Today was a beautiful day–so warm that I wore flip flops and removed my sweater while riding on flat ground–much different than taking layers off on an incline. I can ride in light snow in short sleeves thanks to my heavy setup. We spent the day at the Seattle Center–a wonderful destination rain or shine.

The original plan was to go to free day at Pacific Science Center, but we didn’t arrive early enough. Fortunately, the kids didn’t mind a last minute change of plans to the Children’s Museum (we’ve got a membership) and we had a chance to see a motorcycle parked at the PSC bike rack. I thought motorcycles got to park free so I was a little peeved about it. Even if they don’t get to park free, I’m peeved. This isn’t the same as when I can’t find a bike rack and lock up to a trash can, right?

We didn’t stay in the Children’s Museum for long, but it was very convenient to have checked in and gotten hand stamps so we could rush back over for a few bathroom breaks over the course of the day. Biking with Brad and kids (and their balance bikes since he always seems to show up with more impressive loads than I!) met us at the International Fountain where the kids could run around on the grass and in the fountain. Brad played cargo bike ambassador and assisted a mom of two in a test ride of my bike. He doesn’t realize last month’s visit from Hum of the City was the first time I’ve shared a bikey toy. But I’m learning to be better about that.

This picture of the fountain is misleading–there were tons of kids there. I didn’t think the day was quite warm enough for getting doused by the musical fountain, but soon we’ll have to travel everywhere with swim suits and towels.

Based on events yesterday morning and this evening I’ve learned a lesson: when in doubt, take a bike; when in doubt which bike, take the awesomer bike.

Yesterday morning I went solo to the University District and couldn’t decide which bike to bring. I ended up bringing the Big Dummy because I didn’t want to deal with special shoes for the road bike and didn’t want to deal with the little hill on the beach cruiser. I ended up talking Big Dummies with a guy who’s only seen them locked up before, never having encountered an owner. Shame he didn’t find a more knowledgeable owner, but I’m better than nothing. He asked how many gears I have so I had him crouch down and count and report back: 27! I thought I only had 21. Then an Xtracycle-riding mom of two girls walked by and said hi.

This evening I offered to send a fax for Mr. Family Ride and was initially going to walk with both kids…then just one kid…then no one wanted to accompany me. I ended up taking the old mamabike to make it quick and be prepared in case one or both kids changed their mind about coming while I was headed out the garage. Not a block from the house, I saw Victor from the cargo bike rides on his new bike. Yesterday I joked that I probably wouldn’t recognize him if he wasn’t on his familiar Xtracycle since no one recognizes me off a mamabike. We were a block south of our official Neighborhood Greenway, but otherwise it felt like a greenway type of encounter. Post-fax the bike made it easy to swing by the new neighborhood food truck, Scratch Deli. It’s actually more of a food trailer than a food truck. If we were in Portland, a fleet of cargo bikes would probably haul it around town, but here in Seattle it remains tucked behind Wine World. By the way, it’s great!

Today’s miles: 11.4 miles
April cumulative: 123.3 miles

The weather was great for today’s Easter Cargo Bike Ride! A far cry from last year’s rainy affair. I loaded up the Big Dummy with balance bikes, picnic blanket, food, sand toys, and boys:

Oh, and a six-pack of IPA. I called Aaron’s Bike Repair yesterday to ask if he’d sell me a 12-inch inner tube for the borrowed kiddie pedal bike and this was the price. The beer didn’t really ride over in the basket–that was just for the glamor shot. I was able to fit it in the FreeLoaders, too.

This is the first time I was able to easily get more than just the balance bikes on the sides. I’m a little disappointed in myself that I had to resort to a bungee cord to attach the big yellow truck. I feel like I should be able to get reasonably large loads on without resorting to bungees. I’ll probably get over that once I’ve done this a few more times.

Seattle Cargo Bike Rides aren’t only for cargo bikes and most participants come on regular bikes, but today there were seven cargo bikes–and all longtails! In the photo on the Elliott Bay Trail above there are a Big Dummy, an Xtracycle, nine regular bikes, bike plus trail-a-bike, two Xtracycles, me on my Big Dummy, and behind me an Xtracycle, a Big Dummy, and a couple more regular bikes.

