After a couple days ignoring the detour by the Stoneway Village construction site (wait, now it’s called Prescott Wallingford), I heeded the sign at 38th and turned right up the hill.

It was a little confusing since after the first two signs, everything was oriented for southbound Interlake traffic. I guess that makes sense for pedestrians and bikes coming from the neighborhood, but since the southbound Stone bike lane is unaffected by the construction, I think many detour users are northbound bikes and it may have been a mistake. From looking back over my shoulder to see the signs, I think we were supposed to rejoin Stone Avenue at 40th, but even though that would have allowed us to see a little bit of the exciting construction site (the best part of the ride up Stone), I didn’t want to lose the extra altitude I’d gained. The next block was even steeper, but I was committed…and only had the little kid on board so it wasn’t too bad.

I’m glad I stuck with it because we discovered the turtle street mural at 41st and Interlake.

Later in the day, with both kids on board, we checked out the new bike lane on 45th. I agree with the Seattle bike blog article commenters that it’s not enough to make this block safe, but any additional markings can’t be bad. I hope it’s a move towards more separated bike lanes, even if it’s just paint separating the lanes for now. We don’t ride on Dexter a lot (because it’s a hill we can avoid on Westlake, plus we’d miss the Lake Union seaplanes and boats), but I like its new bike lane.

And one last ride for the day: I went out solo in the dark to attend the monthly preschool parents meeting. I had trouble deciding which bike to take since there are so many choices! I took the road bike last month so I could ride fast, but tonight I was too lazy to lace up my clipless shoes and didn’t want to deal with putting lights on my beach cruiser so I took the new bike. Wow, those dynamo lights (Alfine Dynamo hub with Lumotec IQ Cyo R N Plus lights) are bright! I don’t think I’ll be content to ride any other bike at night now.

I took the new bike grocery shopping for the first time this morning. It didn’t really count, though, since the kids didn’t want to come along. It took me forever to get the bags loaded into the Xtracycle FreeLoaders, but I imagine I’ll get quick at it in time. The main problem was that even with the seat adapter raising the kid seat, the middle FreeLoader buckle was buried under the Yepp’s foot rests. I probably should have removed the seat (easy to do if I bothered to keep the key to it handy), but I wanted to practice with full kid gear in place.

While I was struggling with the bike, a woman easily loading groceries into her car chatted with me. Turns out she had heard of my bike from Ride Bicycles, where she’d bought her city bike. She also has a Kona Ute longtail, which I’d heard about from Ride Bicycles, too. Small town, Seattle, sometimes. I lamented not bringing a bungee cord along so she offered me a scarf from her trunk, but I did OK just perching the last bag in the front basket.

Shopping done, I loaded the kids onto the bike for a trip to South Lake Union Park for Cookies, Crafts & Carols, a festival aboard the Virginia V (our favorite boat), the tugboat Arthur Foss, and the visiting Schooner Adventuress. I was a bit nervous about the bike being locked to itself, but I wanted it closer than the bike racks (plus I didn’t want to walk all the way from the bike racks with two cold kids). Fortunately, it was easy to keep an eye on it from various portholes.

The only bad part about Big Pink (just a temporary name, in hopes I can come up with something more creative) is that I keep trying to manipulate it like my old bike. It’s misleadingly agile on the road, but very heavy and therefore not as easy to muscle the rear of the bike over a couple inches or walk the bike in a curve. I haven’t dropped the bike yet, but I’ve had to keep it from tipping and my back is not happy about it. I keep thinking “it’s supposed to be just like a normal bike” but that’s compared to a riding a box-style cargo bike, not compared to my normal bike I’m used to.

On the way home, we swung by the Wallingford Center to say hi to the Green Carolers and Santa. This may be our only boys-in-bike-helmets-with-Santa photo of the season.

The Green Carolers sang their way over to Green Lake for the Pathway of Lights, but we opted to skip this year and meet Mr. Family Ride for pizza on the way home. He demonstrated proper locking technique while I tried hard to pay attention, but I think I need a refresher course. Somehow I’m supposed to get the U-lock around the bike rack, frame, and wheel all at once, while making sure the U side isn’t against the rack in case someone takes a pry bar to it because I wouldn’t want him/her to steal a bike with a damaged frame. Then the cable part has to thread through a million things. I think I’d need several additional locks to get it as secure on my own. So between loading groceries and locking/unlocking I’ll have tons of time to get aquainted with my new bike.

