We were in the newspaper yesterday!

Mel–our elementary school’s crossing guard (who bikes to work!)–tipped me off as we passed him on our way to preschool. We tend to leave the house five minutes late despite my best efforts, but for a miraculous change, we were out the door five minutes early and I had three quarters in my messenger bag.

Here’s the online version: Cargo bike as 2-wheel minivan is here for long haul.

And it all started last last Friday with Cargo bikes the new minivan for cycling families, by the local Associated Press. Same article, but with video and more pictures.

The article titles are a little misleading as it’s not only about families, but a cargo bike is certainly a minivan replacement. I love that the article spawned a complimentary piece north of the border: Cargo Bikes: Haul Stuff on Two Wheels with a photo of a mom (Hi, @Sunrise604!) hauling a Christmas tree by cargo bike.

Some friends laughed at me for

Carlson’s enthusiasm has caught on. Two friends have bought similar cargo bikes and have started riding.

Apparently I have inspired more than two people. Which is great! I’m also mortified for having been quoted as saying “damn.” Something else to blame that f—ing box spring for. I have yet to live that down. But if it somehow helps to inspire, so be it.

I made the mistake of reading the comments on the local KOMO version of the story. First rule of reading comments: DON’T READ THE COMMENTS! There were only a few comments when I looked and they weren’t as horrible as I’d expected: it must be hard to ride in those shoes and I probably won’t ride when winter hits. I’m sure there are more and worse comments now. DON’T LOOK!

Thank goodness I wasn’t photographed in flip flops–those incite riots! Remember the Bicycle Times cargo bike cover? I wear flip flops a lot in the summer. And I go clipless on my road, cross, and mountain bikes. They’re both perfectly comfortable.

As for weather, I still feel like a Southern Californian living in the Pacific Northwest so I’m quite proud of myself every time we go out in drizzle. Which is often. Bring on the rain and bring on the [light] snow. I’m still not ready to ride with the kids up on the deck in deep snow. If we replace the double trailer, I’ll haul them by mountain bike like I did during Snowmageddon. Assuming we get snow like that again. More likely, now that we’re all pedaling we’ll just go out near home and practice snow biking on individual bikes. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m excited for snow biking…though I won’t be disappointed if we don’t get real snow. I still prefer my snow an hour’s drive away, associated with a ski lift.

It feels odd to write this on a rare day we didn’t bike. My first grader is down with a stomach bug and I didn’t want to drag him out to bike his little brother to preschool: 2.2 miles away, about 20 minutes each way. I wouldn’t have wanted to drag him out in a car, either, though it didn’t occur to me. Though this is really more a matter of Mr. Family Ride being out of town than transportation choices. Last week the preschooler was down for a day with the same bug and I was able to leave him home for ten minutes while I walked the healthy kid two blocks to school.

Here’s to fewer tummy bugs, more cargo bikes, and more fun!

‘Tis the season to hone those cold-weather-kid-bundling skills and bike at night to see holiday lights! Olympic Manor is slide one of Red Tricycle’s 9 De-Lightful Neighborhood Light Displays and was the destination of December’s bonus Kidical Mass ride on Sunday, December 10th. Regular Kidical Mass rides occur on the first Sunday of each month.

We started gathering at Loyal Heights Community Center at 3:45 when it was still light out so I could get some pictures before it got too dark and blurry (here’s the full set of photos).

It was still a bit light out when we arrived to Olympic Manor, but that meant we could admire the view of the Puget Sound behind the houses. I had expected rain and dark skies; the sunny, but cold day messed with our timing.

My plan was to follow the route from last year’s Critical Lass ride to Olympic Manor, but I accidentally took us on the reverse route and then turned east a block early which resulted in a hellacious and busy hill. I stopped for a beat halfway up and several riders had to walk up. I think they all forgave me and hopefully they forgot about the hill a few blocks later, like I did. I also promised I have the best route picked out for next year. I do! It’ll be great!

But soon enough we were back on track. Sadly, the Flying Spaghetti Monster wasn’t lit yet. I don’t know if we were too early in the evening or if he hasn’t been strung with lights yet. Some neighbors were still setting up their displays as we rode through.

