My first sentient bike passenger was the late Lyle, a chihuahua. Eons ago, he rode all over Isla Vista, tucked into my sweater with his head poking out the neck hole. His younger (she’s a sprightly 13) cohort, Bettie, had never had the pleasure of bike commuting until this week. I didn’t think she’d be cool in my sweater so I used the bungee net to secure her in a soft doggie carrier to my front basket. I won’t say she had a blast, but she was perfectly relaxed. Maybe I should let her poke her head out next time.

We traveled just seven blocks to the drop-in vet, but we got to do it twice since they didn’t have time to see her before kindergarten pickup time. Check out the sign: FREE CUSTOMER PARKING.

Naturally, that’s just for cars. Bikes either park at the bike rack of the neighboring business (and I didn’t want the bike that far away) or the glass-strewn tree out front.

Bettie got her fifth bike trip the following morning when I took her in sans kids. This time I opted for the old mamabike and just set her carrier on the front kid seat without bungee. It worked great, too. She stayed at the vet for a while to get an x-ray and I would have liked to pick her up with the little bike, but I had the three-year old along by then and didn’t think he would give up his front seat to Bettie and I didn’t want to stick her behind me so soon in her biking career. So she was back in the big bike’s basket.

Obviously, I don’t know as much about biking with dogs as I do biking with kids, but as luck would have it, I ran into Juliette of Hub and Bespoke this morning. She didn’t have her sweet doggie along, but here’s a photo from the bike counter launch party:

Hub and Bespoke has carried dog carriers in the past, but don’t currently stock any. However, Juliette is happy to share knowledge and place orders.

Here’s a dog I saw recently, in a milk crate. I’m sure he’s happier than he looks.

If you want to read a bit more about getting your furry friend on board your rig, I enjoyed Cycling Gypsies’ Dogs on Bikes, TreeHugger’s 11 Ways to Take Dogs on Bikes slideshow, and Amazon’s Best Sellers in Dog Bicycle Carriers.

Bettie has a recheck in two weeks so perhaps we’ll figure out an even better method for toting her.

Sunday was so sunny! Tulips and daffodils are emerging, birds are chirping more, and the sky was bluer than it’s ever been. Maybe it wasn’t warm enough for a true beach day, but it was over fifty and the boys screamed “Alki, Alki, Alki!”

But first: Saturday. My original plan was to have Mr. Family Ride drive the boys to an afternoon birthday party at Alki Beach so I could co-lead the Spokespeople ride (my first co-lead as I strive to become a Cascade Bicycle Club Ride Leader) and then race over à la road bike to meet them at the end and either catch a ride in the car or [preferably] ride home while he took care of dinner and bedtime for overtired kidlets. But he had to go out of town so we resorted to the car to catch part of the party after Spokespeople.

That’s when I realized I don’t know how to get to Alki by car. My car has a built-in GPS system because I’m quite skilled at getting lost…but it’s on the fritz. The thought of having to drive the car more than once a month, just for the sake of taking it to the shop to get fixed has kept me from dealing with it. This must be how people who use bicycles for purely recreational purposes feel about having to go in for bike tune-ups. But we eventually found our way there–after getting lost twice. Not fun.

But Sunday! Sunday was fun. 17 miles of fun on the way there. I even enjoyed East Marginal Way South, though I know on weekdays it’s teeming with huge trucks. Today I only saw a couple of cars on the half mile stretch and could easily skirt the many massive puddles.

I let my little pedaler loose when we reached the Alki Trail. It felt just like our ride over with Andy a year and a half ago when his daughter did the same. I didn’t have the Big Dummy yet (or a pedaling kid!) so it was truly a glimpse of the future. Speaking of Andy, he just wrote an awesome guestpost: Becoming a Biking Family on the Paranoid Stay at Home Mom blog. It’s so great! Read it!

Much of the Alki Trail was wide open, but some was a bit congested. Of course, the kid’s only mishap was when he looked to the side too long, squealing “Train, train, train!” and cruised right into a curb. Fortunately, he’s very practiced at intentionally banging into things so he [just barely] kept the rubber side down. And this became a wonderful teaching moment I used to routinely remind him to watch where he was going.

