To E-Assist or Not to E-Assist

Geography is a funny thing.

My new job is closer to my house than my old one, but it takes me longer to get there in the morning because I have to drop off my preschooler "on the way," and he's now more out of the way than ever. Biking to work used to add 20 minutes of commute time to my day; now it adds an hour.

To boot, I have more hills on my route than before, plus the 6%-grade driveway that makes up the last quarter-mile of my ride — so I arrive huffing and puffing and (in this cool spring air) a bit sweaty. Veloroutes says it's a gain of 95 feet. Just wait till the weather changes!

Here's the hill I climb with 40 pounds of preschooler on board: distance 0.2 mi, gain 85 ft, grade 9%

This is a bummer, dude. My old commute was pretty much flat except for the above hill to preschool and the one up to my house. I used to feel like I never had to make a choice between biking and driving based on the time it would take to get me to a 9:30 meeting on time. Now, there's no way. If I bike, I get there at 10:00 and spend some time cooling down and gulping water before I can even speak to anyone.

Here's another hill on my route: distance 0.2 mi, gain 42 ft grade 4%

So I'm actually considering adding a Bionx electric assist to my Boda Boda.

To be totally honest with you, it makes me feel a little guilty to even admit that! A 90-minute ride first thing in the morning gets the heart pumping, makes me feel like Wonder Woman, and puts me in a fantastic mood—but I can really only manage that once or twice a week at the most. And I know among my readers there are more than a few e-assist people. I've read on Hum of the City that using bikes with motors has actually boosted her hill-climbing strength, helped her lose weight, and convinced her to sell her minivan. I've heard from others that having the electric assist helps them get going from a stop with a fully loaded bike, allows them to get to work dry and on time, and reduces the struggle to keep a steady speed through a headwind.

Another hill! distance 0.1 mi, gain 39 ft grade 11%

I'm still having this squishy feeling, guys...why?

Maybe it's the cost. Yuba sells an add-on Bionx kit for $1,798. Then I'd have to fork over probably 50 bucks to install it at my local shop. That's a lot of money. But if it got me to ride my bike more often, I'd pay for it just by not buying gas for my car for 30 workweeks. The Bionx is supposed to regenerate electricity as you pedal, and costs pennies to recharge.

Distance 0.1 mi, gain 16 ft, grade 4%

So what's holding me back?

Sometimes I think that if I just get on my bike more, I'll build the muscle power to get up these hills faster. Then I remind myself that my kids are not getting any smaller.

Homemade Bread: Is It Worth It?

Last week I went to the supermarket and bought a ten-pound bag of flour. The cashier scanned it with a sour frown on her mouth, looked up at the price and asked, "You like to bake, huh?"

"Yup," I said, "I love the smell of fresh bread in the house."

"How do you find the time?" she asked, shaking her head. "I can barely get a frozen dinner on the table."

"Yeah," I said, "but it doesn't take as much time as you'd think. And it's worth it."

"Really?" she asked. "Is it worth it?"

REALLY, IT IS WORTH IT.

Bread can be made with just four ingredients:
• flour
• water
• yeast
• salt

For a richer flavor and texture, you can add:
• honey or sugar
• oil
• eggs

That's it!

It's kind of amazing how many different types of bread you can make using the same exact ingredients. If you change up the type of flour you're using, you increase the number of choices exponentially.

As for the cost-benefit analysis...

With one ten-pound bag of flour, I made the following:


4 loaves sourdough
1 large challah plus 2 small challah rolls
1 large oatmeal/wheat boule
1 dozen sweet potato rolls
3 dozen chocolate chip cookies
2 dozen sugar cookies
1 dozen soft pretzels
2 batches pancakes

The flour cost $8.95. Additional ingredients included a sweet potato, whole wheat flour (a couple of pounds), malted milk powder (a few teaspoons), honey (a few tablespoons), semolina flour (a few tablespoons), oatmeal (about a cup), oil (a cup), eggs (a half dozen), and salt (several teaspoons). All those things combined couldn't have cost more than $15.00. So by baking at home, I've saved quite a bit of money. If I had bought all those loaves of bread, cookies, pretzels, pancakes, etc., at the supermarket, I'm guessing I would have spent about $60.00.

But is it worth the time?

The cashier had also asked me "When do you have time to bake?"

Well, first of all, I find the time because I love to bake. But the real answer is that homemade bread doesn't actually take that much time out of my day.

Here's an example of what many people would consider a ton of time spent making two sourdough loaves. (This can serve as a recipe, too, for those of you who'd like to try this at home.)

Saturday 12:00 PM (5 minutes) — Take 1 cup sourdough starter out of the fridge, mix in 1/2 cup water and 1 cup flour. In a few hours this will triple in size and be considered "fed starter."

Saturday 5:00 PM (5 minutes) — Remove 1 cup of fed starter, put it in a large bowl, mix in 1.5 cups water and 3 cups flour. Cover the bowl with a towel and let it rest at room temperature. (Put the rest of the fed starter back in the fridge.)

Saturday 10:00 PM (2 seconds)— Put the bowl in the fridge, covered with a towel.

Sunday 8:00 AM (15 minutes) — Take the bowl out of the fridge, add 1 tablespoon raw honey, 2 heaping teaspoon salt, and 1 to 2 cups more flour. Mix into a shaggy mess and let sit at room temp.

Sunday 9:00 AM (30 seconds) — Fold dough a few times, shaping into a ball. Cover dough ball with oil and put it back in the bowl. Cover with a towel.

Sunday 10:00 AM (30 seconds) — Fold dough a few more times, cover back up, and let rise in warm place for about 5 hours.

Sunday 3:00 PM (2 minutes) — Take dough out of bowl and divide into two portions, shape into loaves, place on parchment paper to proof for about 3 hours.

Sunday 6:00 PM (2 minutes) — Turn oven on, place pan of water in oven. Heat oven to 450 degrees, place loaves in oven. Bake for 30 minutes.

Sunday 6:30 PM (1 second) — Remove loaves from oven to cool on wire rack.

Sunday 7:00 PM (1 second) — Slice bread and eat!

Total time spent "doing" stuff = 30 minutes and 3 seconds.

Total time rising, proofing, and baking without your having to "do" anything = about 30 hours.

The hard part can be getting the timing right. What I've discovered is that at any point in the rising or proofing process, I can slow things down by putting the dough in the fridge (or in my supercold pantry that used to be an entryway). For example, three hours proofing can turn into eight hours overnight if that works better for our weekend schedule.

Let me know if you try this or want a piece of sourdough starter!