First day on the new bike!

It’s a Surly Big Dummy with Xtracycle Family Kit. Seattle Powder Coat painted it bubblegum pink, Haulin’ Colin installed the Rolling Jackass center stand, and Ride Bicycles put it all together, including add-on Surly Open Bar Handlebars, “grippy yet fast” Panaracer T-Serv 26 X 1.75 tires, bullhorn handlebars on the seat post, dynamo hub to power front and rear lights, and tricky install of Linus Delano Basket purchased at Dutch Bike Co. I think that’s everything. I’ll update with the make of dynamo stuff when I get around to reading the loooooong receipt. I think I may eventually add the new Xtracycle RunningBoards (narrower than wideloaders) and I’ve convinced myself I need a Brooks saddle, but I’m not allowed to make any rash purchases, plus I haven’t argued my case very well–“because everyone has ’em!” didn’t cut it.

I packed up the U-lock and kids to ride nine miles via the new ship canal trail to the waterfront to meet Santa Clam at Ivar’s Acres of Clams. I gotta say Santa Clam wasn’t really worth the big trip in 39 degree weather, but we’ve been here three years and never seen him.

The “free gift” from Santa Clam was a coupon for a free kid meal at Acres of Clams, but we opted for to-go lunch next door at Ivar’s Pier 54 Fish Bar. Eating it outside in Toyland Village seemed like a great idea at the time, but the kids were pretty cold by the time we packed up to head back north. The snow we saw on top of some box cars on our way down was unmelted when we rode back by.

I had hoped to make it to Wallingford in time for the Spokespeople ride along the soon-to-be Wallingford Neighborhood Greenways, but the kids really needed to thaw out and the riders were long gone by the time we reached the meeting point at 2:20.

The bike handled great. It’s nice having a granny ring and I used it on many of the hills, but not all of them. However, I did still need to shed my sweater and gloves for the eight-block climb up Densmore so while the new bike doesn’t feel heavy to ride, it also doesn’t negate the weight of the kids. I think one can stand and pedal uphill with kids on the back of a longtail, but I didn’t give that a try.

The kids had more of a changed ride than I. The little guy is used to having his fairing block most of the wind so he was extra chilly by the end of the ride. Next time he gets takled into the balaclava and ski goggles. The big guy is used to being ensconced in his Bobike maxi so no seat was a big change for him. He was perfectly comfortable and even kept his hands on his handlebars when we rode alongside a moving train–an event usually too loud for him, requiring ear covering. His feet aren’t long enough to reach Footsies or RunningBoards so we just tucked them in the FreeLoader panniers.

I’ve been very lucky–I haven’t used a U-lock in years, I only lock my frame to bike racks, and I often leave items unattended in the bike baskets and helmets sitting on the kid seats. I had a rude awakening today when I left a bag full of stuff in a basket and my helmet on the rear seat (the kids kept their helmets on) to make a quick trip to the Ballard Fred Meyer. When we returned to the bike the bag was gone, but my helmet was still there. I’m primarily mad at myself, but damn that thief! Our newest kid mittens and knit cap were in the bag as well as some toys. I didn’t let on to the kids how distraught I was, but I wanted to throw a tantrum that would have put any toddler to shame. Wah! We have a U-lock at home so I intend to start using that and empty everything from the bike every stop that takes me out of line of sight.

This afternoon, the boys and Mr. Family Ride drove me to Ride Bicycles to pick up the new bike. It was hard to be sufficiently excited about it while I was still wallowing in “I don’t deserve nice things, I’ll just break them or lose them!” but this bike will only be locked by U-lock with no enticing bags left in the panniers. So more on the bike tomorrow once I’m not feeling so whiney.

I hardly feel worthy, but I’m Cascade Bicycle Club Cyclist of the Month!

I’m hoping to make an impact and encourage more want-to-be bikers to get out there at least once this month. If you need even more kick in the butt than my smiling face, consider taking The Winter B-icicle Challenge:

Take The Winter B-icicle Challenge!
As winter settles in across all Northern Hemisphere nations, and the cold wind blows, it’s tempting to put your bike away for hibernation. But as of December 1, we’re asking you to keep on pedaling through all three winter months.

Why are we doing it?

