We’ve gone south to Portland four times with the cargo bike on BoltBus now, but this was our first time north to Vancouver, Canada! Lots of pictures below, but all the pictures on Flickr here.

Friday
Our day started with an 8:15 a.m. departure on Friday:

I didn’t realize our 10:00 a.m. BoltBus had started its journey down in Portland, Oregon, so it was already half full. Remember, if there’s not enough room for the bike, it doesn’t get to go…which means I’d either need to very quickly find somewhere safe for it and leave it behind or not get on the bus at all. Fortunately the driver saw my bike and instructed me to put it in the cargo hold before any of the bags went in. Phew! I’ve never had my bike turned away, but the possibility always makes me very nervous. Meanwhile, Amtrak Cascades only allows roll-on service to normal bikes, and boxed bikes must weigh 50 pounds or less so I’d need to separate my 76-pound bike into two boxes (assuming I knew how to take apart a bike and then put it back together). So once again, hooray for BoltBus making travel with a longtail possible!

The bus was full, but I was able to seat the kids next to one another and me right behind them. That ended up working very well–probably better than had I sat across the aisle from them. They happily chatted and drew and I just had to pass pencils and pens of the requested color forward every 10 seconds. And my seatmate had seven nieces and nephews and was happy to interact with the kids and chat with me. I was in the back row and at our 15-minutes stop in Bellingham, the kids had fun sitting in the way-back alcove:

I think I’ve noticed people sitting up there for the moving parts of the trip, and that would probably be pretty fun for kids. At ages eight and six the bus was a lot easier than our first time, but it’s still not as easy as the train.

Amtrak Cascade pros for travel with kids (and everyone?)

• A dozen cars to walk through and get wiggles out!
• Dining car with food for purchase (and seating for change of scenery).
• So many potties! Including two very large handicapped stalls if you need to squeeze the whole family in at once.
• Soap and water in the potties (versus just hand sanitizer on the bus).
• Potable water in the dining car–our trip up was very hot and we drank all our water quickly (though this was my fault for not noticing the overhead vents! On the way home we put the air on and didn’t dehydrate, plus we found water fountains while crossing the border to refill–but there weren’t water fountains in the border-crossing room on our way up).

BoltBus pros

• Fast customs clearing at the border crossing.

Our BoltBus was ahead of schedule on the way up (and only 10 minutes late on the way down), and the border crossing was a breeze–we drove through the smaller Blaine border crossing so although we didn’t get a view of the Peach Arch, we passengers unloaded with all our luggage (bikes got to stay in the cargo hold) and clear customs in a private room. A train will always generate a much longer line of passengers than a full bus.

And the bus arrives next to the train station so that’s convenient!

We stayed with my friend Tonya, who also has a Surly Big Dummy (so we’re basically family!), who met us at the train station and guided us home. But before that, getting off the train we watched a guy pull a folding bike out of the cargo hold and he realized we’d met on a group ride in Portland in December. He was able to navigate using his smart phone without having to pay for an international data plan thanks to the Maplets app (which I’ve just now installed).

I was so excited to show the kids the Trans Am Totem on our way from the train station (they loved it, too):

We stopped at Terra Breads and met up with Lisa of Spokesmama because we family bikers like to flock together. My kids became fast friends with the rest of the flock and I was intrigued by the variety of bikes as we hung out in Olympic Village Square: lots of road bikes, fast tandems and slow upright tandems, a BMX crew, little kids on bikes, and clunky old commuters.

I packed pretty light for the weekend, but realized something: my kids are getting heavy!

I think it’s partly due to the fact that we don’t bike daily right now. School is two blocks from home and we walk (it would take longer to bike!), and we generally don’t leave home after school…though now that the time has changed and it’s light later, we’ll start to do so. And I only have the kids every other weekend and don’t choose to carry a bunch of dead weight on my cargo bike on my non-parenting weekends. But also: they’re getting heavy!

Tonya offered to carry a kid at the train station and they both said no because they’re shy little ornery things, but after cookies at Terra Breads, my six-year old acquiesced. Yay! (Of course then the eight-year old said yes, too, and it nearly turned into an all-out brawl, but I got them to agree to take turns).

