We have a dog!

WE HAVE A DOG!

Welcome to Team Family Ride, Pixie!

We used to have a dog, and I posted about biking with Bettie a few years ago: dog on the family bike. But she died a year and a half ago and being the change averse person that I am and having spent the last dozen years assuming Bettie would be our last dog ever, I’d been slowly working up to the idea of opening my heart to a new dog. And I’ve been working on negotiating pretend future dogs with the kids–because we are not getting six St Bernards, sweetie.

You may have noticed we’ve been biking around with a couple dogs since Labor Day. We’ve spent most of the last four months trading off dogsitting Marley and Pixie who weren’t getting along at their common home. We all hoped it was a temporary feud, but the time apart, help from a dog behaviorist, and anxiety-calming medications didn’t seem to do the trick so Pixie became an official member of our family five days ago.

Pixie likes riding in the front basket. I stick our old doggie bed in there, and put a baby blanket on top of her (or picnic blanket if it’s raining), and then put a cargo net over the whole thing with her head sticking through one of the holes.

I also have a doggie shoulder bag that I can put in the front basket (the mamabike, the tandem, and my Straggler all have front baskets) or on the mamabike’s FlightDeck.

I can even fit one kid in the back seat with her–here’s my friend’s kid keeping Pix company:

And Thursday we added a new dog biking method: the trailer! My little kid was home sick from school, but up for a little trip to the grocery store so I bundled him into the trailer with four blankets and Pixie.

She snuggled in for the ride, but explored the trailer once we parked. So maybe future trailer rides should have a harness involved to keep her secure. Unfortunately, Bettie’s old harness doesn’t fit Pixie. Pixie is a bit smaller than Bettie, but has some dachshund in her (and her previous family says Miniature Pinscher, too, but she seems more chihuahua-like to me) so her waist isn’t where our old harness expects it to be.

I brought the shoulder bag so I could bring Pixie in with us. No, dogs aren’t allowed in grocery stores here and it’s not OK just because everyone brings dogs into grocery stores here anyway. (Yes, really. Something about Seattle and everyone bringing dogs into grocery stores.) Just this once to help tend to the sick kid.

The only problem with my plan was that after shopping I couldn’t fit the small bag of groceries and the empty shoulder bag into the trailer’s cargo compartment. So I wore the bag. Just like empty trailers are easy to drag around, empty doggie purses are fine to wear draped awkwardly across one’s body…but I definitely wouldn’t want to ride with ten pounds of dog in the bag.

I think our systems work well enough, but there are some cool products out there.

That Swift Paloma Handlebar Bag on my trailer-pulling road bike attaches via a KlickFix adapter that can also hold a doggy carrier or the DoggyRide Cocoon. If either of those also fit snugly in some or all of my front baskets, that’d be awesome. The Timbuk2 Muttmover Backpack is adorable, but I’m not sure Pixie would like being stuck on my back.

I’ll probably just stick with what we have unless I see something free or cheap, but please do let me know in the comments if there’s another small-dog-on-bike product I should be aware of!

I just spent a wonderful weekend in the amazingly bike-friendly Eugene, Oregon. I took the train–Amtrak Cascades allows roll-on bike service for $5 (reserve ahead of time to guarantee a bike spot). The trip is six and a half hours and is often early (my train was 20 minutes early, even with some fire alarm business and the forced detraining of a bathroom cigarette smoker in the middle of nowhere–Amtrak doesn’t mess around!). One can also take BoltBus between Seattle and Eugene, but I think it might be seasonal…I can see bookable trips in February when I click around now, but I wasn’t able to find trips back when I was booking this visit. We’ve taken the cargo bike on BoltBus to Portland, but it’s an as-space-allows thing when it comes to bikes so I prefer Amtrak and the guaranteed bike spot (though cargo bikes aren’t allowed).

Saturday morning I kicked off the day with an Urban Cycling book reading at Arriving By Bike™, a terrific and super-friendly family-owned bike shop. It was a good-sized crowd, especially for 9am on a Saturday. I should have taken a photo from the front, but I was a little busy talking about how much I love biking so check out these snaps by Kent Peterson:

After the reading, Shane MacRhodes, creator of Kidical Mass, led a group bike ride. I cannot tell you how exciting it was for me to be in the birth city of Kidical Mass! Not to mention seeing several friends who live down here, including the aforementioned Kent Peterson who recently moved down from Issaquah, and my friend Victor who just moved down from my neighborhood. They both seem to have found heaven on earth in Eugene.