Last year the Ship Canal Trail wasn’t completed so the Easter ride involved quite a bit of Nickerson, a street I’m not fond of. We also took a car lane to cross the Fremont Bridge that day which I thought was awfully roguish at the time, but was, in fact, preferable to this year during which our bike train came to a full stop a couple times on the bike/ped path to let by pedestrians coming in the opposite direction.

Speaking of the Ship Canal Trail, I discovered a nice alternative to the 6.5% Emerson Place climb at Fisherman’s Terminal: I turned right on 21st and took the first left on Elmore to 23rd. It was only a two-block detour and made all the difference, but I have a feeling I’ll forget how bad the hill is and resort to trying to climb it a couple more times before I make the detour a regular thing. I’ll make the full Magnolia trek again soon and put it all on a map.

The slight cloudy haze was completely gone by the time we arrived to Gas Works Park and we had an excellent potluck. The kids did a bit of tooling around on their balance bikes and the four-year old even built his own first “cargo bike” using the bungee cord.

Janice’s mixte Xtracycle was the prettiest bike after mine:

I took note of two intriguing details, the Dirty Dog MTB Skull Rotor (Aaron’s Big Dummy has one, too):

And the Twofish Unlimited Quick Cage Water Bottle Holder she used to transport a vase of flowers.

And Aaron had a great way for storing an extra bungee cord…though I realized this probably wouldn’t work on my bike with my bungee-loving passengers so close by.

Mr. Family Ride even came down towards the end. Here’s his bike parked between those of Haulin’ Colin and Kelli of Yoga for Bikers. Kelli told me she’ll lead some demonstrations at Pedalers’ Fair in a couple weeks. By the way, Colin met the party at Gas Works therefore I didn’t tally his cargo bike in my earlier count.

We never made it to the sand pit, but the boys used their sand shovels to dig worms out of the dirt. The first worm didn’t fare so well, but we got things worked out and several worms and a pile of dirt took a joyride around the party in the back of the big yellow truck. I was happy when we returned the worms to their families and headed home ourselves. Their chauffeur, however, wasn’t happy about parting company. And the other kid dropped a prized rock he’d been holding on the back of the bike so our ride home featured many wails of “Worm!” “Rock!” “Worm!” “Rock!”

Today’s miles: 17.8 miles
April cumulative: 111.9 miles

I can’t wait for Bike for Pie this summer! More information and registration should be available on the Squeaky Wheels site soon, but in the meantime, here are the details from the flyer I got at Chilly Hilly:

Bike for Pie
Sunday August 19, 2012
Bainbridge Island
Scenery + Bikes + Pie + Fun
Challenge Ride – 32 miles
Family Ride – 12 miles
Register online at: www.squeakywheels.org
Or pick up forms at Classic Cycle and BI Cycles, Bainbridge Island

In the meantime, I’m in training: biking then pie-eating. Today’s training ride was a couple miles–uphill, that’s crucial–to West Woodland Park Playground to meet up with Jen of Ballard Greenways and her friend who is in the process of getting her mountain bike turned into an Xtracycle by LionTail Cycles. Jen rides with her son using a Burley Piccolo trailercycle, which has gears and is very stable, unlike cheapie trailer bikes. It’s a wonderful way to attach one kid behind the back of a bike.

After the playground we headed across the street to A la Mode Pies. Between the seven of us, we had slices of Blue Hawaiian, Spiced Apple, Mexican Chocolate Mousse, and Marionberry & Hazelnut. Part of Bike for Pies training is photo-documenting the pie:

I can personally only vouch for the Marionberry & Hazelnut–it was great!