Then we biked to the MOST AMAZING STORE: Landyachtz. I thought Tonya was making a joke about cars, but they’re a Vancouver-based longboard brand! Tons of demo longboards, indoor skate park, bike repair, fancy coffee, oodles of pinball machines (including The Addams Family, my fave!!!!), and outdoor patio with lots of seating.

Landyachtz is on the Adanac Bikeway (Adanac = Canada backwards) so there were few cars and lots of bikes, making it was easy to test ride as many longboards as we wanted to.

Saturday
Saturday was sunny! And cool. Big kid in the winter jacket was probably overly bundled and little kid in short sleeves runs weirdly warm, but I was just right in wool sweater and awesome new Canada v Mexico soccer scarf.

My big kid soon demanded his turn on Tonya’s bike and I was able to keep up with her and her son as we traveled along a terrific bike-friendly route across town. I visited alone 11 months ago and got to bike the excellent downtown Vancouver protected bike lanes with Tonya and Lisa so it was OK that we skipped any downtown action this visit. The traffic calming is amazing!

We soon arrived at Tandem Bike Cafe for my Urban Cycling book reading. The event was fun, and Tandem now has a copy of Urban Cycling in their library, or Vancouverites can purchase their own copies at Raincoast Books and MEC. And keep an eye on Spokesmama for a future giveaway.

Tonya secured a projector and screen for my presentation so of course we argued over who got to carry it home afterwards. She won and took the big screen, but at least I got the projector. (This is what cargo bikers do, we stubbornly fight over carrying all the stuff.)

We dropped the gear at home, did some kid- and bike-swapping and made for Plateau Park.

I got to see this park 11 months ago, but it was 99% done and surrounded by a fence. It was so great to share it with the kids this time.

Sunday
Sunday started grey and drizzly, but 42 people gathered for the Vancouver Family Biking Easter Bonnet Ride! Read Lisa’s #YVRFamilyBiking Easter Bonnet Ride Recap on Spokesmama.

The clouds blew away and left us with gorgeous blue skies, but it stayed windy along the water. Our route was amazingly pleasant with multi-use paths, bike trails, separated bike lanes, and quiet streets.

Our destination was the Wild rabbits of Jericho Beach because Easter! We only saw a couple bunnies, possibly because they sensed the eagle watching us all from a nearby tree.

After the ride we hit Granville Island. We visited the island five summers ago (by car), but the kids didn’t remember it. The spray park was open our previous visit and I think the play structure was different and bigger. Still awesome, though!

And then back to the bus. For travel away from Vancouver, one gets to BoltBus through the train station which is nicer than standing out on the street like in Seattle and Portland. Our border crossing was quick again, but our driver reminded us several times to have our papers filled out and worried aloud it might take a long time, so maybe it’s not always fast. There was also a border control agent who pre-checked all our stuff while we were waiting in line, looking for problems. It’s interesting how differently things work on one side of the border than the other. When driving in years past, I’ve been impressed by the signs to turn off engines and the convenient holding areas to move cars efficiently towards the crossing on the Canadian side versus the inching-forward traffic jam on the U.S. side. But it’s been a while so maybe it’s better now.

The 5:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. bus ride home was not as easy for the kids as the 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. ride up, but we made it! Pulled in at 9:10-ish, loaded up at 9:18 and home a bit over an hour later.

All in all, an awesome time! We’ll visit again in the summer. But it’s tempting to travel by city bus to the train and borrow or rent a bike or bikes in Vancouver. We’ll see.

Links first:

• GoFundMe: Support G&O Family Cyclery
• This Save G&O page has other ways to give

Looking at photos of the damage to the block, it’s amazing that no one was killed yesterday. It’s all so incredibly sad and I feel for all the people affected.

Searching my blog for “family cyclery” I found so many posts. The shop–and the people of the shop (Davey, Tyler, Donald, Karl, and Forrest)–are big parts of our lives as well as for so many other members of the Seattle family biking community (and well beyond Seattle, too!).

I remember when Davey first told me he was planning to open a family-friendly bike shop. Had we not bumped into one another on the Burke-Gilman Trail I’m sure I would have grabbed him by the shoulders and shaken him as I shouted “WE’VE ALMOST OUTGROWN OUR TRAIN TABLE, YOU MUST LET ME DONATE IT TO THE SHOP! EVERY FAMILY-FRIENDLY SHOP NEEDS A TRAIN TABLE!” As it was, I just shouted it while gripping my handlebars.