I met Shane in Seattle when he taught my League Cycling Instructor class, but I hadn’t seen his striking Bike Friday Haul-a-Day cargo bike in person before now.

And since his trailer bike is a Burley Piccolo like mine, I was able to borrow it and one of his kids! (Kid was more stoked than photo lets on.)

There was quite a bit of kid shuffling and at one point, they were all three on separate bikes. So fun!

Photo by Sally Hunt

The amazing weather made our trip along roads and trails, across the river and back, all the more enjoyable. Just look at that sun!

Photo by Sally Hunt

Murals

Seattleite Neil Hodges paid a bike visit to Eugene a week ahead of mine and I was inspired his photos to check out some of the same places and same murals. Kent Peterson shared The Murals of Eugene on Twitter so I got a nice preview.

I got the idea to take note of murals after the Kidical Mass group ride when I rode with Sally Hunt to Bike Friday and decided we should recreate Neil’s photo.

Photo by Ron Hunt

Much of their showroom fleet was over at the fairgrounds for the Eugene Home Show, but there was still plenty to see and the first question as we entered was, “Are you here to test ride?”

By the way, many of my friends in Eugene have Bike Fridays. I love the hometown pride!

Sunday I went back by Arriving By Bike™ to sign the remaining books and my friend Maritess, also down from Seattle, humored me with a photo by ABB’s mural. See, too, ABB from the outside:

Another mural at Sundance Natural Foods, Victor’s favorite grocery store:

And two on the way to the train station, a block after the Ninkasi Brewery on the left, and at Morning Glory Cafe across the street from the train station (with awesome bike rack I want to climb!) on the right:

Had Sunday not been so drizzly, there would have been even more mural stops.

Bicycle Infrastructure

Saturday’s group ride took two of the five (I think) walking-and-biking-only bridges across the Willamette River. The trails (a.k.a. multi-use paths) and car-free bridges are awesome.

Then on Sunday Maritess on her folding Brompton and I on my non-folding Surly Straggler biked around with Eugenians Jolene and Victor on their folding Bike Fridays.

Near University of Oregon we used the two-way cycletrack and I hear there are more to come:

I also quite liked this covered cut-through:

The City of Eugene has a Pedestrian and Bicycle Master Plan and a Pedestrian & Bicycle Strategic Plan Update, but also some pushback from a couple businesses on much needed bike lanes. I’m not sure I’ll see any new developments come May, but Eugene is currently pretty great to bike around.

Wildlife

My photos aren’t worth sharing and I didn’t see any of the promised deer, but on Saturday I saw a nutria with Sally! I found this very exciting because I didn’t know they lived out here–I’ve only seen then in New Orleans (where they’re called jokingly “cajun chicken”).

The nutria sighting was right in town alongside a bike trail by a small river, but uphill towards Victor’s house we saw wild turkeys! And stopped a car to let them cross the street. I hear there’s a cougar in his neighborhood, but we didn’t see it.

Riding home through Amazon Park Saturday night I heard what I thought were crickets from far away, and then assumed was a burglar alarm as I got closer. Turns out it was bullfrogs! I don’t know if they were extra loud for the full moon, but they were deafening.

Next time!

I cannot wait to come back to Eugene. A weekend is not enough time to do it all.

I’ll be back on Friday May 20th to be part of the University of Oregon LiveMove presentation series. And hang around for Bike Month activities through the weekend. I missed out on seeing the Center for Appropriate Transport so that’s at the top of my list of things to do.

And once school lets out, the kids and I will come down for a longer visit. We’ll probably travel by train without a bike and rent a cargo bike upon arrival, but perhaps we’ll take the Big Dummy on BoltBus or three separate bikes on the train…but I think we’re still a couple years away from them being in charge of all their own pedaling–I worry about the trip to and from the Seattle train station as well as an entire weekend in an unfamiliar city.

Behold the latest incarnation of the old mamabike: new Bobike junior kid seat.