Heading to the after-party we saw a great light display at Bicycle Bob’s (the guy who lives across from Salmon Bay Park and sells used kid bikes). The peppermint wheels on the train spin and I’d imagine the “20.00” sign mean it’s for sale.

Then we discovered a train mural on the side of Grumpy D’s Coffee House, our end spot:

And my bike sported a train Christmas tree ornament we’d found in the morning. The lights are just cheapie Ikea battery-powered indoor lights. They held up OK in drizzle last year, but one can find safe outdoor battery-powered lights online, I hear.

There were a couple instances of cold kids here and there. My kids fared OK in snow pants, winter coats, thick mittens or gloves, and snow boots. One wore his balaclava (helps to refer to it as a “ninja mask” for reluctant wearers). Underneath they wore cotton socks, jeans, and sweatshirts. Ideally they’d wear wool socks and wool base layer, but we don’t own wool base layers and have outgrown last winter’s wool socks. I discovered their ski goggles don’t fit comfortably over bike helmets so I’ve got to search the basement for their snowboard helmets for future very cold rides. I didn’t take quite as much care with my outfit as the heavy bike keeps me warm enough and I’m often down to short sleeves and no gloves for my last hill on the way home in any weather. This day I wore fleece-lined tights and skirt, two pairs of cotton socks under boots (and my toes still froze–I need to find my road bike shoe shoe covers, I think they’ll work for regular shoes/pedals), snowboard jacket, and too-hot-for-most-seasons Bern helmet with Helmuff ear covers. My waterproof cycling gloves didn’t keep my fingers warm, but holey, fuzzy mittens did!

There were several families who didn’t make it out for the ride. Afternoon events are hard. I worried we’d have trouble leaving our warm home late in the day so I circumvented that risk by hitting the road at 10:30 a.m. This worked great because we stopped by G & O Family Cyclery and saw No Spandex Required receive her new Xtracycle EdgeRunner.

Stats:
21 participants in the form of 9 parents and 12 kids upon 11 bikes: a Bullitt (Totcycle!), two Surly Big Dummys, a Kona MinUte, an Xtracycle, two regular bikes with rear kid seats, two solo adults, and two solo big kids.

Happy second anniversary Big Dummy

It’s been another amazing year with the Big Dummy!

In keeping with last year’s Happy Birthday, Big Dummy, let’s take a look at some of the awesomeness of the past year, thanks to the amazing cargo bike:

• I carried a box that was too big for a friend’s car
• We introduced Bettie the dog into the biking crew
• I did a bit of our house move by bike
• We traveled with the bike thanks to Bolt Bus! to Portland for the Disaster Relief Trials. And again for Fiets of Parenthood, which I have yet to recap
• We went bike camping again
• I carried our train table by bike – to the new G & O Family Cyclery where more people can buy cargo bikes!
• I hauled more and bigger bikes regularly
• After missing the opportunity for two Halloweens, my bike wore its first costume for Cranksgiving

The Dummy started her day with the usual school run, during which I learned if a guy in a stinky older truck rolls down his window at a red light and says, “How much for the bike, $1500?” the correct answer is not an approximate price including kid stuff, with hurried explanation of dynamo lighting. Next time: “I’ve seen a new Sun Atlas Cargo bike for $500! Add on stuff and go up from there.”

Once the kids were away at school for a few hours I headed off to an appointment. Normally, I’d ditch the Big Dummy and take my quick (and 55-pound-lighter) road bike, but several friends have lately mentioned they choose their cargo bikes for all trips, even when they’re riding alone. I started feeling a little guilty about neglecting the Big Dummy for such excursions so off we went on a 15-mile trek to Harbor Island and back. And it was fine. A cargo bike can certainly be an only-and-everything bike and maybe if I stopped scheduling appointments with as little time to spare as possible I’d start treating my cargo bike as such.

So here’s our anniversary ride:

Sandwiched between buses on 3rd, which is the least evil of all the evil downtown streets.

Weaving through the detoured waterfront trail, around delivery trucks and spitting pedestrians (seriously, I missed getting spit upon by three seconds).

And scooting around five police cars–fortunately I couldn’t see an incident they were all there for. Maybe it’s just a convenient place to park?