• To see if we can put our money where our mouth is in regards to living a greener life, and not just when weather permits
• A good time to reflect about those people without homes during winter
• We love riding our bikes and don’t want to go three months without it
• We hate traffic jams!

Rules. We will ride to work or school everyday unless:

• The road is so icy we’ll most probably break our necks
• We have a meeting or activity that is more than an hour bike ride away
• We’re so sick with the flu we can’t even be bothered to watch The Wire

Sign up on Facebook or through The Winter B-icicle Challenge website. It’ll be fun! Even more fun if you do it sporting helmuffs, like me. Thanks to Stacy of A Simple Six ofr inviting me to the event!

In less exciting news, I got my first flat-tire-on-the-go in over ten years today. It was my once-every-three-weeks work day at preschool so I was just with the four-year old and most things are easier with one kid in tow than two. I’d like to say that I know how to change a flat, but I’ve long forgotten. I was so proficient in college. I biked all over Santa Barbara with a patch kit and two spoons I’d borrowed from the UCSB dining commons. But hey, this is just an example of how even an inept bike maintainer can tackle a daily commute with kids. I’ve been fond of telling people “If I were to get a flat, I’d probably sit on the curb and cry until someone came along to help me” but I remained calm…and called home. I knew I was very close to FreeRange Cycles so my husband gave them a call to make sure they were open (FreeRange Cycle’s hours are right there on their website, FYI) and let them know I’d be there in a few minutes.

Kathleen and her mechanics were all very nice and fixed my bike on the spot. There was a small stash of little toys for kids, free Momentum Magazines for adults, and lots of great bikes and accessories. In fact, a guy came in while we were waiting/playing/browsing and exclaimed that everything he’s ever wanted was in the shop. It was so sweet, but I was distracted by my preschooler ringing bike bells so I didn’t get to hear if he was visiting from out of town or a local. OK, so I almost laughed when the mechanic paused in his tire resurrection to ask me what pressure I like to keep my tire at, but it was nice of him to pretend I’m not as clueless as I appear.

My ears will stay toasty all winter with my new Helmuffs from Heidi’s Hand Knits. If you want to see her selection in person, check out the free Urban Craft Uprising Winter Show at the Seattle Center this weekend. See, no need to be sad that you’re not down in Portland for BikeCraft.

You may recognize the pillar behind us from the I-5 Colonnade. I love this place, but haven’t yet made it back with my mountain bike.

Our ride home from Capitol Hill was via the colonnade, but we took a new route on the way there, using Lakeview Boulevard East to cross over the freeway.

I almost didn’t follow the suggested route because Lakeview looked like a freeway onramp from down on Eastlake. I knew it wasn’t an onramp, but I wasn’t keen to ride on something that looked like an onramp, either. I stopped to consider things for a couple minutes and saw several bikers come down the ramp. I was loathe to lose any of the elevation I’d already gained so I crossed to the opposite sidewalk and braved the ramp. Once over there I could see the bike lane so I popped down the curb (possible with just the front kid) and rode up and over the freeway comfortably. I think the ramp would have been doable with the weight of both kids on the bike, but a block on either side were killer.

In more not-locking-the-bike news, fresh off our unlocked bike in the train station stint yesterday, I considered leaving the bike loose by the U-District Super Supplements door, but considering the state of the bike at the nearby bike rack, I came to my senses. Like train stations, university-adjacent neighborhoods are probably high on the list of places to secure one’s bike.

We’re finally taking a bike-train trip! The littles and I will ride the Amtrak Cascades to Portland next week. If you’re in the area, come to a bikey family playdate:

Tuesday, December 6th
3:00-5:00 pm
Sewallcrest Park
SE 31st Ave & Market St, Portland, OR

King Street Station is pretty nice. I’m mostly basing that on the state of the bathroom. I especially like that theres a very large sitting room in the ladies room so I was able to wheel the bike in there and leave it for a moment while the boys used the facilities. Probably not the best idea to leave one’s bike unlocked in any location of any train station so I won’t do it again.

Naturally, I forgot to time how long it took to get to the train station so that part of the test run didn’t work so well, but it was good to get a lay of the land and purchase tickets in advance. Since I’m using the Chinook Book free kid coupon, I don’t think I could have purchased them online.