Gratuitous bikes and view shot from Don Armeni Park:

My three-year old did a teeny bit of riding on the trail, but his 10-inch balance bike tires make it hard to keep up with his brother’s 16-inch wheels, so he didn’t last long. But I made a cool discovery when I quickly bundled toddler and balance bike back onto the Big Dummy: it rides fine with one little wheel hanging out. I’ve only carried it completely in the FreeLoader bags before so this is good to know if I’d rather deal with drag than sacrifice cargo capacity.

The beach was great! The kids went barefoot and got wet and sandy, but I huddled under a towel to stay warm. Fifty degrees isn’t really my idea of beach weather.

I saw a big grey cloud on the horizon so I consulted Dark Sky iPhone app and saw we had 25 minutes until a short light rain hit. So we packed up and headed to lunch…but as much as I hate getting rained on, I had to stop when I saw this Xtracycle. Look at those cool homegrown deck seats! And Xtracycle RunningBoards. And Rolling Jackass center stand.

Heading back towards the beach after lunch, we were on the street-side of the bike path for a few blocks. I guess this would be referred to as a “two-way parking protected bike lane”, and it’s the first time I’ve had to worry about my babe getting doored. Kind of freaky!

Now, it was pretty exciting when we saw a train from the lower West Seattle Bridge a week prior, but this trip we saw the draw bridge in action as a tug boat pushed a barge through. It pivots! I had no idea. I may have been more excited than the children.

I was tempted to take the long, flat route home along the Elliott Bay Trail/Ship Canal Trail, but I wasn’t sure the Magnolia train yard would be open as it was nearing 7pm. I’ve never hit a closed gate yet, but I didn’t want to risk it. So our ride home was only 13.5 miles. And it afforded us a chance to check out the new Westlake Park Play Area. It’s quite small, but we’ll be back during the day to climb and jump.

And finally, we got to see the new digs of Velo Bike Shop at the super-bikey Via6 apartments.

Yes, we got home much later than we would have with the car, but the trip was all pleasant and full of wonderful experiences. Traveling by bike certainly isn’t as quick, but I just love that every trip is an action-packed adventure.

…or possibly tear it apart.

I’m hoping Seattle Bike Blog readers can help me fill out a map of Seattle area bike corrals. I’ve only seen seven of them personally. I knew of one other, and Tom of Seattle Bike Blog tipped me off to two others. There must be more!

In the SBB article I didn’t mention that city to the south that starts with a “P” and ends with an “ortland,” but they’ve got bike corrals up the wazoo (91 as of this writing)! It’s very inspiring. Plus they’re rows of regular racks that are easy for big bikes like mine to use.

We should leave a few spots for cars, of course. Read this brilliant LA Magazine article Between the Lines by Dave Gardetta and see the light.

I rode Chilly Hilly Sunday, but I took my road bike and no kids so it’s not worth blogging about. However, I will point out it was quite different from Bike Camping and Bike for Pie weekend in that we got to Fay Bainbridge in about two minutes whereas it took ten hours with kids and camping gear (both figures are slightly exaggerated). Oh, and it was a hoot to see a long line for the mens restroom aboard the ferry and no line for the ladies. Now, the day before Chilly Hilly, we went on an old mamabike excursion that had its fair share of chills and hills…

This trip was made possible by putting a new, longer stem on the Bianchi Milano, giving the front kid ample knee room. It’s a shame that it’s matte black rather than shiny and has a big Specialized “S” on it, but I shouldn’t complain for $5. Thanks Recycled Cycles! They’ve got a bunch of used stems in the bin if you’re due for a change. This is actually my second expansion–did the same thing for kid #1 a couple of years ago–but with an inch of new room, we’re set until we outgrow this setup completely.

