Winter is ending and all the fun bike stuff starting up! March is Women’s Bike Month in Seattle, April is 30 Days of Biking with pledging happening now, and today kicks off the Errandonnee: 12 errands in 12 days!

I’m not sure today’s two trips will make the final cut for my control card or stay in the categories (Personal Care, Personal Business, You carried WHAT on your bike?!, Arts and Entertainment, Non-Store Errand, Social Call, Work or Volunteering, Store, Wild Card) I’ve chosen as of this writing, but it’s no fun to post an announcement about the challenge today without including my errand-filled day.

First up, I ran a bike-shop-to-bike-shop errand for a friend. I decided this necessitated my dressing like a bike messenger so I donned all black and exchanged my little everyday Tom Bihn Imago messenger bag for my big Tom Bihn Super Ego messenger bag. Bike shop stop one was Sprocketts Recycled Bicycle where I played with Mama, the sweetest shop dog in the world. I promised to bring the kids over with me soon–our last visit was quite a while ago. And bike shop stop two was R+E Cycles where I pestered Johnny Latenight with tandem bike questions since there’s no shop dog.

My original plan for the day had been take a big grocery shopping trip with the Big Dummy, but since I was stuck on my little bike I had brought both panniers and an IKEA picnic bag. Between those and the Super Ego, I was able to carry a full load!

Destination: Sprockettes/R+E/Trader Joe’s
What I learned/observation: I can fit as many groceries on the Straggler as on the Big Dummy!
Miles: 12.6
Date: March 5, 2015
Photo:

Second errand was the #WomenWhoBike Ride, organized by Pronto Cycle Share. There was an amazing turnout and terrific weather. Note: in this city, terrific weather usually doesn’t influence the turnout one way or the other–we’re a tough batch (relatively speaking as there’s no snow here).

Destination: City Hall
What I learned/observation: A woman waiting to turn left into a parking garage across the 2nd Avenue protected bike lanes asked the valet, “Why are there so many bikes?” Woo hoo! We were a big group, though I think rush hour generally has lots of bikes up and down 2nd.
Miles: 12.4
Date: March 5, 2015
Photo: