We had a great time on Tuesday helping with the Books with Pictures bike move! Or rather Bike/Walk Move for Books with Pictures, and there was a lot of carrying and hand truck wheeling the three busy blocks between buildings. Going into it I wasn’t sure how long the kids would last, but they made it three hours without complaint! Doughnuts at the outset and a lunch spread in the middle made that possible. I made 11 runs back and forth with one kid coming each time while the other helped with loading and walking loads. Neither were keen to carry things on their own bikes.

I may not have announced my new-to-me cargo trailer on the blog: I have a Haulin’ Colin heavy duty cargo trailer now! I’ve borrowed Haulin’ Colin trailers in the past and eventually got my own hitch to borrow my neighbor Velotron’s. With my move away from Seattle, and then his move away from Seattle, the trailer has become mine! It’s 5 feet by 2 feet and I’ve carried 500 pounds with it, but it can handle even more weight…I probably can’t, though!

More about Books with Pictures
I’ve known of Books with Pictures proprietor Katie Proctor since before I met her thanks to her blog, A Most Civilized Conveyance, on which she recounted biking to the birth center in labor! And showed photos of the amazing baby-seat-carrying boxes on her cargo bike. Katie is one of the two founders of Kidical Mass PDX (I’m currently Co-Director with Sara Davidson) and we’ve held our last two organizers meetings at Books with Pictures.

We pledged our help on the Books with Pictures Great Big Move! Kickstarter, which is now fully funded, but still worth checking out to see the fabulous prizes and updates.

KOIN channel 6 was out filming on Tuesday for a followup to their article last year: Inclusive comic book store has something for everyone. The new video should show up online soon and maybe I’ll remember to update with a link here.

More BwP events
The last event is going on RIGHT NOW through tomorrow: Build the Shop: Work Party, Jun 21 at 10 AM – Jun 22 at 6 PM, but keep an eye on the BwP Facebook events page and more might pop up.

More on bike moves
The Move By Bike page on SHIFT has a lot of great info and links for joining future bike moves.

BikePortland.org February 1st, 2013: Portland bike move breaks record, gets national attention.

Video! Streetfilms: Portland Bike Move! (from 2004).

And there’s a book! How to Move by Bike: Tales and Tips to Inspire by Steph Routh.

This is the empty direction in which I’m carrying two kids, one bike, and one dog, ha!

The trailer came in handy later in the day when the combo of doughnuts and milkshake left my little one too icky-feeling to ride home.

I’ve already recapped last summer’s trip to the coast with Elle of Tiny Helmets Big Bikes over on BikePortland.org: “When moms escape: Tackling the unpaved Trask River Road route to the coast” (heh, I didn’t choose the fun title), but I never got around to uploading all my photos so now that that’s done, I’m re-recapping it, though more briefly.

• Flickr album of 222 photos

I was on my Surly Straggler with 43mm-wide tires and Elle was on her Surly Troll with 2.4-inch-wide tires.

Maps:

• Ride with GPS route 1: North Trask Route – Oregon Bikepacking Edition
• Ride with GPS route 2: Tillamook to Cape Lookout State Park
• Ride with GPS return route: Coast to Hillsboro via Highway 6
• Strava recording day 1 Hillsboro to Trask River: 48.97 mi | 3,743 ft | 5:47:04 moving time | 8:48:07 elapsed time
• Strava recording day 2 Trask River to Cape Lookout: 25.60 mi | 837 ft | 2:10:33 moving time | 3:38:41 elapsed time
• Strava recording day 3 Cape Lookout to Hillsboro: 69.92 mi | 2,441 ft | 5:44:00 moving time | 7:18:55 elapsed time

Route details from Oregon Bikepacking:

While not technically easy, this the most straightforward, easiest dirt route to the coast from Portland. Starting from the end of the MAX line in Hillsboro, we route you through the least pavement possible to Mount Richmond and then on gravel up to the Barney Reservoir and along the North Fork of the Trask River directly into Tillamook.

Expect clear cuts, steep and loose gravel climbing, logging trucks, and plenty of pickups to keep you on your toes. And despite all that, it’s still a little gem of a route and one of our all-time favorites.

As predicted, enough time has passed that I’m willing to do this again, though in general I still don’t like the idea of taking a bike trip where I know I’ll have to hike-a-bike (walk my bike over terrain too hard or steep–or both!–for me to pedal). And now I know to:

• Hit the road much earlier, say 6am instead of 10am
• Bike downtown to catch the MAX rather than Gateway (takes the same 35 minutes and shaves 30 minutes off the trip!)
• Spread my load over four panniers instead of just two
• Vary my tire pressure–max for paved sections, low for gravel
• Book a campsite at Trask River County Campground ahead of time
• Filter water along the way rather than be stubborn/lazy and get thirsty

Coming back it’s tempting to do highway 6 again, especially if it’s a Monday. I’ve since heard details of how horrid that route can be, but I suspect early weekday trips tend to be much milder than weekend ones. Another option would be to take the Nestucca River Road route now that the detour of last summer is resolved.