The first leg of our journey took us to Bike Works in Columbia City for the southside Kidical Mass ride. I never realized before today just how easy it is to get to Bike Works. Not easy in the non-strenuous or speedy way, but the route is very straightforward. From North Seattle, one just follows the well-marked Lake Washington Loop–I’m a sucker for a route with lots of signage, plus the twisty-turning parts through Montlake remind me of navigating Baja La Jolla in San Diego–and then rides up through Genessee Park, bikes one block along Alaska, crosses Rainier at the light, and then cuts through Columbia Park.

Kidical Mass rode to the Columbia City Little Free Library (South Lucile Street at 46th Ave South) where we checked out a few books so we’ll get to enjoy the ride down here again soon when we return them.

Then we explored future Rainier Valley Greenways which were all wonderfully quiet and marked with old bike dots on our way to King Donut-Teriyaki-Laundromat.

Then went multi-modal (which you may have guessed from the fact that we’re on the small bike) and took the light rail and a bus to a birthday party at the Highland Park Improvement Club–a great space with a fun dance party facilitated by Gildenfire Dance.

This was our first time stopping at the Tukwila International Boulevard Station where we were wowed by the public art.

Here’s our adventurous route home that was all new stuff at the beginning:

It started with a steep downhill ride along Highland Park Way SW. I didn’t feel comfortable on the sharrowed four-lane road so I stuck to the asphalt sidewalk.

But then we got on the Duwamish Trail which was really nice. Much of it was my kind of scenic–away from the road with a view of the water–and the rest was the boys’ cup of tea–train tracks, containers, and forklifts.

Nearing the West Seattle Bridge, the trail crossed the street and became Duwamish Route and picked up a bike speed limit. Certainly not as great as a bike-specific trail, but a nice compromise–and well-marked!

The best part of the whole day was when we saw a freight train from the West Seattle Bridge.

I somehow missed the turn onto East Marginal Way, but that meant we got to discover the Spokane Street Viaduct artwork. Better appreciated at walking speed so we didn’t read all the cement posts, but here’s a nice one (some of the historical tidbits were a bit gruesome):

Passing through South Lake Union, we saw the new bike racks in front of soon-to-be Via6, the new bike-centric apartment building where Velo Bike Shop will relocate. It’d be nice if those orange cones marked off future cycletrack or on-street bike corals, but I think they’re just protecting the construction zone. This city isn’t ready to be that bike-centric just yet, unfortunately.

The kids were cold and exhausted by the time we got home from our nine-hour day, but what a Chilly Hilly eve of a day it was!

I jumped into the errandonneuring game three and a half days late after seeing Errandeur is a French word for people who do errands on their bikes on the Cascade Bicycle Club blog. It’s a winter biking challenge from Chasing Mailboxes in DC and was oh-so-fun! “Errandonnee: Complete 12 errands in 12 days and ride a total of 30 miles by bike between February 9-20.” The kids were various degrees of ill the first week so that added an extra dimension of challenge to the challenge–imagine how much more we could have done in perfect health!

What did I learn? I am remiss in the personal care department–I hit every category except for “Category 8: Personal Care and Health (doctor, haircut, massage, manicure).” Or perhaps all the biking is keeping my finely tuned machine running so well I don’t routinely need personal care! (OK, OK, and I’m a slob.)

Following is my looong recap of the challenge. Forgive the extra stuff–we often get sidetracked by public art. Here’s my official control card.

February 12

Category 11: Wild Card
Destination: UW Ballot drop box
Miles: 4.5
After the kids went to sleep I rushed out to drop our ballots at the voting van on campus. This was one of my after-dark rides and my lighting was: Knog Beetle on the front, Knog Gekko on the back, Bike Glow for side visibility and Bike Brightz for down-low glow.
Observation: College kids still say “Where you at?”

February 13

Category 1: Bike Shop
Destination: Back Alley Bike Repair
Miles: 12.0
I picked up a Kyler Martz Adventure Print to give Mr. Family Ride for Valentine’s Day. They’ve been on display since the Bike Love Party and there are still several left, if you’re smitten like me.
Observation: Hey, Nord Alley didn’t smell like pee today!

