has begun!

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Thanks to the Mister for giving into my sales pitch, as well as Gorman for the spotty bike inspiration, Library of Congress for the B&W Audrey shot by Sid Avery and to cycle chic for the ‘scarved’ Audrey shot

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It was the weekend of the bicycle for us. We got really excited about the newly launched London bicycle hire scheme, that finally puts London on par with the continental vibe of two wheeled transport. It seems kind of silly for us to be so keen on a public bike hiring scheme when we have two (well one) perfectly good bikes, but I think the combination of ease of doing one way trips as well as getting more people out and noticed is helpful. Register here!