Today’s miles: 4.5 miles
April cumulative: 94.1 miles

This is what took an extra ten minutes to leave the house today:

One kid snuck one dinosaur out so I had to let the other one go in and grab a dinosaur…but he came back with two…so the first kid had to go grab a horse. But finally we were on the road–to the new destination of Maple Leaf. I knew it would be all uphill, but we were on our way to claim a free rice cooker. The lengths I’ll go to for free stuff! I don’t think we’ll make this trek again–it was tough. The route I took up (recommended by Google maps) had great bike street markings most of the way.

I came back down on Roosevelt thinking I’d have a bike lane, but it was just sharrows until 73rd. Though we got a lovely view of the water tower this way.

And it was convenient to pop into Ride Bicycles and say hi. Christiaan and crew were getting their Xtracycle Radish ready to put on display at Ten Thousand Villages, the unique handmade fair trade gift shop. I’ve never been, but seeing the Radish in such a cool setting sounds like a great excuse to finally make it over.

Then three days in the works, we finally made it to Trader Joes. I saw Car Free Days Tim’s Big Dummy parked out front so we located him inside to see if he had a shopping cart loaded to the brim to pile on his rig. Sadly, it was just a small trip for him. For us, too. I could have fit four bags, even with the bulky rice cooker, but we just got two bags worth of stuff.

That’s Paul sweeping the sidewalk in the background. He runs a bike-based business selling foam-mounted photo prints outside Trader Joes. He’s got a lot of nice bike and local landscape shots.

Just one last quick stop on our way to drop off our cargo–I’d just read about Scratch Deli food truck on Thrillist and wanted to check it out. Wine World is easily visible from the street, but I’ve never noticed a food truck by it. Turns out one has to turn up 4th and find the parking lot behind the building. Food trucks are very convenient when biking with kids and it looks delish so we’ll be back to actually buy something.

Then we headed down to Westlake Park for the Blue Trees. Soon we’ll head view the ones along the Burke-Gilman Trail (near NE Bothell Way and 80th Ave NE in Kenmore), but today was perfect for Westlake Park since the Easter Bunny was in the area, too.

In even more food truck news, we passed Snout & Co. and Skillet on our way to the trees. It was 1:45 and when I checked the bunny’s whereabouts on the Downtown Seattle Twitter I saw “Easter Bunny will be at Waterfront Park til 1:30, then back to Westlake Park 2:30-3:30pm! Even bunnies need a lunch break!” so headed back to Snout & Co. but they were in the process of closing early having sold all their food. Today’s nice weather brought too many people out.

The trees were striking, but it was hard to stay in the one spot for 45 minutes waiting for the bunny. At first I thought Fridays downtown are exceptionally colorful, but it turns out the Sakura-Con anime convention is in town. I learned this when I asked Rainbow Brite what was going on. There were only two people who I really wasn’t sure whether or not they were part of the convention.

Other exciting downtown sights were a horse-mounted policeman, a guy riding a bike with his cat on his back, and this pedicab who loves shouting, “Hey! You’re stealing my business!” every time he sees me.

Heading towards home through South Lake Union Park we noticed an unfamiliar boat, the Olympus, so we rode alongside to admire it and appreciate how gorgeous the day had turned.

Our last stop of the big day was the elementary school by our house to meet a friend. She’s loaning us a 12″ pedal bike. I’ve decided that if the big kid doesn’t want to start pedaling, I’ll just teach the little one first. My younger brother learned to ride a bike before I did, so it’s only fitting. The kid loaning us the bike just upgraded from his twelve-incher to twenty. He just fits on his new bike and is so fast. And look at him threading the needle through the two mamabikes:

I started out trying to tow the bike with the rear wheel out, but it didn’t work very well (maybe because the rear tire is flat, but most likely because I didn’t secure it well) so I ended up putting the whole thing in the FreeLoader like I do the balance bikes.

But much more impressive was the setup of the Madsen bucket bike for their ride home: Radio Flyer Scoot About bungeed to the front rack (frame-mounted front racks are awesome–they can carry so much weight!), two kids and the 20″ bike in the bucket.

