Bike vs Car

Oct 4 was Bike to Work/School day. Dan would love to be able to bike to work but since we choose to live in a town 20-30 minutes away (by car) from his work with a trek up and over a mountain his car will do just fine.
Kaitlin & Breana with no question wanted to bike to school with Dan in tow - could it be the free breakfast at school for the cyclist? It certainly wasn't their 7:15am departure time! (Might I mention that's the time Breana drags herself out of bed some mornings!)
They did mention it was fun, cold but fun.
Their regular means of transportation to and from school is by car.
Why not ride bikes to school everyday?
If the bike trail along the levy led them to school without involving traffic and crossing 2-3 major intersections then I would happily make that a daily occurence (with their Father). However it doesn't, to get to the levy we have to cross a major intersection and the levy leads to the ocean {i.e beach...while that's not bad, it's not school.} (reason #1).

Since I lose I.Q points on a bike (reason #2), I'm not the best to bike with. I am without a doubt dumbified (poet license) on a bike. I don't know what it is.

Despite the heftyness of their backpacks (reason #3), the girls insisted on carrying them. I don't know how they handled that weight when they biked up the hill, but they did.

Santa Cruz, for the most part, is bike friendly. There are a few spots from our house to school that require experience, eyes on the back of your head and a prayer (Mother talking here.) It's mostly the drivers that have a lack of consideration for bikers and drivers who drive while talking on their phones that concern me. Without factoring drivers in the equation, biking to school would be our choice of transportation.

The girls got to school unscathed and happy, Dan was able to continue on to a friends' house for a longer ride and I stayed home in my pjs but, most importantly, we took one car off the rode that morning.