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!