And finally across the street and along the Bertha construction.

And then back north again. East Marginal Way South isn’t the most pleasant of streets with so many big trucks blasting by, but I like the view of Downtown Seattle in the distance. That’s Starbucks Headquarters with the big flag at the far right.

With the bike empty of passengers, I could have taken 3rd back to preschool pickup, but I opted for my familiar gentle slope of Western–which I learned by following an un-e-assisted pedicab–they make for good route finding! The only problem with using Western is the ensuing one-block salmoning at Pike Place. I’ve heard a lot of Seattleites plea for the block to be closed to cars and allow delivery trucks only at certain times. Hear hear!

This is the block of Pine I opted to skip. It wouldn’t be so bad with the empty bike, but it’s not nearly as exciting as riding along Pike Place Market.

The bike’s anniversary present will happen tomorrow in the form of a minor tune. I’m still thinking about our next steps in terms of kid containment. I thought about a Hooptie and decided it’s not for me, but now I’m toying with the idea of half a Hooptie. I wonder if keeping just the right rail in would be comfortable for the kids and still allow me to do everything I’m used to. I could use the left rail as a running board with the option to lock it in up high if needed. First generation Hoopties weren’t easy to take on and off, but I hear the new ones are. I’d appreciate any insight!

Despite unusually strong winds, our merry band of 15–seven adults and eight kids on seven bikes–made it to the Seattle Center the long way around. I wish I’d thought to ask the dad on the Bullitt how the wind treated his weather canopy. I was relieved today’s kids were all passengers because those gusts could have swept light little riders away!

Click to enlarge

Our ride was 7.8 miles. I take a three-mile route when it’s just the kids and me, but I wouldn’t want to lead a group on it. And today’s ride coincided with the Seattle Marathon so this was the way to avoid the street closures, too. Once the Mercer West project is completed we can ride a cycletrack under Aurora and take a more direct route, but the picture I took of Mercer yesterday shows only the two eastbound car lanes are ready.

The blue line below shows today’s route. The orange segment shows a slightly less kid-friendly route I use for Critical Lass rides and would have worked fine for today with all the kids as passengers, but I figured I’d still show off the as-pleasant-as-possible route. The green segment shows our return route (and route most people on regular bikes would take in the outbound route, too).

The Google map doesn’t show the bike trail within Fishermen’s Terminal so I Strava’ed that segment–it runs parallel to 21st Ave West, but down within the terminal.

We paused to check out a couple trains along the way–blue engine along the Ship Canal Trail:

And trains carrying airplanes (!!) in the Magnolia train yard:

Between those two trains we rode along our one big street of the day, Gilman Ave W (turning into 20th Ave W at the Boxcar Ale House), but there were surprisingly few cars parked along it today so the bike lane alongside parking lane felt like a dreamy wider-than-necessary bike lane:

Then we reached the Elliott Bay Trail, which I think is the most beautiful bike trail in the world, but today meant BIG WIND. Waves usually don’t break on these rocks!

And the view to our right of a white cap and the stolen Victoria Clipper being towed back to shore while followed by a police boat.

Then we started our climb to Lower Queen Anne with the West Thomas Street Overpass where our group shot at the top of the page was taken. And five blocks later we reached the Space Needle and International Fountain.

We spent 90 minutes inside the Armory checking out the Winterfest model train and eating lunch.

I didn’t notice much extra foot traffic due to the marathon, but there were lots of pedicabs making the rounds outside. I was quite taken by this detachable pedicab trailer:

He liked my bike, too, and in swapping bike bios I uncovered a couple cool things on his rig, like the Sunlite dual-cable brake lever so he controls the bike’s brakes with one hand and can detach the pedicab’s separate brake from the other side when he takes the trailer off. I’ve seen this lever before when looking at components for adaptive cycling and I think they might also be popular for tandem bikes. And the moss green ball on his handlebars is an adorable Trek Time Watch.

By the time we headed home the wind had lessened a bit and we saw a bit of blue sky! And, yes, I rode through the middle of that puddle.

Our next ride is in a week: Kidical Mass rides to Olympic Manor holiday lights on Sunday, December 8th – meet at Loyal Heights Community Center at 3:45 p.m.