And Davey obliged me:

There’s a kid tucked in there, too:

Our first visit to G&O Family Cyclery was one of countless visits. I’ll admit I probably make more visits to say hello than for bike repairs. I’ve made many new friends in G&O, used it as a meet-up spot, and had a million wonderful conversations with other customers.

G&O is a huge part of the robust family biking scene in Seattle. Making it easy for people to test ride bikes and purchase bikes–not to mention be able to talk about bikes with kids in tow–is so important.

If G&O has touched your life in some way, even just through the stories of others being sent on their journey of family biking joy, please help save them.

Our Kidical Mass ride from the Ballard Locks to the Seattle Bike Show was great! We were about 26 humans and 1 dog on 20 bikes.

New this year at the bike show was an obstacle course for little kids! Bikes and helmets were provided, no need to bring your own.

 And a climbing wall!

And the same fun stuff from last year, like the zip line and pump track for slightly bigger kids.

   

 
Our favorite booths were all there: Familybike Seattle (full disclosure: I’m on the board of directors) with lots of cargo bikes to look at, chocolates to eat, and family biking information to absorb; Bike Works with a wheel to spin (Bike Works also ran the bike valet parking out front); and Pedalheads bike camps. OutdoorsNW had a lot of giveaways, free copies of the annual NW Cyclist issue, and a photo booth; Amtrak had junior conductor activity books, and my kids tell me the massage chairs looked great, but the lines were too long.

Morgan Scherer, Executive Director of Familybike, and I spoke on the main stage about family biking and had a good turnout.

Find Familybike at booth 1520, in the southwest corner, near the terminus of the zip line, and conveniently close to the potties.

There’s surely a bunch of other fun stuff I didn’t see in my 10-minute dash up and down every aisle. My kids’ goodie bags are full of candy, one apple each, stickers, and pins. As always, quite the haul.  

    
    
    
   

I’ve been meaning to share a link to my friend Marley’s Bike Nicer Seattle campaign that she developed for the Connect Puget Sound: Big Ideas Festival. It’s an awesome concept in and of itself, but it’s also the perfect way to share the benefits I personally reap from riding with one of my favorite people. Marley embodies “bike nicer” and not everyone is as lucky as me and gets to spend time in person/in saddles with her and have that good nature rub off. Biking isn’t just about biking for me, it’s also about the wonderful people it’s brought into my life.

Not that I need a personal anecdote as an excuse to share Bike Nicer Seattle, but sadly, yesterday provided the perfect impetus.

Marley and I had a grand plan to ride my tandem together for Chilly Hilly on Sunday. She came by R+E Cycles’ Bike and Pike Expo on Saturday, where I was spending the day hanging out with a stack of my Urban Cycling books. I had already planned to ride my tandem to the event because it’s R+E’s brand, Rodriguez (scored on consignment from the shop!). Knowing Marley could come by for a practice run made the plan even better. Between taking expo goers on tours of the frame-building facilities downstairs, mechanics took the kidback cranks off and moved the pedals back down to the adult position so Marley didn’t have to contort to six-year-old height. The test ride was fun! I was a little nervous because I’m not used to anyone actually helping back there and therefore am not practiced at the constant communication required for tandem riding (“Shifting!” “Coasting!”).

But we mutually chickened out in a series of Sunday 6am text messages and rode our two Surly Stragglers instead.

And then the thing happened after having had a marvelous day filled with friends and talking to a lot of new people over the course of the day. I posted it to my Facebook wall and Instagram because those are great places to vent and/or whine and have friends commiserate. I am incredibly thin-skinned and easily discouraged and it helps me greatly to get support from my friends after the fact via social media. Even though it “worked” and I feel better, I share my experience here, too:

So Marley and I decided last minute not to ride the tandem today (we never got our costumes dialed in, we were a little scared about the high winds forecasted, and neither of us got a full night’s sleep). But Chilly Hilly was still a lot of fun!