Today’s miles: 17.4 miles
April cumulative: 89.6 miles

We were cooped up and coughing half the day, playing with (fighting over) trains and Legos, but finally made it out of the house to meet a preschool friend for lunch at–you guessed it–Pel’Meni Dumpling Tzar. On the way there I finally talked to the dad who rides a bakfiets I’ve been stalking. I waited through a light cycle which meant getting barked at and gnawed on (by the kids), but it was worth it. They do indeed live in Wallingford (I saw the mom drop down to the Burke Gilman from the ‘hood one day) and have had the bike a few months, they know about the Kidical Mass rides, and that was all we had time for. They wisely got a weather cover for the bike–I don’t think I’ve seen them with the box exposed yet.

I think I’d make a million bucks if I “momvented” a lock for securing kids to bike racks:

The kids cavorted around the Statue of Lenin after lunch and it turned out to be a good thing I put their helmets on prematurely–the little guy whacked into the bronze head first a couple times.

I had wanted to go by Trader Joes on the way home, but the kids were both tired and the little kid started attacking his brother. I love the Big Dummy, but it was certainly nice to have them separated on the city bike. I considered swapping their seats, but wasn’t sure I should have a rampaging toddler unrestrained directly behind me. A bus-load of 44 passengers got to see me pry his mouth off his brother’s jacket before we pulled off 45th where I was able to reason with him. Still better than driving a car with a screaming kid.

Today’s miles: 4.2 miles
April cumulative: 72.2 miles

Wednesday is the one day of the week I need to use the car. We have twenty minutes to get from preschool in Lower Queen Anne to a class in Lake City, eight car miles (and at least 11 bike miles) away. Last year we took the bike and bus once, but there’s simply not enough time this year. At least our morning was full of bikey fun and I clocked 14 miles.

After preschool drop off, the toddler and I explored a bike route to Mounger Pool in the Magnolia neighborhood. I wouldn’t call it an easy ride, but we made it. I’m fighting a cold so I want to try again when I’m 100%. I also want to do a little experimenting with the route. I really don’t like the Emerson hill where the Ship Canal Trail ends. It’s short, but steep (for me). And then I think I could avoid the uphill/downhill of Condon Way. Of course the long gradual slog up Thorndyke is unavoidable, but maybe it’ll get easier in time.

Magnolia is a cute neighborhood so I don’t mind spending more time there while experimenting with bike routes. We stopped briefly at Serendipity Cafe, though there was no bike rack out front. It was cold out so I locked up in front of one of the two metal benches no one was going to make use of. There’s a bike rack at the opposite end of the block, but I’m too lazy to walk that far from a parking spot.

We rode back to Fremont to meet the preschool at a tour of Pel’Meni Dumpling Tzar. I had intended to meet them at school and help keep an eye on walking preschoolers, but I got a little lost on the way out of Magnolia and went straight to the restaurant. Things never look the same biking in the opposite direction! But it gave me some ideas for my modified route. And our timing allowed us to see a big and little tugboat traveling along the ship canal together. I didn’t realize they come in different sizes.

Pel’Meni is really cute with a large patio out back. We’re definitely coming back soon to eat dumplings–today’s tour was very educational, but not tummy-filling.

After walking the kids part of the way back to school we raced home to fetch the car. The last time I used the car was for this class a week ago. Last week we swung by Trader Joe’s on our way home, but inspired by 30 Days of Biking I thought it’d be better to go straight home and ride the mile there. Not for the added miles, but because taking the bike makes the trip an adventure while driving makes it feel like a chore. I don’t think this sensation will ever wear off, although we’ve only been shopping regularly by bike for four months now so I might be wrong. Unfortunately, the big kid who’s freshly recuperated from a stomach bug is now catching a cold and didn’t want to go back out. But I’m going to remember this idea and next time we’re in the car not consider it important to combine a grocery trip when it’s so much more fun to come back out with the bike.

