I am very lucky to have a great and wonderful life. I get to bike all the time, I spoil myself with bike parts, some of which I need and some I don’t. I also get to enjoy getting people into biking. Watching them start out slow and then witness them build up their enthusiasm with momentum like a wave. When this happens to the ones I love it is even more wonderful.

In 1990 my sister came to live with my family. She isn’t my biological sister, in reality was my sister-in-law but despite no longer having legal ties to that family branch, I will always consider her to be my sister.

Tia, as we call her, had picked up a nasty smoking habit. She decided she needed to be proactive and slay the monster with a bicycle and so I gave her my old Beacon Voltare XII (i think that was the name of it), which had been the first twelve speed I had ever bought when I was seventeen, at Tyger’s Bicycle Shop in Dakota, Illonois.  Tia took the bike out everyday when she got the urge to smoke. She biked daily and started getting into “The Ride”. That fall she decided to ride from our house in northern Illinois to Tampa FL. to visit her folks. I think she has biked ever since.

I am happy knowing that she is on the third bike I have given her. I am the Pedal Pimp. She has yet to buy a car, something I am quite amazed, proud, and slightly envious of. I hope she goes her whole life and never buys a car but pedals her way to heaven.

Today Tia lives in LA and is the force behind the well known BikeX Database . Which is an online resource she created to identify, document, and prosecute drivers who harass, abuse, or endanger bicycle riders. Currently the database is for the Los Angeles area. Eventually we hope the database will be expanded to help cyclists throughout the nation. She also has a really cool blog so check it out, Sprocketvin.

So that’s what my sister does. Ain’t she cool?  As a kicker, she is an amazing cook. Sorry that you only get the database, I get the food.

My daughter, Inez, is a craft master. She loves to sew and create. Every day something new comes out of her little room. She effortlessly creates beautiful characters out of clay or textiles. I am so proud of her. She has just started her own on line store to sell her hand made items. She takes such care and much pride in creating each little creature. The clothes on all the little poppets are crafted by her. You have to check it out, and of course buy something.