The internet has connected me with another new Xtracycle friend, Biking with Brad. I belatedly realized that I had already read about his Xtracycle back in April when Eric Shalit pointed me to a picture he took and posted on Tubulocity. Don’t let this coincidence give you the wrong impression that there are only a handful of Xtracycles in Seattle. There are tons of ’em. In fact, everyone has one but me.

Today we met Brad along the Burke Gilman Trail and followed him to the Arboretum. I’ve never biked there before, assuming it’s hilly, but it’s nice and flat. There might be a little bit of hill I’m forgetting, because I tend to go a bit faster and pay less attention when following another bike. I’m not sure this is the exact route we took, but it’s pretty close:

After tagging along to Nature School, my little guy rode on the back of the X while my big guy borrowed his new two-year-old friend’s balance bike. For the record, Brad had offered to carry our two balance bikes, since his Xtracycle can easily hold four kid bikes. Both kids sat on the parked Xtracycle together, but it was too big for me to take for a spin to really try it out. I’m not sure things will stay as easy as they are now if the kids were suddenly within touching distance of one another. It’s nice to have them so close to me yet still far from each other in my current setup. Of course I could put a front seat on my pretend Xtracycle, but that would negate my ability to stand in the pedals up steep hills.

After a little playground romp, I loaded my littles back onto my dainty (compared to the X) bike and the six of us rode to U-Village for birthday cupcakes. Happy birthday to me! I didn’t arrive home to an Xtracycle with a big bow on it, but maybe next year…