New kickstand day! The four-year old and I biked down to Georgetown to see Haulin’ Colin of Cyclefab and pick up my repaired Rolling Jackass center stand. It’s ten miles away so there was SO MUCH to see (and document).

A construction wiggle had the happy result of us cruising by the Puget Sound Bike Share (coming late summer!) on the way to the Bell Street Park for Cars. Here my son is keeping an eye on the pack of bicycle cops a couple blocks behind us. We lost ’em.

We took 1st from there and went by Hammering Man:

Two breakfasts wasn’t enough so we stopped for a snack in Pioneer Square. Second-to-last look at the loaner RJ thanks to G&O Family Cyclery.

The snack was just enough to stave off a tantrum because “I WANT A BAGEL!” and lo and behold, we happened upon a bagel place farther down 1st. No bike rack, but the motorcycle parked in the center of a spot so I figured I would, too. The kid wanted to stay out on the bike so I left him and ran in for a plain bagel (and cookies for Colin and Garth). A women in line behind me said I was “the coolest mom” and I’m pretty sure she meant she liked the bike and not that I’d left my kid unattended upon it.

And here we are! Last look at the black loaner center stand.

My original Rolling Jackass is super duper reinforced now:

And we got a sneak peek at the frame of this mobile repair trike they’re building for Bike Works. It’s enormous! And will have an electric-assist.

I didn’t particularly enjoy riding all the way down 1st, but Colin convinced me it was better than 4th, which only has a narrow sidewalk on one side for the bridge over the railyard. So we retraced our steps and thankfully there was much less broken glass going north. We had a lovely view of Mount Rainier on the way down, but the clouds shifted and obscured her on the way back up. But the railyard was view enough–big driving crane lifting containers onto flatcars!

Mesmerizing.

And northbound 1st meant we could stop by the baseball stadium and climb on The Mitt.

And`we paid a visit to Back Alley Bike Repair.

Bad angle above. Here’s a better one. If you haven’t been down in a while, it no longer smells like pee! Before it was only cleaned monthly for First Thursday, but it must be on a more aggressive spraying-down schedule now. Yay.

Heading home we cut up to 4th to check out The Blue Trees at Westlake Park, but THE BLUE TREES AREN’T BLUE ANYMORE!

Thank goodness the Belltown Popsicle is the same as it ever was.

As is the Space Needle:

While huffing up Dexter I watched this guy get off a bus across the street with a heavy bag and a bike. He had a bit of trouble getting started and my wish came true when he crossed to our side of the road. I caught up to him and asked if I could carry his bag, but he declined (politely) and said he was almost home. He turned down that super steep hill–eek.

While waiting for the Fremont Bridge to let two sailboats through we noticed an enormous ship in Lake Union (above the Cervelo). We do a lot of boat watching and had never seen this one before.

I was eager to get home and have an hour to relax before school got out, but we had to detour through Gas Works Park and ride up kite hill to get a better look at the big ship. It was very weird–it motored itself in a couple circles before taking off towards, and through, the Fremont Bridge. I guessed it was lost and noticed the police boat dock and tried to get their attention to ask directions. Poor big boat. No one ever came out to help.

And then the funniest thing happened on our way out of the park. I joke about hop-ons and today had a few people pretend to want rides (and I’ve offered pretend rides before–real rides are reserved for people I know), but this guy with the trailer got a real hop-on! A random toddler grabbed onto the trailer’s push bar and hitched a quick ride before his mother wrestled him off. It was awesome!

With a stop at Katsu Burger for lunch to break up the pedaling, we were out of the house from 9:45 to 3. Quite a big day…especially when it’s just the one kid and we don’t need to be out all day because there’s no siblings-fighting-at-home to avoid. Oops, my secret is out: we probably wouldn’t bike around so much if the kids played more peaceably at home.

Today’s miles: 20 miles
April cumulative: 150.8 miles

Bikes ridden: 1
April cumulative: 7

Dogs: 4
April cumulative: 12