Saturday found us up Phinney Ridge for a Caspar Babypants show. There’s a wonderful new bike rack in the upper parking lot (more on that later), but the lower parking lot is devoid of bike parking so we locked up to a pole. I brought my Ikea bags to cover the kid seats because while the day started out dry, we expected (and got) lotsa rain later.

The rain started up after the show, but the kids had been promised trips down The Big Slides so down they went. Everything was going fine until I put rain pants on my five-year old because “huh, you’re not moving very quickly in those damp jeans.” So here’s the lesson:

He caught some amazing air at the bump in the middle and then off the bottom…and majorly got the wind knocked out of him.

So we beat a hasty retreat and went directly home, rather than attend the monthly Spokespeople ride. I think this was the first time I hoped the rain would keep up…Spokespeople rides cancel in the event of heavy rain. But quite amazingly, the clouds parted and the sun came out at 1:58. Guess what time the ride began. And then the rain started back up at 4:10, just as I would have arrived back home. Talk about perfect timing. I don’t think a Spokespeople ride has ever had to cancel, in fact.

But back up to the Phinney Neighborhood Center and the fancy new bike rack.

It’s beautiful and keeps its charges dry. Unfortunately my bike won’t fit at it since I need to use the edges of this type of rack and this one has sacrificed those spots for tools and flair. But it’s fun to climb on and the tools are great.

The pump on the south side can keep the kids distracted while you use the tools on the other side.

Unless you have a cargo bike. No way I could lift my bike up to those little prongs.

But the tools are great if you can get your bike off the ground: wrench, three multitools, a screwdriver, the other kind of screwdriver, a pry-a-flat-tire-off-a-rim-thingy, a something-that-also-looks-like-a-pry-a-flat-tire-off-a-rim-thingy, and a cat toy that might be a socket wrench set.

I can’t wait for Phinney Farmers Market to start back up (Friday June 7th!) and see the rack filled with bikes. I’ll probably still lock up at the chain link fence by the street, though.

Daily miles: 6.1
April miles: 97.2