I got the Bianchi Milano Citta in April 2009 with a two-year old and a six-month-pregnant belly. Up to that point, I’d been riding a too-big beach cruiser with Bobike mini kid seat on the front for a year, but decided I couldn’t make do with one gear in hilly Seattle with two kids. I moved the Bobike mini to the new bike and was suddenly able to bike more and more and more!

April 2009

Here is the chronological list of add-ons to the old mamabike (though possibly with a couple things forgotten):

• Bobike mini kid seat
• Bobike mini windshield
• Burley solo trailer with infant car seat
• Bobike maxi kid seat (trailer retired)
• Different rear rack to fit Wald folding baskets
• Pletscher double kickstand
• Swapped rear derailleur for internally-geared hub
• Longer stem to accommodate front kid knees
• Longer longer stem to accommodate front kid knees
• Bobike mini retired
• Back to longer stem (can’t locate original stem)
• Bobike junior (Bobike maxi retired)

May 2010

July 2010

I used to look forward to the day I would reclaim the front of the bike for myself and put a basket on it, but it’s been a couple years and I haven’t done it yet. I couldn’t put something too big up front that would interfere with the bus bike rack since having a family bike that fits on the bus–even though it doesn’t carry both kids anymore–is the reason we keep the old mamabike around.

The Bobike junior is a great seat with a 75-pound weight limit. It only has a lap belt and therefore shouldn’t hold a kid younger than five. The Bobike maxi has a three-point harness and maxes out at 50 pounds, but even the sub-50-pound kid was getting too tall to sit comfortably. And the best part: it folds down for stealth mode.

Open:

Closed:

Open:

Closed:

Maybe the foot pegs keep it from being too stealthy:

We almost didn’t take the old mamabike today. We typically only use it to go to the orthodontist in Issaquah, which is 20 miles from home. Our first bus is five blocks from home, the second bus is one block from where the first one lets off, and then it’s one mile to the orthodontist. We’ve left the bikes at home and hoofed it a couple times lately and it’s been fine. We don’t do a lot of walking and a couple years ago the thought of walking a whole mile not for the purpose of using up three hours of the day was inconceivable. But now we can totally walk a mile! Though this time I had planned to take skateboard, longboard, and scooter just to mix things up, but the kids voted for bikes at the last minute. Seattle buses have spots for three bikes on the racks, but I feel safer taking just two bikes in case one slot is in use.

And hooray for having taken bikes! We skipped the second bus and biked the five miles home. We saw a friend bike by and shouted hello at one another, then we discovered a public bike repair station (500 9th Avenue)…and then another one just a block later!

We stopped at the grocery store for as much stuff as I could squeeze onto the old mamabike, and then the best part: we stumbled upon the History House orca! It used to hang from the ceiling of the outdoor seating area shared by History House and Milstead & Co. cafe and many Kidical Mass rides have gathered under it.

…or the rise and fall of Mr. Cutey-Pants

A new Christmas tree lot sprung up in our neighborhood this year so we stuck to our easiest-possible tree option and went there–half a mile! (Last year’s tree trip was mile and a half to the adjacent neighborhood.) The seven-block trip meant the kids could ride their own bikes there and back for a new touch. p.s. uphill there, downhill home, so that was nice for me as the tree toter. Next year I think we’ll grab our tree on a weekend so we can get a daylight picture…because it’s all about the photo op ;)

I was a little disappointed I didn’t get to carry both kids and tree like last year because no bike load really feels like it “counts” if I don’t also have to squeeze the kids on. I’m sure this feeling will fade as the kids ride their own bikes more and more. But then I did get a chance to carry kids and conifer to the bonfire. Last year I left the kids behind, but carried two trees for double the fun. I was sad to see my neighbor had chopped his huge tree up and stick it in the yard waste bin because that made for a fun load last year…though there’s no way I could have fit kids with all that tree. And again with the early sunset: we dashed out to take a picture with our lone tree halfway through getting ready for the bonfire while there was still a bit of light.

There were some impressive trees on the ride. Lots of people strap them to their backs–trees even bigger than ours! And lots of trailers piled with multiple trees–I think even six in one case.

The bonfire was awesome, but we didn’t stay long given the late hour.