Today’s route to Magnolia:

Possible future route to Magnolia:

Today’s miles: 14.1 miles
April cumulative: 68.0 miles

It’s hard to get out the door when there’s nowhere to go. The four-year old stayed home sick from preschool today so we hung around the house waiting to see what the weather would do. My one idea for today was to figure out a bike route to Mounger Pool in Magnolia since swim lesson sign ups are a few days away, but we didn’t make it out before the rain started and then it lingered all day long. Mr. Family Ride offered to stop work at five and take the kids out for a balance bike ride so I used the opportunity to take a ride myself and meet my 30 Days of Biking quota.

The timing was perfect because the clouds parted and the sun finally made an appearance–although an odd rain fell for a few minutes despite the clear skies. I needed AAA batteries for my new Bike Brightz (well, for the DVD player remote I stole batteries from) so I took the beach cruiser, a GT/Dyno Bikes Kustom Kruiser Kozmopolitan. Mr. Family Ride got it for me when we lived in San Diego where it was my primary bike and it’s not as useful here in hilly Seattle, but I just love this bike. And all the kid carrying has made me strong enough to ride it in Seattle. I really should clean it off and take it to the beach for a nice photo set, but in the meantime, here it is in its grimy splendor:

The RainMan triathlon results are out and my lack of training shows. This won’t be as descriptive as last year’s race report. How did I have the time and energy to write all that??

Swim – 15 minutes in the pool
2010: 17 laps
2011: 17 laps
2012: 17 laps
I think I could have snuck in one more lap, but I stopped when I saw everyone else stopped on the wall. Darn. Next year I push through to the buzzer. I happened to be the fastest swimmer in my heat so Mr. Family Ride annoyed everyone in the stands around him by saying, “Look boys, Mama’s crushing the competition! She’s dominating the field! Shout: Go, Mama, Go!”

Cycle – 30 minutes on a stationary trainer
2010: 5.35 miles
2011: 7.91 miles
2012: 7.30 miles
I’m disappointed I rode less than last year, but at least I remembered to put water bottles on my bike this year. I couldn’t keep track of my laps while swimming, but the bikes have a little computer next to them so if I’d gone in knowing the number to beat, I may have pushed it a little harder.

Run – 2.97 miles around Green Lake
2010: 34:16
2011: 35:51
2022: 33:47
I’m amazed I was able to run the whole lap around the lake. I had considered just walking, but I got out the door in time to join a group of three runners and I kept with them for most of the way. I definitely wouldn’t have been able to do it alone. And next year I’ll remember to bring sunglasses.

I got my medal (everyone gets a medal) and my cup of Makeda Coffee, but that was all I got to see of the afterparty as we had to rush home with the sick toddler. Many areas to improve on for next year.

Today’s miles: 1.2 miles
April cumulative: 53.9 miles

I played car this morning and utilized the curb-side pickup at preschool. I’ve seen it done for sleeping baby siblings before and figured it was a service my bikey family would never need, but the little guy got stomach buggy yesterday and isn’t quite 24 hours in the clear. I didn’t want to bring him inside and possibly expose the other kids so the teacher came out to fetch the big guy.

A quick trip to the grocery store was safe, so we paid a visit to PCC on the way back home. It’s hard to do a small shopping trip with so much cargo room, but PCC makes it easier when those five items total $40.

I’d like to point out that this is the same bike rack Seattle Bike Blog tweeted a picture of yesterday:

It’s not quite as packed when it’s not farmers market day. But it’s a great rack–I love on-street parking. The bike in the background today is pulling a trailer with a balance bike in the rear cargo slot.

Back home, we swapped to the old mamabike and headed to Dutch Bike Co for a new center stand. I’ve gone through two Pletscher two-leg kickstands so far. They’re great little kickstands and I love how they fold up to the side, but I’m just asking too much of them. I tried a Velo Orange Dual Leg Kickstand a while back, but it didn’t do the trick so I returned it the same day. It hasn’t been too bad with no kickstand in the interim. I started on this bike with the stock single kickstand and am used to leaning it against my hip while loading the kids. I also utilize trees and fences to balance it.

Today I had a hebie bipod stand 605 installed per Dutch Bike Co’s recommendation. It’s the same one that comes on the WorkCycles they carry. This thing is going to last!