And here begins the extraneous public art portion of my errandonneuring adventure…

On the way to Back Alley we stopped to admire Hammering Man:

And on the way home we paused at Pike Place Market for a snack atop Rachel the Pig:

And for dessert, the Belltown popsicle:

February 14

Category 3: Coffee or Dessert
Destination: Mighty-O Donuts
Miles: 1.2
Observation: Mildly sick kids are not too sick for donuts.

Category 11: Wild Card
Destination: Preschool with big box
Miles: 6.3
As seen on Seattle Bike Blog, I transported a cardboard box for my friend since it was too big to fit in her car. So fun!
Observation: This box was too big to fit in my friend’s car.

February 15

Category 2: Breakfast or Lunch
Destination: Solsticio
Miles: 1.5
Today was the first day we’ve seen the sun in five months! Or so it felt.
Observation: For being on the Burke-Gilman Trail, I really wish there was bike parking here.

Extra stuff…stopped to watch the Golden Dolphin pass through the Fremont Bridge:

And checked out the action at the Ballard skate bowl before heading across the street to the library:

Category 9: Library
Destination: Ballard Library
Miles: 6.8
Observation: 12 books per kid makes for a reasonable load.

Category 3: Coffee or Dessert or maybe Category 1: Bike Shop
Destination: Dutch Bike Co
Miles: 0.5
Stopped in for a snack and picked up a much-needed Velo Orange Bungee Cord Cargo Net.
Observation: Crane is making hand-painted bells–pretty!

Category 5: Dinner or maybe Category 6: Grocery Store
Destination: Metropolitan Market
Miles: 11.0
I’m not sure how to record this errand. I waited patiently (and by that I mean I routinely pestered, whined, and banged around loudly) for Mr. Family Ride to finish work so I could leave the darling sick children in his care and run out to a friend’s going away party at which there would be food (dinner!). But the party ended embarrassingly early and I missed it all. So I hit Met Market on the way back home and dined on cheese samples and “salmon” pate (shouldn’t the “pate” have been in quotes, not the “salmon”? I have no idea what it really was). So it was still a dinner trip, right? I also bought ice cream to bring home so there was a bit of grocery involved.
Observation: I need to open that Amazon box containing my new rechargeable lights already–it’s hella dark on the unlit parts of the Burke-Gilman Trail!

February 16

Not an errand, but thanks to the train mural for being the bait to lure the sick children out of the house. I hoped we’d frolic a little and then move up the block to the U-District farmers market because I heard there would be baby goats on hand…but the frolicking lasted long past market time.

Category 6: Grocery Store
Destination: Trader Joes
Miles: 2.0
Mr. Family Ride isn’t a fan of my sideways transport of pizzas–apparently he doesn’t like all the cheese on one half. Thanks to yesterday’s new cargo net, I can pop them on top of my front basket and keep them flat.
Observation: New cargo net FTW.

And more public art…we passed Hammered Man at the Blue Moon Tavern on our way home. If Hammered Man is drinking, the tavern is open.

February 17

Category 4: Community Meeting
Destination: A residence in Rainier Beach
Miles: 24.8
Can’t reveal the nature of the meeting, but it’s bikey and awesome and in due time things will be revealed. I left the sick kids home and flew down on my road bike–it’s such a treat to beat the Google maps time estimate by 25 minutes, rather than have to add that much time to it! There are a lot of roadies on the Lake Washington Loop so while I felt one of the crowd in my cycling jersey (won it in a Go Mean’s Go caption contest!) and shoe covers, no one else was cycling in a skirt and messenger bag so I didn’t get any head bobs of recognition. On the way home I saw a family of five spread between a tandem and a triple and got to dreaming of the day we’ll all pedal together. A triple would certainly be nice, but I think a more realistic dream is a tandem with Burley Piccolo trailer bike attached.
Observation: I love the signage along Lake Washington Loop.

