Tess's New Bike
Purchased on 1/5/2014 / Photo Set from 1/6/2014

Tess had outgrown her 20 inch bike and most of her friends had gotten "Beach Cruisers", which are inexpensive simple bikes with no gears, an old fashion coaster brake, and swept back handle bars for upright riding.  Tess pretty much went everywhere in high gear on her 20 inch anyway, even uphill, so the lack of gears was no big deal.  I inquired at the bike shop about aluminum frames, but my bike mechanic said an aluminum frame would only save a couple of pounds and cost significantly more, so we opted to keep it simple and go with a something more disposable (steel frame).  80 to 90% of the "Beach Cruiser" have a steel frame.  It would be difficult to actually ride on the beach.  I think "Beach" refers to "beach town" with a simple laid back demeanor rather than the actual beach.

Most of her friends got small frame 26 inch cruisers, but we tried both at the bike shop and the 24 inch seemed to be a better fit.  There is the logic that if you get the bigger size, they can grow into it, but I'm more of the logic to get what fits so she will use it.  Since she rides her bike every day, to and from school plus after school activities.  If you amortize the cost, a $200 bike is only pennies per trip.  We will get her a 26 inch in a few years (high school?) when she is taller.  For the past year she had been taking her scooter because she no longer liked riding her 20 inch.

Tess loves  her new bike, so now rather than complaining about having to "take the bikes" for local transportation, she wants to ride rather than "taking the car".  It's mostly flat in Carpinteria with some minor grades (gradual uphill away from or downhill toward the ocean and the creeks) and a couple of bridges over the freeway, so we don't have a lot of hills like the Seattle Clan.

She was trying no hands on the way home from the bike store, then got up the next morning and went out to practice her tricks in our cul-de-sac, which has a little downhill drop off coming in.  She had me come out and watch her go the length of the street no hands so I took a few photos and a short video.  By the afternoon, she was making the same run no hands standing up, so I'll have to add some more photos when I get them.  I'll try to post the video some day, but I don't have video editing bandwidth and I need to de-shake it.

2/19/2014 Update

Tess crashed today (her Grandmother's birthday) while on her way to basketball practice (her 2nd crash in the past week).  She T-boned a concrete retaining wall that was guarding a street drain.  The bike flipped and she ended with her foot caught in the bike, head down in the drain, with half her body upside down in the bushes.  Unfortunately, the head-on impact with the concrete wall bent the front forks back.  The local bike shop wants about $118 to replace the front fork with the same model, but the part is not available in Tess's color.  The shop thinks a new fork will fix the issue, but there may be additional damage within the head tube.  Since Tess was excited about the color, and we aren't certain a new part would completely fix the steering issue, we opted to order another bike (same model and color).  We will keep the damaged one for spare parts.

Tess was wearing a helmet, but was riding in shorts.  She now has another skinned knee to match the one she got from her crash a week earlier.  Her shoulder is a little sore, but we cleaned her wounds in the bath tub and dropped her at basketball practice to work out the stiffness.

1/23/2014 Update

You might notice Tess's January attire in the photos.  Her parents have tried various methods to get her to wear sneakers when she rides, but we only win that battle occasionally.  She hasn't crashed yet, but I suppose we should stock up on band-aids

We've been having a warm dry winter with a lot of days in the mid 70s to lower 80s.  The warm weather is a result of high pressure Santa Anna conditions, which bring offshore winds through the drain paths (rivers), but Carpinteria isn't near a river, so it is calm along our south coast while Ventura and LA are racked by wind.  Unfortunately, our pleasant weather is a double edge sword.  The lack of rain is problematic.  California is normally brown in the summer and green in the winter, but so far this year, this is one of the driest winter rain season since they started keeping records about a hundred and fifty years ago, so the meadows that normally have green grass in January are all bare and brown.

Below is what we've been typically getting for temperatures this past month, with some weeks running a bit warmer or cooler.
If you need a break from Chicago or New York, we have a guest room.

TABULAR STATE FORECAST FOR SOUTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOS ANGELES/OXNARD CA
300 AM PST THU JAN 23 2014

   FCST     FCST     FCST     FCST     FCST     FCST     FCST
   TODAY    FRI      SAT      SUN      MON      TUE      WED
   JAN 23   JAN 24   JAN 25   JAN 26   JAN 27   JAN 28   JAN 29

...COASTAL AREAS...

   DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES
   PTCLDY   PTCLDY   PTCLDY   SUNNY    SUNNY    SUNNY    SUNNY
     /71    49/75    51/81    49/76    49/76    49/82    49/82

   LONG BEACH
   PTCLDY   PTCLDY   PTCLDY   SUNNY    SUNNY    SUNNY    SUNNY
     /68    48/75    48/80    47/75    48/75    47/81    47/81

   SANTA BARBARA CITY
   PTCLDY   PTCLDY   PTCLDY   SUNNY    SUNNY    SUNNY    SUNNY
     /68    48/74    48/75    49/72    48/72    48/77    49/77

...VALLEY AREAS...

   PASADENA
   PTCLDY   PTCLDY   PTCLDY   SUNNY    SUNNY    SUNNY    SUNNY
     /72    51/76    52/80    52/78    52/78    52/83    53/83

   THOUSAND OAKS
   SUNNY    PTCLDY   PTCLDY   SUNNY    SUNNY    SUNNY    SUNNY
     /73    53/76    58/80    52/77    52/77    57/80    56/80

   OJAI
   SUNNY    PTCLDY   PTCLDY   SUNNY    SUNNY    SUNNY    SUNNY
     /73    36/76    37/80    36/78    36/78    37/82    37/82