Sorry for the short notice!

Have you ever wondered if there’s a family-friendly bike route to the Seattle Center? Well, there is! Starting from Fremont it’s 7 miles versus 2.5 miles, but it’s scenic and fairly traffic free–no Mercer Mess or Aurora Ave to cross!

Join us to check out the joy and mayhem of Winterfest.

This is the route we’ll take:

Meet at Milstead & Co (770 N 34th St, Seattle, WA) in Fremont which adjoins the covered outdoor History House sculpture garden where we can huddle with warm drinks in case it’s rainy.

Here’s the Facebook event if you want to RSVP.

In continuing last year’s Thanksgiving Family Group Ride tradition, we took a fun bike ride around Lake Union Thanksgiving morning. This year there were 42 riders! (Or so. I didn’t think to count.)

To accommodate families working around naps and cooking, we had a timeline. The only bad part is that now everyone knows when I say “firm,” I don’t really mean it. We’ll wait for you if you’re on the way! But our littlest riders appreciate an on-time departure. Thankfully we didn’t lose any riders before the start.

Rough timeline:
10:00 – Start gathering at Gas Works (near the play barn)
10:30 – *Firm* depart
11:00-12:00 – Playground by Daniel’s Broiler
12:30 – Starbucks warm-up stop
1:30 – Back to Gas Works

My six-year old rode the whole thing on his 20-inch-wheeled bike with three speeds, but I opted to carry my four-year old and his 16-inch-wheeled single speed bike as he’s not so capable on even small hills. However, there were kids on small bikes, including a balance biker who passed me twice! There’s a variety of riding surfaces for the Lake Union Loop and it’s all pretty kid friendly, with sidewalk options for all the busy parts. I added photos of the ride to my saved map to show most of the different parts, indicated by yellow pushpins:

The day started out very foggy, but no rain! And relatively warm (mid-forties, I think). It was a great day for hanging out with friends new and old. The ride was relatively flat, though many had to walk up the steep half-block at Hamlin. Perhaps next year we’ll coast along a floating esplanade in its place!

Many of my photos are posted here, but see the Flickr set for even more.

By the way, for bicyclists interested in a bigger Thanksgiving Day ride, check out the Annual Seattle Thanksgiving Day Ride to benefit Northwest Harvest.

I was thankful my two kiddos wanted to ride/walk their bikes home (which lasted for a bit over one of our last two uphill blocks).

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had so much fun last year, we’re doing it again! We’ll ride all the way around Lake Union (about 7.5 miles) with several stops along the way. Feel free to rush ahead or drop out early as naps/meals/football-viewing plans dictate.

If you’re on Facebook, join the Seattle Family Biking Facebook group and RSVP for the event.

Here’s our rough timeline:

10:00 – Start gathering at Gas Works (near the play barn)
10:30 – *Firm* depart
11:00-12:00 – Playground by Daniel’s Broiler
12:30 – Starbucks warm-up stop
1:30 – Back to Gas Works

Here’s the route. There’s one steep section of about half a block:

I had a lot of fun participating in errandonneuring so there was no doubt I’d do the Third Annual Chasing Mailboxes Coffeeneuring Challenge and all ensuing Chasing Mailboxes challenges. I figured it’d be too easy, except for the part where I’d have to narrow it down to just seven coffees. I mean, we got waaaay more than seven days to visit seven coffee shops, I already bike every day, drink coffee, and–hello!–live in Seattle: birthplace of Starbucks, city with highest per capita bicyclists able to ride one-handed while drinking a cup of hot coffee, and home to five million kid-friendly coffee shops. But I nearly didn’t get it done thanks to an unexpected weekend car trip to Salt Spring Island, a Sunday lost to a pulled back muscle, and days where I failed squeezing in a coffee purchase despite being out and about all damn day. I wasn’t even sure until tallying today if I’d coffeeneured seven times–thank goodness I forced an evening stop on Saturday in case my Sunday submission is tossed out for cheating.

Following are my stops with the summary essentials: “1. where you went (address and website, if possible), 2. the date you went there, 3. what you drank 4. a detail or two about your coffeeneuring ride, and 5. total mileage.”
I’ll also throw in any tidbits on kid friendliness of the coffee shop stops.