February 18

Category 1: Bike Shop
Destination: Recycled Cycles
Miles: 1.1
I used the Big Dummy to carry the two kids, my cyclocross bike, and our Burley Piccolo trailer bike and its rack to Recycled Cycles. Handy people attach the rack to their bike themselves, but I’m not handy (especially with two little “helpers”). The shop was very busy due to the holiday so we left the bikes and our number and tried to leave…but got sidetracked by sidewalk chalk. Every bike shop should provide sidewalk chalk! The kids played for so long that by the time we finally got ready to roll to lunch, the phone rang that the bike was ready.
Observation: President’s Day is super busy.

Category 2: Breakfast or Lunch
Destination: Voula’s Offshore Cafe
Miles: 0.9
We traveled a few blocks for lunch at Voula’s before the uphill climb back home. I doubt this was my heaviest load, but it was such a pain to lug back home. My cross bike was leaning out to the side a bit and the Piccolo’s weight is up fairly high so that may have added to the challenge.
Observation: Go check out the submerged Space Needle painting by a customer.

On the way to dinner I checked out the soon-to-be Peddler Brewing Co. It’s so cool! I hung my bike from a hook on the wall–can’t do that with the mamabikes!

And check out the gorgeous bartop:

Category 5: Dinner
Destination: Hale’s Ales
Miles: 8.7
There was no food at Peddler’s so we headed to Hale’s Ales, conveniently located on the Burke-Gilman Trail. I put my new headlight on so I rolled nice and bright with Cygolite Metro 300 Lumen headlight, Knog Gekko rear light, Bike Glow side lights, and Bike Brightz down-low glow. My usual ride, the Surly Big Dummy cargo bike has a dynamo hub with always-on headlight and tail light as well as Pedalite blinkie pedals for side visibility so I’m still fine tuning the visibility of my other bikes.
Observation: Cygolite Metro 300 Lumen headlight = NICE.

February 19

Category 10: Work
Destination: Preschool and kindergarten
Miles: 4.6
I haven’t been gainfully employed in over five years, but I’m counting school dropoffs as my work. Hope that’s cool. Today was an exciting day: we got Engine Engine Engine version 2.0 up and running (I’ll post about it soon) and dropped the pieces off as we went–three-year old and trailer at preschool and then five-year old and Burley Piccolo trailer bike at elementary school. The bike counter didn’t count EEE the first time over, but it did count me + Piccolo on the way back. And then it didn’t count me + trailer after preschool.
Observation: The bike counter doesn’t like Engine Engine Engine.

Category 7: Any store that is not the grocery store
Destination: Archie McPhee
Miles: 0.1
Picked up some little airplanes to put in a shadowbox for a toddler preschool project. My five-year old used to call this dancing bacon “Spongebob”–heh.
Observation: The best place for two-headed evil baby dolls.

Category 7: Any store that is not the grocery store
Destination: Walgreens
Miles: 3.8
Printed out some pictures for the preschool shadowbox. And found an awesome sasquatch-in-a-shot-glass to give to my brother when we visit next month.
Observation: Picture pick-up!

Category 9: Library
Destination: Wallingford Library
Miles: 0.7
Paid a quick visit to our local library for some book returning.
Observation: Would be more bike-accessible if Woodlawn was two-way here…or was one-way for cars with a cycletrack!

Category 4: Community Meeting
Destination: Preschool parent meeting
Miles: 4.9
I forgot to take a photo at preschool, but here’s my bike at the taco truck afterwards, picking up dinner for Mr. Family Ride. Life is rough without cargo capacity! Two blocks with a nylon bag over the handlebars isn’t exactly hard, but it’s not classy.
Observation: Evening bike traffic jam on the Burke-Gilman Trail.

February 20

Category 10: Work
Destination: Preschool and kindergarten
Miles: 4.6
Same as yesterday. I meant to borrow one of Mr. Family Ride’s panniers, but forgot so after leaving the trailer locked up outside preschool, I had to partially shove my messenger bag in the five-year old’s backpack and wear that for the second leg of our school commute. Still working out the EEE kinks. I wondered yesterday if the bike counter ignored my long confusing bike because I had to wait for a pedestrian to clear the Fremont Bridge and rode over the sensor very slowly. Today I cruised over at normal speed and got counted twice. So I guess we’re square.
Observation: The bike counter did count a faster Engine Engine Engine (twice).