I haven’t had a chance to figure out any of the logistics yet, but I did think to ask what the bike accommodations are and learned bikes hang vertically from hooks on the train. I’m not sure how I’ll get the bike up there, given past failures: trying and failing to use the tilted bike rack at Whole Foods, and trying and failing to get the front wheel over the bike fence at Pike Place Market. Should be interesting. I’m not ready to think about how I’m going to pack three people’s worth of stuff into two little bags.

Riding to the train station I was reminded of a Seattle Bike Blog commenter’s complaint about the 2nd Avenue bike lane. I started in the offending bike lane, but when I saw another bike riding on the other side of the street in the Bus Only lane, I did the same. The bus lane is next to the parked-car-free curb and I didn’t see one bus our entire time on the street. The bike lane, however, is next to a solid wall of parked cars. Given the slight downhill slope, I was moving faster than normal which makes the “door lane” scarier. At my incredibly slow uphill rate, I can see into each car and am warned if the driver is inside and might swing the door open into my path.

Today was not the easiest day to visit the Seattle Center–for four-wheeled vehicles, that is. Cars and buses had to deal with a series of street closures for the Seattle Marathon, but my bike route was unaffected. I encountered one closed road, but the sidewalk was open so I was home free. A nice side effect was that the Center House and Children’s Museum weren’t as crowded as normally is the case on weekends. The Winterfest model train is up and running and it’s not always easy to get an unobstructed view of it on non-marathon days.

I’ve been too lazy to deal with my Denny Way bypass of Aurora my last few visits to the Seattle Center and have taken Broad Street’s sidewalk under Aurora. I met a couple finished marathoners on my way over and we fit past each other on the sidewalk, though it was a little tight. I don’t like inconveniencing pedestrians when I share the sidewalks so I might go back to my old route…but it’s hard to see the Space Needle so close and then have to loop around a mile and a half.

On the way home, we swung by Ride Bicycles to visit the new bike. The Xtracycle stoker bar isn’t black like the rest of the non-pink parts so we’re trying a black stem and bullhorn handlebars, which will get black tape. Edward offered to chop the handlebars to make them smaller, but I like them big.

So all that’s left is the super stable Rolling Jackass center stand and footsies…although it looks like the footsies might be a little too low to be useful yet. The new running boards look very cool, too, but sold out within a day of their release. They’ll also be too low for a foot rest, but will probably make climbing aboard easier.

We rode the new Ship Canal Trail from east to west for the first time and it’s only slightly less awesome than I’d envisioned. The switchbacks to cross the train tracks seem excessive, but I mostly don’t like that it spits the rider out on Emerson, which isn’t very bike friendly and is just steep enough to make me complain. I guess this technically isn’t part of the new trail, but having never crossed the Ballard Bridge, it’s all new to me. However, I was able to get to the waterfront without having to walk through the locks or navigate the busy downtown streets. And there’s a blue train engine–nothing could be more exciting than that.

Seattle Bike Blog has a nice video and description of the new trail and Jen of Loop-Frame Love has a great description of our Kidical Mass trail opening ride.

We were soon back on familiar ground–Gilman Ave W–and saw five airplane fuselages in the train yard as we made our way to the waterfront. I cheated and took the elevator at pier 66 to get up towards Pike Place Market, though with a three-minute wait for a guy to finish cleaning the elevator, a pair of pedicabs beat us from the waterfront to the market. So not quicker, but easier. Next time maybe I’ll let the pedicabs pace me up the hill.

Our purpose of visiting Pike Place Market was to see Santa and he was awesome. Still coming to terms with how much the big kid lurves Santa. I’m not a Christmas celebrator myself. The little kid wasn’t so sure about him, but didn’t mind sitting on his lap for a moment while his brother talked about trains and I took a picture.

We rode home our usual way, mostly on the sidewalks to avoid the heavy traffic. I’d prefer a route that doesn’t involve sidewalks, but we saw our usual batch of exciting stuff–we rode under a moving monorail train and paused to admire Chalky the Pig’s holiday wreath at Harrison and Westlake (Rachel the Pig at the market has one, too):

At South Lake Union Park we saw the Christmas Ships lighting up, which is the only way we’ll see them with the no-nappers’ early bedtimes.