…until I was waiting in line for the return ferry and three older guys in head-to-toe neon yellow made fun of me for my choice of footwear: “Ha ha ha, look at your shoes! So pro! You have the ‘best’ shoes of the day, ha ha!” Note: I had my rain jacket on so at this moment I did not look like a flight attendant (I like to travel with lots of snacks so I had a front basket full of cookies, pretzels, and beverages to share with anyone who was hungry…and offered to change seat assignments on return flights if necessary, because laughter is almost as important as snacks).

You know me, I think you should wear whatever you want to ride your bike, whether it’s a silly costume, a cycling kit, or what you were wearing already ( <- my personal favorite). I think EVERYONE should ride bikes. Because it’s SO FUN. I would never say anything to discourage anyone from riding bikes. There was nothing good natured about these guys, they just wanted to be assholes to me. I smiled at them and said I wear these shoes every day and find them great for biking.

What bothers me the most is the thought that maybe they harassed other people. What if those other people weren’t yet committed bicyclists and mean remarks by three assholes scare them off their bikes after today and steal from them the joy that bicycling brings. I wish I had shook off the sting of their words and said something about all getting along.

So I’ll keep doing what I’m doing, and wearing what I’m wearing, and next time (which probably won’t be too soon because most people aren’t assholes) I’ll be a little braver in my response.

I hate to lump people into two groups, but it’s hard not to notice striking differences in appearance at Chilly Hilly. The majority of people are in cycling-specific clothing and I feel for them when I see them in the ferry line hobbling around in what must be very uncomfortable shoes for walking. I don’t know much about the inner workings of Cascade Bicycle Club, but I am a volunteer ride leader and benefit from many programs the club offers. I have always assumed the “serious cyclists” who pay for most of the entries in the big rides like Chilly Hilly, STP, and RSVP generate the revenue that both puts on those rides and funds the things I think are the most important, like the Major Taylor Project and the educational programming that directly impacts me. So I’m certainly not going to be mean to those with deep Lycra pockets…though mostly because I’m not going to be mean to anyone!

Chilly Hilly isn’t a family-specific event, but it’s certainly family friendly. I rode it with one kid four years ago and this year I saw a few kids in trailers, on tandems, and on trailer bikes–and one superstar who pedaled his own 16-inch bike and retired to a trailer behind his dad’s bike when he couldn’t push on. For me, I’ll fully admit that since having discovered the relatively flat highway route to get to bike camping at Fay Bainbridge, I might never ride the hilly route with kids again. Maybe they’ll want to ride Chilly Hilly in the future and we’ll do it, but we are all primarily transportation cyclists and do things in two-mile increments, not 33-mile increments, so Chilly Hilly would be a very big deal for us.

Marley isn’t the only one with this big, yet simple, idea. A couple weeks ago, Surly Bikes shared this Don’t Be a Dick blog post. Surly is another organization I can’t claim to know much about. They seem to present a surly (duh) persona, but at the same time they’re also pretty lovable, as seen in Jules’s Our Own Two Wheels post. And they are one of the sponsors of the Women’s Bicycle Mechanic Scholarship program run by their parent company, QBP, that sends 16 women to UBI’s Professional Shop Repair and Operations Workshop (happening right now, this very second!)–including Kyla of Green River Cyclery and the Busted Bike Cafe whom I recently met and adore.

Phew.

Just to add a little levity, since I don’t really know how to cope without the shield of humor (I should work on that, too, I guess), I feel I should share a dirty little secret: I was wearing hidden cycling gear. I was in cycling shorts from my team kit (yes, I have a team kit…though I sometimes accidentally call it a “costume” and I LOVE when people are surprised that I own a kit) and a couple times my skirt blew up an inch too high and the bright blue peeked out. I was embarrassed and joked that I looked “too pro”. Of all the phrases to use! It had never occurred to me to wear my kit to Chilly Hilly. I wear it to races (I race cyclocross a couple times a year) and during the two times I went on training rides. This is half because I don’t want to misrepresent my team, Recycled Cycles Racing, if I’m not riding seriously (like on a city bike with a basket full of cookies) and half because I consider it special and only for racing (and training, were I to do that). So I guess I can laughingly consider myself superior to the yellow bullies because Chilly Hilly just isn’t a big enough deal for me to “kit up”.