Category 6: Grocery Store
Destination: PCC
Miles: 6.7
Grabbed a pannier (shh) before fetching the preschooler so I could pick up a few groceries on the way. I think I need my own pannier so I can get used to its carrying capacity–I order did things a bit.
Observation: I saw the two most hipsterest hipster bikes here today.

Today’s Family Ride post on Seattle Bike Blog was Gotta haul something that won’t fit in your car? Call your friend with a family bike! in which I toted a big empty box for my friend.

It’s been up 9 hours and while I didn’t expect it to generate oodles comments like My least favorite intersection, I’m a tad disappointed no one pointed out my dragging strap. I’ve learned not to tell Mr. Family Ride about my endeavors ahead of time (though I know his “That looks sketchy” is always said with the utmost affection), but when I showed him the picture last night, he immediately zeroed in on said strap. Apparently I could have caught it on a large stick or a manhole cover and gone down in flames.

I was just happy to have remembered to bring scissors down to the garage to finally free my not-so-new-anymore ratcheting tie downs from their container. But I didn’t think I needed to waste time reading the instructions (since I didn’t actually remember the scissors and had to run back in the house while the kids fought over the standing bike pump). So the box is held in place with two tie downs, not ratcheted in place, but rather knotted to various parts of the bike. And one trusty bungee cord for good measure. All made possible by the Xtracycle WideLoader under the box. Props to Matt of Tacoma Bike Ranch who both introduced me to the idea of tie downs and sold me his extra WideLoader for super cheap.

And now I know how to ratchet my tie downs…so lemme know if there’s anything you need help hauling!

Ah, the infant bucket seat. For many, an integral part of having a baby. I didn’t have my babies in hospitals, but I’ve heard one isn’t allowed to leave with the new baby until having shown the nurse an adequate car seat and demonstrating infant-insertion skills. Infant bucket seats are useful for many biking families, too. I haven’t been able to locate the article I read while pregnant with my second, but it was written by a bike racer who recounted riding with her baby in an infant car seat (these are the kind with the handle and that snap into a base that stays in the car) in a bike trailer. There wasn’t a lot in pixels about riding with babies four years ago, presumably because most states require all children (if not everyone) to wear a helmet while on a bicycle and helmets and car seats don’t fit together so well. Last summer I saw a bike trailer baby in a helmet and a car seat, but most families seem to opt for the car seat only. Totcycle’s Baby on a Bicycle post (birthed before my baby, but after I’d found the other article) contains a lot of useful information if you’re looking to bike with a baby.

Baby’s first bike ride at 10 weeks

I got our infant car seat free from a neighborhood mom (she received two as gifts) and it came with three bases–one for mom, one for dad, one for nanny. Wowzer. So for two years those four bulky plastic hunks have been taking up a whole bike’s worth of space in our garage. We Seattleites are fortunate to have car seat recycling–see CoolMom’s Car Seat Recycling page for information and links to resources in other cities. Babies R Us routinely has car seat trade-in events, offering savings when you bring in old equipment (here’s the FAQ from one that just happened), but from my poking around online, it appears some locations recycle the car seats and some just throw them away.

I don’t feel quite as accomplished when I haul big things if I only have one (or gasp, none!) kid along for the ride, but the little guy and I loaded up his old car seat with a couple bungee cords and made the 4.5-mile uphill trek to Childish Things where they took all four pieces for a $5 donation and will transport it to Westside Baby for recycling.

Not at all related to car seat recycling, but do you ever find treasures in the bike lane? Bike Lane Puppy is a doberman Beanie Baby we found on Roosevelt Way a year ago–he’s the sock-clad puppy on the right in my front basket.

Today’s score was a pink golf ball on Green Lake Drive.

I’m the new Seattle Bike Blog Staff Family Cycling Expert! I’ve just written a post whining about my least favorite intersection.

It’s certainly not the worst intersection in town, but it rains on my parade three mornings a week.