I’d had enough excitement for the day, but it seemed like a fine day to make good on my promise to visit the Dewdrops sculpture at Wallingford and 34th. It wasn’t bad riding up Wallingford, but I think I’ll stick to Densmore, favorite hill of Spokespeople. I haven’t compared the grades with the Veloroutes Hill Caluculator yet, but I think Densmore is a little easier. I’ve completely given up on my shorter and steeper route of 4th-to-40th-to-Latona since it’s just no fun walking half a block (or more on extra tired days).

This post was going to be a recap of today’s Buy Nothing Day Cargo Bike Ride, but instead it’s a love letter to Seattle and her awesome bike riders. Say what you will about the Seattle Freeze, but there are some remarkably nice folks here, many of them on bikes.

I started out with the group from Pike Place Market, but my bike was making a rubbing sound so I stopped briefly to tug on my kickstand and try to get it back into place. No luck so I stopped on the sidewalk and let the group get away from me while I gave it a more proper tugging. A nice pedestrian offered to hold the bike while I manhandled the kickstand and diagnosed it as my needing to find someone with an allen key to loosen it a bit. I rode another block and saw John, who hadn’t set out to take part in the Cargo Bike Ride, but saw Aaron and stopped to say hi right before we set off for Oxbow Park. He’d apparently changed his mind about riding around alone and was looking for our group. I asked if he had an allen wrench and he kindly removed my kickstand for me. Unfortunately that didn’t stop the rubbing so I stopped yet again and tugged at my rear fender and that stopped the sound.

John, friendly Seattle cyclist

I admitted to John that while I’ve been to Oxbow a few times, it’s always been by bus from downtown so he took the reins and at my urging, set a nice quick (for me) pace down there. I can move fairly quickly as long as I’m on flat ground and I was in my hardest two gears most of the time. The only hill we had was the 1st Ave South bridge over the train tracks. We figured Aaron had led the group along the waterfront since we didn’t see them and given our pace, I wasn’t surprised when we beat them to the park. That gave me time to find a tree for the boys–the irony of Oxbow Park is that while the boots housed the gas station bathroom in the Hat n’ Boots days, there’s no restroom in the park now–and John reattached my kickstand.

The gang arrived soon enough and fetched a picnic table with the huge trailer behind Aaron’s bakfiets. He’d used the trailer to haul three huge logs and an axe to the picnic. I was still impressed with myself for hauling a growler of beer, chips, and guacamole. Small bike, small load. Big bike, big load.

The sun was starting to get low in the sky at 4:30 so we packed up shop and planned to follow a couple Xtracycles through Beacon Hill to Capitol Hill and then find our way home. But I saw that first hill heading east on Lucile under the freeway and decided to go it alone back the way we came. I was heading up 1st in SODO trying to decide if I wanted to deal with hills and find my way up through Westlake, find the new ship canal trail, or just take the flat and long trip along the waterfront and through the locks. I heard a bike behind me and kept expecting him to pass. Instead, it seemed like he was riding protectively, swinging out to the side as cars passed around us. I glanced back a couple times and saw a glimpse of green, but didn’t turn my head enough to get a good look at the guy. Finally I took a proper look back and lo and behold, it was David and Stella. Stella is the luckiest dog in the Puget Sound and rides everywhere in David’s front basket. Another Seattle Freeze misunderstanding narrowly avoided: I’m not rude, just nearsighted. So we rode together along the waterfront and David offered to lead us down to the new ship canal trail, but we opted to follow him through the locks instead. Stella had her warm blanket to nestle under, but my puppies were underdressed so we stopped at the locks to layer up while David and Stella pushed on north.

Heading up Market we ran into Cascade Bicycle Ambassador Brian Bothomley, another one of Seattle’s most awesome bike riders who is officially recognized for being such. I often see him at the Ballard Farmers Market on Sundays where he can answer any biking question you may have.

Finally nearing home, I cruised along the Burke-Gilman Trail and reflected on how terrific Seattle is. Mind you, this post probably wouldn’t have seen the light of day had it rained today, as expected. But today was sunny and not too cold (until the sun set) and somehow magical. Despite my occasional complaining that no city is bikey enough without miles upon miles of separated bike lanes like in the Netherlands, Seattle is the bikiest place I’ve lived. I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to easily bike many places in my various cities–Santa Barbara, Albany (CA), San Diego, and Las Vegas (the four weeks of the year it’s not too hot or too cold)–but Seattle is set up well enough that I can get most places, not only nearby places, with the bike. Love ya, Emerald City!