And hey, I did get a little more “serious” in the evening when I donned cleated shoes (but cyclocross ones that are easy to walk in, not the hobbly road bike ones I’ve never experienced) and took my cyclocross bike to our annual team meeting where I picked up my new kit. YAY NEW KIT! Of course I mostly chatted with my teammates who have kids about family biking gear, but bikes are bikes are bikes. And people are people are people.

xo

p.s. I didn’t even share a clear photo of my shoes, nor describe them. It hardly seems important. But this is them:

I’m standing on my Surly Big Dummy’s FlightDeck before my recent trip to Portland.

I don’t know what brand they are. They’re from a long line of flats from the thrift store that fit comfortably and are close enough to black that I think they match everything (don’t worry, I outsourced all fashion information in the book). Oh, that’s another reason I was embarrassed about wearing my cycling shorts: they were my only non-thrifted item. Had it had been colder, I would have worn Vans or boots and socks, but that’s marginally less comfortable. And takes longer to get feet into when I’m late out the door and still have to go buy cookies.

Seattle Bike Show is this weekend!

Kidical Mass will ride there on Saturday.
Meet at the Ballard Locks (3015 Northwest 54th St, Seattle, WA 98107)
We’ll be inside the locks, on the Ballard side, watching boats (and near the potty!)
Saturday, March 5, 2016 at 10:30 a.m.
Facebook event page

Here’s the route.
The bits along Alaskan Way will probably be a combination of under-construction road and under-construction multi-use trail depending on both car- and foot traffic by the time we arrive.

Why should you attend the show?

1) There’s a lot of fun stuff for kids–see my hasty Kid stuff at Seattle Bike Show post from last year. That was the first year Seattle Bike Expo became Seattle Bike Show and it was already great, but I expect to see even more great stuff for families this year.

2) KIDS 17 AND UNDER ARE FREE. I think tickets are $12 (online they’re $12 plus a small fee) for adults.

3) Familybike will have a big booth this year (booth 1520) with lots of bikes to check out. Sign up to volunteer at the booth. It’s super fun and very easy–you just greet people as they read the very detailed tags on all the bikes. Kids welcome to volunteer at the booth with you.

4) I think the show is always the first opportunity to get OutdoorsNW‘s awesome NW Cyclist issue. Oh, I see this one will contain book reviews (hint, hint). [Update: the book reviews will be in the online edition only, but it’s still worth grabbing the print issue!]

5) But most importantly, come see Morgan and me talk on the main stage Saturday at 2:35 p.m.!

Family, Cargo & Utility Biking– by Morgan Scherer & Madi Carlson

Sat March 5 2:35 p.m – 3:10 p.m.

Join Morgan Scherer, Executive Director of Familybike Seattle, and Madi Carlson, renowned author of Urban Cycling for an engaging talk on the magic of cargo and family biking! Hear real-life stories of what it takes to “go by bike” without giving up the perks of having a car…spontaneously picking up free furniture at the side of the road, “car”pooling with the kids, heading out for vacation, and more! These two cargo and family biking mavens will lead you through the joys and humorous travails of getting around Seattle by bike, with kids and stuff (lots of stuff!).

Ms. Scherer has been creatively biking her family around Seattle since 2000. She started with a recumbent bike and trailer, added an electric assist motor, and moved through a variety of contraptions from there; including a tandem with a trailer-bike, and numerous others. . With all that experience, equipment, and a desire to change the world by bike, Ms. Scherer started Familybike Seattle with the first Family Bike Expo in 2007. Familybike Seattle has grown each year, and now includes a sliding scale rental fleet, workshops, Kidical Mass, and advocacy.

Madi Carlson has been family biking since the moment her older child turned one, in 2008. A passionate family biking advocate, Madi loves leading group rides like Kidical Mass, a fun monthly family bike ride and shares family biking information and stories through her Family Ride blog. She is also the author of “Urban Cycling: How to Get to Work, Save Money, and Use Your Bike for City Living” (Mountaineers Books), an easy-to-navigate manual for bike commuting–including commuting with kids.

I’m not going to put this on the Cascade calendar since it’s to a non-Cascade pay event, so if you are waiver averse, come along!!