Read the whole post on Seattle Bike Blog.

Having just attended What can we learn from Dutch street design? (yes, that’s the back of my head in the photo :) ) presented by Seattle Neighborhood Greenways, I’m sad at the state of our streets and jealous of bicyclists in the Netherlands. I believe SNG filmed the presentation so hopefully those not lucky enough to attend can see Fred Young’s presentation soon.

Last night the kids and I checked out Bicycle Alliance of Washington’s Bike Love Party. The party was great, but I’ve come to realize I no longer like biking on 3rd Avenue (or Dances with buses) downtown. I don’t think I like any street downtown.

So there’s, like, a football game Sunday afternoon? If you’re looking to clear out of your house, too, join us at Green Lake (meet at the shade plaza next to the Community Center–7201 E Green Lake Dr N, Seattle, WA, 98115) at 1pm for a

Small
Urban
Parade
of Energetic
Riders:

Bikes
Ornithology
Woods
Library

My five-year-old will lead a kiddie and adult bike parade. The route is a secret (I think this means he’ll decide where to go when the time comes), but it will probably meander around the shade garden and playground. Possibly a little SLOW action on the bike path. Then we’ll pan for gold at East Beach like 49ERS and scan the trees for RAVENS. [Get it? I just Googled to see which teams were playing in the other Super Bowl.]

If it’s cold or wet–or cold and wet–we can head across the street and take advantage of the new Sunday hours at the Green Lake library–it’s open 1-5.

Other nice and nearby kid-friendly indoor places are Cafe Bonjour (open 9-4), Mockingbird Books (open 12-5), and possibly Gregg’s Cycles (open 10-6).

Join the Seattle Family Biking Facebook group and RSVP so I know how much gold to bury at the beach.

S.U.P.E.R. B.O.W.L.
Green Lake Shade Plaza
Sunday, February 3, 2013
1:00 p.m.

There are some terrifically inspiring recent writings about family bike touring out there. This is not one of them. Check out Lies we Tell our Children (or how to get kids to go bike touring) on Car Free Days and Elle of Tiny Helmets Big Bikes‘s amazing four-day bike tour with her son. And in the kid-free arena, The Path Less Pedaled is currently touring around Southern and Central California, making me homesick and sunsick. This little trip isn’t in their league, but I was duly inspired, and consequently our trek to a birthday party on Vashon Island (about 20 miles away) Saturday felt quite bike tour-ish.

When we first got the invite I toyed with idea of using Mr. Family Ride coming along as an excuse to use the car. There are plenty of truly car-free people out there with car-owning spouses. Davey Oil is in a Transportation Interfaith marriage. As is my friend, Merlin, the Transporation Nag. I don’t count myself in that awesome crowd, but I’m getting there. Then I had an even better idea of Mr. Family Ride driving the kids while I took my road bike separately. Maybe I could even check out the Vashon Island Bike Tree this way! And we’d bring the bike rack in the trunk in case it seemed a better idea for me to arrive home with the family rather than an hour and a half later (really, this was what I thought–no concern of being too tired or lazy to ride both ways).

In the end, Mr. Family Ride had to work all day so I opted for a multi-modal adventure. I can envision taking the cargo bike and riding 18 miles to the Fauntleroy Ferry Terminal in the summer, but it’s just too cold to expect the kids to sit happily for over two hours, even with stops along the way. So we took the old mamabike and let the bus do much of the work: bike-bus-bike-ferry-bike. It was just a six-hour adventure, but I felt like we hit on a lot of the aspects of bike touring.

First up was the “meeting interesting people on tour” portion of the trip in which we ran into Victor on his new Yuba Mundo on the Fremont Bridge. We usually see him on Cargo Bike Rides, but our ride together felt like more of a Critical Mass as we took a lane on 5th through downtown. I usually stay on Westlake and ride between the streetcar rails, but Victor led us on a much nicer route:

Our educational pit stop was the Seattle Central Library. Book return with conveyor belt, escalator, potties, train and puppy books to check out, oh my!

