A jogger asked me if my bike was motorized today. When I said no, she moved on to, “Well is it electric?” I felt bad bursting her bubble so I admitted I had to walk two blocks uphill on account of the trailer of balance bikes I’d hauled to the lake.

Last week I scored a couple 99-cent baskets at the thrift store (as well as a big yellow toy truck). I also bought a pack of full-price zip ties to attach them in style and six new bungee cords of various lengths. I haven’t gone overboard with the bungeeing yet, but I have grand plans to strap in some bulky stuff.

We don’t make it to Green Lake with the balance bikes often. I prefer our new neighborhood of Wallingford, but it certainly was nice being a block away from the lake with its walking and biking path. We played on the south end near some exciting dirt trails with lots of tree roots to bump over. This was the little guy’s first time with his balance bike at the lake and of course they both insisted on riding on the little pier. Fortunately only rocks and pinecones took dips in the lake. A friend who is in the process of becoming a professional photographer took some pictures of the boys which will undoubtedly come out much better than mine. Can’t wait to see them!

But the most exciting part of today was being reunited with my beach cruiser when I rode to Ballard for a haircut. This isn’t just any beach cruiser, it’s the Cutest Bike in the World–the GT Dyno Bikes Kustom Kruiser Kozmopolitan. I’ll have to clean it up and take some close ups, but in the meantime this photobucket has some good shots of one, though she swapped out the stock bowling pin valve caps for little dice. Dyno Bikes/GT doesn’t make them anymore, but here’s what the catalog looked like. Yeah, it came in calendar form. My cruiser feels a little stripped down. Last time I rode it regularly (five years ago), it had a beer holder and six-pack holder–a.k.a. cup holder and basket. Not sure what happened to them, but they’re probably floating around in the garage somewhere. I ran into Totcycle on the ride home and asked him to take a picture of this momentous event. I think he wouldn’t have recognized me sans mamafiets and helmet had I not shouted his name.

I made one startling discovery: I was able to ride home just fine on my single-speed cruiser. I took the short and steep route and while it wasn’t a breeze, it was totally doable. So now I’m confused. Is Seattle not as hilly as I’d thought? Or am I just super strong from lugging sixty pounds of children and additional junk around on my non-motorized bike.