We had amazing weather and an amazing turnout for Kidical Mass today. I wish I’d counted participants–I think there were at least 20 families in attendence. Very impressive given the three day lead time.

There was a great variety of family bikes: two Madsen bucket bikes, two bakfietsen, at least three Big Dummies, two Xtracycles, front seats, rear seats, trailers, Weehoo iGo bicycle trailer, but my favorite was this Bilenky Viewpoint semi-recumbent tandem modified to carry an infant seat in the stoker position.

This was also my first time seeing the sidecar-style Chariot SideCarrier.

And several solo-riding kids…something our last Kidical Mass ride didn’t have (it also didn’t have as many riders in general given the less awesome weather that day).

We rode 2.7 miles, mostly along the Burke-Gilman Trail to the Pedaler’s Fair in Ballard. There were tons of people there and so much awesome stuff inside…but unfortunately the kids weren’t in a mood to explore the fair so we primarily hung out on the sunny sidewalk, eating snacks and watching the dogs (and vice versa).

Fortunately, photographer Russ Roca of The Path Less Pedaled was set up outside, taking bicycle portraits so I was able to do that, even if I couldn’t enjoy the rest of the fair. The little kid thought it was funny to look away from the camera (toddlers!!!), but the big kid and I had discussed the photo last night so he was on board with a rare smile for the camera. Usually he just barks.

Nine of us (three moms, six kids: Big Dummy + two balance bikes, Madsen bucket bike + big kid bike, bike + double trailer + iBert baby seat) continued along to Golden Gardens beach to keep the party going. I made the obligatory, “Wow, there’s no parking!” statement as we rode by the crowded parking lots. The bike racks were fairly open when we arrived, but they filled up over the course of the day. The nice weather brought a ton of bikes out. We even saw the Velomobile banana bike zoom by down on the street while we were on the final stretch of the Burke-Gilman.

A pack of very nice hipsters were leaving the beach at the same time as us. One of them said “Yay bike!” about my rig and I overhead another one call my bike the sickest thing he’d seen all day on account of it being a bike carrying other bikes. They passed us on the way out and we watched curiously as they performed hipster bike aerobics. It would have been even more impressive if they were fixed.

A bit farther down the trail, this shiny guy passed us. I saw him earlier in the day entering Pedaler’s Fair and had already decided he was the most interestingly clad character of the day (though the “Yay bike!” guy had very short and tight cut-off jean shorts on).

I made the mistake of cutting through Gas Works Park on the way home. It’s a lovely scenic detour from the trail, but today it meant stopping to do a bit of hill balance biking. The kids suddenly weren’t tired anymore and pushed their bikes all the way to the top of the hill…though the first trip down didn’t end too well when the two-year old happened upon the sole dip in the hillside.

But he brushed himself off and they were soon up at the top again, this time sticking to one of the paths down around the south face of the hill. We started discussing staying for a picnic dinner, but then the kids fell out of agreement on which path we should take. I went back to fetch the mamabike while they sped off in different directions. I feel lucky that I’ve never had to deal with varying kid trajectories before this. I was able to keep them both in sight for most of the trek up the hill, but of course the one minute I rushed up the south side was the scary north side minute for the little guy (naturally, he was the one who decided to go rogue). So the kids proved too tired and grumpy to stay for a picnic after all, but it was cool to be at the top of the hill with my bike. I didn’t ride it the whole way, but I think I could…so I’ll have to try again. Maybe tomorrow.

Today’s miles: 15.1 miles
April cumulative: 218.2 miles