As we headed two blocks to the bus stop, I saw a red RapidRide bus go by. I pointed it out to the boys and said the previous bus must have been very late. Upon arriving at the stop and checking the OneBusAway app, I discovered that our bus had been five minutes early. Doh! This is part of the reason I like simply biking everywhere: no timetable to abide by. The following bus was late, but it didn’t really matter since we’d already missed the ferry as I hadn’t thought to pad our time. When the next bus finally arrived, two of the three bike rack slots were already filled. I’ve never had to squeeze into the spot closest to the bus. It’s not easy! I guess I could have waited for the following bus given our new-found extra time, but it seemed wise to make some forward progress.

Extra time at the ferry terminal turned out to be a good thing–it wasn’t as straightforward for bicycles as at the main terminal, which we’ve used twice to go to Bainbridge Island. Cars filled the outbound lanes and we were directed to the pedestrian walkway to purchase tickets inside the waiting room. (When I say “directed to,” I mean I asked where I was supposed to ride and the car ticket issuer shrugged so I asked if I could ride on the walkway and she shrugged again.)

I ignored the BICYCLE STAGING AREA IS ACROSS THE DOCK sign and tucked my bike under the overhang because it was raining and there wasn’t a lot of pedestrian traffic.

The bicycle staging area was quite big (two car parking spots) and is probably bustling with activity during commute hours. Naturally, the rain picked up while we were waiting there, so we huddled next to the van while our ferry unloaded. Sometimes wind is good–the rain fell at an angle so we were somewhat shielded.

We were the only bike on board. Apparently the yellow string is for securing one’s bike to the railing. I thought my lock would do a better job. A crew member was impressed by my centerstand, though I doubt it would keep the bike upright for the ferry ride sans bike lock support.

By the way, three sets of car-bound friends had also missed the previous ferry so we had some company on board :)

I know Vashon is hilly, but I didn’t know what to expect when I got off the ferry. Here’s what we got: a four-lane highway with tons of cars speeding up a hill with a tiny shoulder.

I almost called it a day and adjourned to the Mexican restaurant next to the ferry terminal entrance. It just didn’t strike me as a slow-bike-friendly road.

But the kids would have been very dismayed so we waited for all the cars to leave the ferry and then started up the hill. I stopped to rest part way up, but crossed over to the other side of the street to find a safe haven in a driveway.

Once up the hill, we got off the highway and were back in bike touring mode. We saw a cool train gate post, scary NO HUNTING signs, and an amazing variety of flora.

Most of us left the party at the same time, to catch the 3:50 ferry home. The first car backing down the driveway got stuck on a rock. I had plenty of room to get by, so go bikes! And with just a bit of pushing, the car came unstuck. Seems worth a mention.

Despite my not wanting to ride a family bike on Vashon again, the ferry terminal suggests there is a lot of biking here. There’s a rail covered in bike locks–I guess these are commuters who live on the island, ride to the ferry, leave their bikes behind, and then bus to the office on the other side?

I didn’t investigate the size of the backup rack, but there were two bikes at the front rack and apparently room for many more.

The ped and bicycle staging area was exposed to the elements again. This one a small triangle between the two directions of traffic.

I liked the RapidRide stop we used once we got back to Fauntleroy–note the “3 min” indicating when the next bus would arrive. That jumped to “5 min” right after I took the picture, but it came soon enough.

During the five-mile bike ride home from downtown, my three-year old front passenger realized his legs were too squished. I realized this earlier, but didn’t want to point it out to him. I was worried his rain boot wouldn’t stay on unsecured so I had him drape a sock-clad foot over the handlebar and I rotated his seat a bit to give his other knee more room. That worked OK for a few blocks until his foot got too cold. So we put the boot back on and hoped it would stay put. (It did.)

It was a hard and tiring day, but very fun at the same time. Hey, just like a real bike tour! I’ve felt like we’re on the verge of outgrowing the old mamabike for a while, but given how today’s fun overrode the rough bits, I think I’ll look into getting a longer stem and make it work a bit longer.

And I’ll allow for early buses next time.