I thought I’d drop it off today, take the bus home, and then pick it up tomorrow or Wednesday (thus the stroller bungeed to the basket), but apparently when the owner of the shop says there’s room to keep your bike overnight, one should still check with the mechanic. Fortunately, by the time the little guy had finished his banana from the cafe, Fritz had made time to stick on the new hardware.

This was my first trip on the Burke-Gilman Trail since Hum of the City and I were detoured for the bollard removal. Now there are strips of fresh black asphalt and those of us with wide loads don’t need to worry about getting hung up.

There was time to go home and swap back to the new mamabike so we grabbed it, the balance bikes, and some snacks before heading back to preschool.

My plan was to let the kids ride ride ride at Gas Works Park so they’d be sufficiently tired that I could go to the Menstrual Monday ladies ride. We were only there for about half an hour when the stomach bug hit the other kid. I guess I should have seen that coming. We headed home and stayed indoors and amazingly, the toddler still fell asleep at six. Yeehaw!

I met up with Tracey of RAW between our two houses and we headed to the Seattle Center together. She still had her baby-towing trailer (empty, that is) attached to her road bike and I had opted to take the Surly Big Dummy mamabike. I removed the kid seat and took the balance bikes out of the FreeLoaders so I was relatively light and aerodynamic. It’s a good night bike because the dynamo lights are BRIGHT, plus I wanted to show off the awesome Bike Brightz from Hum of the City. [Note: No hostess gift required or expected if you come visit, but this pink Bike Brightz is awwwwwwwesome!]

The only tricky thing about the Menstrual Monday rides is that one doesn’t know the destination ahead of time. I told Mr. Family Ride I’d be home at 9, but we rode to The Bridge in West Seattle. Perhaps I could have made my self-imposed curfew if I’d skipped the patio time, but Tracey and I stayed for one drink before leaving early. I was home at 10:30. I think the other 13 riders stayed a lot longer and didn’t get to their respective homes until Menstrual Tuesday.

It was nice having the bright lights (and the Bike Brightz got a couple raves), but next time I’m bringing my road bike. Even an empty Big Dummy is a lot to lug around for 20 miles. I’ve ridden down the Avalon hill once with West Seattle Spokespeople (I took the bus to get to the ride), but this was my first time up it. It’s big.

Today’s miles: 40.9 miles
April cumulative: 52.7 miles

Ride. Tweet. Blog. Repeat. It’s 30 Days of Biking time! This is my fourth time taking the challenge, though I didn’t complete it last time thanks to a pesky kidney infection. This year I’m compromising by starting the month out just slightly sick, with a little cold.

Today I loaded the kids into the double trailer and dragged them two miles to Green Lake for the RainMan Indoor Triathlon. My original plan was to carry the kids and my road bike on the Big Dummy so I could meet up with some friends and show them my awesome cargo bike, but the crappy forecast spoiled that plan. Surprisingly, it barely rained today, but I was better off lugging a smaller load given my current state of sniffliness and whininess.

When the results are posted, I might do a race recap, like last year, because that was pretty fun. I think I biked a bit less this year than last…I wish I’d looked at my results ahead of time so I could try to better them. The last number I remember seeing on the bike trainer was 7.25 miles so that’s what I’ve added into today’s miles, but I hope to remember to update it when I see the real numbers. Those 7.25 miles were stationary, but each competitor was weighed while holding his or her bike and appropriate resistance added so I’m counting them in my mileage. I didn’t consider asking for extra resistance added on and thought to myself many times during the bike portion, “At least I’m not lugging that heavy trailer around right now!”

So hopefully I’ll kick this cold quickly and can get some exciting riding in this month. I’d like to explore farther along the Burke-Gilman Trail, carry an especially oversized load on the Big Dummy, and hit a few local bike events. A lot of Seattleites, friends, and cargo bikes are participating this round so it’s more exciting than ever!

Today’s miles: 11.75 miles
April cumulative 11.75 miles