1 / one / uno / een

1. Ballard Coffee Works (2060 NW Market St, Ballard, WA 98107)
   Kid corner with train table, books, and stuffed animals! We met up with two other biking families and the five collective kids (and their beverage swilling parents) had a great time.
2. October 5, 2013
3. French press (Surprisingly bitter. I usually take my coffee black–like my components–but this cup of mud scared me towards fancy coffees for the rest of the challenge.)
4. Fun detail #1: The bike with the Mike O’Brien campaign poster sharing our bike rack turned out to be The Mike O’Brien’s bike. Talk about truth in advertising.
   Fun detail #2: DOGS!
   After my kids monopolized the two large stuffed dogs in the Ballard Coffee Works play area and ogled a few dogs tied up outside, we adjourned to Gas Works Park to take advantage of the unexpectedly terrific weather. There we met artist Matt Josef who literally just rolled into town, parked, and took the dogs out to stretch their legs. He has plans to bike cross country with his SO and the dogs, but this visit was by car while he works on a commission. He let me hold little Paco for so long he should have been worried I wouldn’t give him back (but I did. And I later gave him my copy of Elly Blue’s Four Paws, Two Wheels which is awesome despite–because?–my submission didn’t make the cut).
   And then our friends from coffee returned to the park with their dog! Their DoggieRide trailer is really nice. I love the pop top.
5. Miles: 8.5

Our bikes from inside Ballard Coffee Works

Artist Matt Josef and his dogs

Paco!

DoggieRide trailer

2 / two / dos / twee

1. Milstead & Co (770 N 34th St, Seattle, WA 98103)
   No kid-specific area, but the inside is spacious and the cafe connects to the even more spacious History House Sculpture Garden full of neat stuff, like a chunk of the Berlin Wall in the foreground of my photo below. Again, we met up with a couple other biking families. Coffeeneuring is even more fun with company!
2. October 6, 2013
3. Theo mocha with house-made vanilla
4. Fun detail: We stopped by Fremont Brewing Company a block away to check out the new bike corral. This place is kid-friendly, but no coffee. Twice (April 2011 an November 2011) we’ve had Kidical Mass rides end here. I think we’re due for another big visit!
5. Miles: 3.4

Theo mocha with house-made vanilla at Milstead & Co.

Inside Milstead & Co.

Ouside (but covered) Milstead & Co.

Fremont Brewing Company

3 / three / tres / drie

1. Makeda Coffee (153 N 78th St, Seattle, WA 98103)
   Toys next to the couch and comfy chair in the back. We biked over with Forrest and his brand-new-to-him folding bike. His other ride is a regular bike to which he connects a trail-a-bike when he rides with his kid.
2. October 12, 2013
3. Mocha–with my most favorite Seven Roasters. This would have been the place to get the black coffee.
4. Fun detail: We chose Makeda so we could hop seven blocks north to visit the new G & O Family Cyclery. My first visit to G & O was the day before, but I think I could happily go there every day.
5. Miles: 8.6

New folding bike and Makeda Coffee

Toys at Makeda Coffee

4 / four / quatro / vier

1. Wheelhouse (2113 Westlake Ave Seattle, WA 98121)
   A rare kid-free outing! I was out for a hair appointment and intended to grab a coffee at The Crumpet Shop in nearby Pike Place Market, but as soon as I walked in the door, the barista shouted “We’re out!” at me. I’m assuming she meant they were out of crumpets, not coffee, but that gave me the opportunity to make my first visit to Wheelhouse on the way home. We bike by Wheelhouse often and it makes me happily remember Santa Barbara’s shuttered WheelHouse Bikes. No kid stuff, but outdoor seating is always a good thing for littles.
2. October 19, 2013
3. Mocha and cardamom cake
4. Fun detail: I stopped by the Cycling Tweed Rally in Goorin Brothers and saw e-bike conversions by Madboy Electric Vehicles.
5. Miles: 9.9

Sitting outside Wheelhouse

Cycling Tweed Rally at Goorin Bros.

Cycling Tweed Rally at Goorin Bros.

