I’m having so much fun keeping track of miles biked this month that I decided to sign up for next month’s Group Health Commute Challenge. Yeah, yeah, I don’t have a real job, but the FAQ says unemployed and work-from-home people are eligible. If I happen to take any non-kid-schlepping rides, I won’t count those as part of my commute. I’ve created a team called One Less Minivan (I can’t take credit for the name, it’s from Cafe Mama in Portland). I plan to order some bumper stickers from her for my team…but I have to decide where to stick mine. Probably on the back of my rear seat so I don’t mar my pretty celeste green paint. Lemme know down in the comments if you’d like to join the team.
We headed to the Cascade Bicycle Club office to pick up my team captain packet (long-sleeved green shirt for me, reflective leg bands for all), but first the boys did a bit of balance biking. The little one (21 months old) isn’t very speedy on his Kinderbike Mini yet, but assuming things warm up we’ll do more riding soon. I wish I’d gotten the show on the road sooner so we could have played at Magnuson Park while we were all the way over there, but as it was, we just picked up our stuff and headed back.
We stopped at the Sand Point Metropolitan Market for snacks and I was quite taken by the Madrax bike racks. Met Market just had the bollards variety, but wow, their website is fun. If I ever own a bike shop (which will be called B.I.L.F.: Bikes I’d like to fix), I’m ordering a custom Madrax bike rack of some sort.
Back to today’s ride: I made it home with no walking thanks to leaving the Burke-Gilman Trail a bit early and heading up Brooklyn. On this easterly trip, it only added half a mile to the trip, but coming from the west, like most my trips, Brooklyn would add a mile and a half so I probably won’t bother. It wasn’t the lovliest ride and I stuck to the sidewalks the whole time, but it was great to get a one-day reprieve from walking the bike.
Daily distance: 10.9 miles
Cumulative: 237.3 miles
Family Ride 
I would like to join the team! Met you on Wednesday in the coffee shop. Let me know what I should do. Sorry to miss the ride today I have an appointment I can’t miss. Thanks, Kathleen
Yay! It was so great meeting you. Kidical Mass was very fun today and will be even better as it warms up this summer. I can see your email address in WordPress so I’ve sent you an invitation to the team. (Kind of annoying that captains need to invite each member, but oh well). Hope to see you soon and have fun out there!
We’ve never met but I’m a bikey stay-home-dad and I’d like to join team One Less Minivan too. I found your blog via totcycle a couple months back and have enjoyed reading it. Cheers, Andy.
Hi! Your invite is on the way :) Wow, your tulip photos are amazing! I hope to bring a bike there next year.
Count me in! Not sure if my name will ring a bell — I’m Martin & James’s mom from the LLL toddler group. We’ve been biking to daycare and school, and Martin was inspired by your 30 days of biking to want to ride every day in May, so it looks like we’ll be spending a lot of time on our bikes. May as well get it recorded somewhere!
Of course, Julie!! Your invite is in the [e]mail :) Go Martin! We’re currently hiding inside frowning at the rain. I keep thinking I’m going to run into you around the neighborhood again–it’s been too long.
This was definitely not a fun biking day! It was the first time that we took the trail-a-bike out in the rain, and I told Martin he was officially a “real biker” after our morning commute. We keep trying to make it to kidical mass and it never seems to work out with our schedules, but hopefully sometime soon — it’s been way too long since we ran into you!