Madboy Electric Vehicles

5 / five / cinco / vijf

1. Solsticio (1100 N Northlake Way, Seattle, WA 98103)
   No kid stuff, but we love Solsticio. It’s right along the Burke-Gilman Trail with great food (smoothies!) and big glass garage door that’s open in the summer. It was a perfect place to stop after our Kidical Mass ride to fall colors in the Arboretum.
2. 11/3
3. Pumpkin spice latte and allspice cake
4. Fun detail: We stopped by the Rent-a-Ruminant goats on our way home. They’re so sweet!
5. Miles: 9.3

Trail-adjacent Solsticio

Solsticio, and Kidical Mass fall helmet craft

Rent-a-Ruminant sweethearts

6 / six / seis / zes

1. Swansons Nursery (9701 15th Ave NW, Seattle, WA 98117)
   I thought we’d hit a coffee shop in the afternoon, but we got sidetracked at a playground while parading with our friends on their new bikes. Thank goodness the Reindeer Festival in the morning had complimentary hot apple cider. I didn’t snap a picture of it so I’m including pictures of the rest of the reindeer games.
2. 11/9
3. Hot apple cider (free!)
4. Fun detail: A love story! As we were getting ready to leave the park with our parade of friends, a very curious squirrel ran up to our bikes and scurried quickly away several times. I was starting to get a little worried he would jump into/onto one of the bikes and bite a child, but on his third trip in, he grabbed my friend’s brand new Bullitt cargo bike and hugged (humped?) the front tire. Of course in the back of my mind I wondered why he hadn’t chosen my bike, but I’ll admit the Bullitt is a sexy bike.
5. Miles: 15.9

Swansons Reindeer Festival

Swansons Reindeer Festival

Bow cheeka bow bow

7 / seven / siete / zeven

1. Black Coffee Co-op (501 E Pine St, Seattle, WA 98122)
   No play area, but very spacious. I noticed a bookshelf full of games, but I don’t know if any were kid games. I led a group ride here, Critical Lass rides to the Broadway cycle track and goes Coffeeneuring to celebrate the last day of the Coffeeneuring Challenge which is explicitly against Rule 8: “You may not combine your coffeeneuring ride with any other ride such as an organized century, populaire, or brevet.” Oops.
2. 11/17
3. Mocha
4. Fun detail: I got to carry an extra kid (80+ pounds!) 10 feet. I had hoped to carry him half a mile the
   rest of the way to the coffee shop, but in an amazing display of teamwork, an extra bolt was located and used to repair his trailer bike on the spot at the mid-point of our ride.
5. Miles: 11.7

Coffee and company at Black Coffee Co-op

Quiet kids at Black Coffee Co-op

Temporary extra load–woo hoo!

Critical Lasses fix a bike

alternate / suplemento / extratje

1. Uptown Espresso (500 Westlake Ave N, Seattle, WA 98109)
   I popped out solo in the afternoon to see my friend’s work in a pottery show (hers were the best, by the way), hoping “Wine, snacks, and live music!” meant “Wine, snacks, live music, and coffee” but no such luck. So afterwards I went around the corner to the closest coffee shop.
2. 11/16
3. Latte. I haven’t been to “Home of the Velvet Foam” since having a dairy-free nursling so this was to be my first exposure to Velvet Foam. I figured latte was the way to go with Velvet Foam, but I didn’t like it. However, I don’t think I’ve ever had a latte before so it’s probably me. I’m back to black coffee now that the challenge is over.
4. Fun detail: while I love (not) sitting on the side of the street swapping my bike shoes for fancier shoes, I’m tempted to once again search for normal-looking shoes with SPD cleats. I’m not very DIY-inclined or I’d try Instructables: High-heel, clipless bike shoes. And there’s Retrofitz who will turn regular shoes into bike shoes. Of course I could just change the pedals. That’s not nearly as exciting, but unless Mr. Family Ride tossed his old pedals when switching back to Speedplay, there should be a perfectly good pair of SPD pedals with a big plastic flat thingy clipped to one side of them somewhere in the basement. Hey, thanks Coffeeneuring Challenge for all allowing me to puzzle this one out!
5. Miles: 7.9

Uptown Espresso, Home of the Velvet Foam

Bike parking in South Lake Union