The kids are usually asleep by 8pm, but we stayed out until 9pm and didn’t get home until 10pm. I was impressed that they stayed awake most of the way home, but my six-year old conked out around 9:40 and my eight-year old ten minutes later.

Here’s the part where I hope no one is still reading and feel obligated to share the coal as well as the candy canes…

Overall, it was a terrific night and the kids had a blast. But evening rides are tricky. Even in the summer I find it hard to leave for an afternoon ride from home so we tend to make a big day of it, leaving home at 10am and gradually making our way to the ride start. For this ride, school got out at 3:45 and we left home at 4:45 while we still had energy and momentum. We stopped for sushi dinner on the way to the start of the bonfire ride. One kid only eats sockeye salmon nigiri–and a lot of it–which isn’t technically part of the “coal” of the evening, but his expensive tastes are going to keep us away from sushi for a while! He spit out a bad grape at one point (not too big a deal), but his brother ate two pieces of an avocado roll too quickly and puked them out onto the table at the end of our meal. Fun, fun.

We headed to Westlake Park 45 minutes early so the kids could play in the little playground. Of course they were already hungry again so I bought two little bags of chips at the hot dog stand. The one kid opted to save his for later and the other ate his at the top of the climbing structure. He spilled half of them (if only he had listened to his mother who suggested he eat them at ground level!), but seemed more apologetic about the mess than sad about the lost treat.

Minutes later my snack spiller tripped while attempted a leap onto the silver climbing mounds and face planted into one. That led to a lot of screaming and a little bit of blood, but he bounced back surprisingly quickly.

One good part! I was able to convince them both to don rain pants over their regular pants for an extra layer of warmth. They’re often not keen to layer up…we’re still getting into the hang of dressing for cold weather. Mind you, this is preceded by many reminders that there will be extra layering up at some point. It helps immensely to introduce the idea (and reiterate multiple times) of later layering when everyone is inside and complacent.

Pulling out of Westlake Park, I lost the red blinky light off the back of the tree. In retrospect, I had it on for the important solo part of our ride to the start and I think it fell off right in the park so hopefully someone found it and is putting it to good use (thanks again, Planet Bike, for the box of lights! A few for the kids, but most have been passed along to grateful friends in need).

I think they enjoyed the ride and I pointed out the people they had met before, but they tend to keep to themselves in groups so they didn’t return any greetings. I tried to convince them to sit facing one another so they could chat (“Talk about secret stuff!” as they like to say), but they felt they fit best with the front kid forward and the rear kid sidesaddle. Had the tree not been so crunchy, they may have been fine each draping one leg over it.

Somewhere along the way I lost the saved bag of chips from my front basket. Some days that would have been met with yelling and punching, but either the excitement of the ride or the late hour, meant the chipless kid was only mildly upset.

The next little hiccup was upon arriving at the beach when my eight-year old saw the NO BONFIRES sign. Fortunately, it also said EXCEPT IN DESIGNATED AREAS so I was able to convince him our bonfire was legit. He’s a mini police officer and a stickler for all rules. We watched a few trees burn, but my six-year old was done pretty quickly (he warned me ahead of time he didn’t like looking at fire because it makes his eyes water) so we headed out.

While I was unlocking the bike the eight-year old spent a minute mourning the loss of Mr. Cutey-Pants. Oh, I forgot to mention they named our tree and were initially opposed to the idea of burning it. I think next year we’ll look into getting a Trees for Salmon live tree from Swansons Nursery. I joke that the only reason I get a tree in the first place is to burn it so I’ll ask my neighbor for dibs on his tree post-Christmas before it’s too late.

So:
* puke
* spilled chips
* screaming
* blood
* lost light
* lost chips
* suspicion of illegal fire
* smoke-in-the-eyes
* mourning of burned tree

Merry bonfire!

We kicked off the new year with a big, bikey weekend. Hope you did, too.

Saturday was our first time to Carkeek Park by bike. Yippee! I haven’t been to Carkeek Park in five years–since back when I stopped driving regularly. I wasn’t sure I’d ever get back there, though I had thoughts about riding over solo to see if it might not be too hilly on a family bike.

I almost didn’t brave the trip, but friends (who have two Big Dummies and two tandems!) were in town playing at the park and I felt inspired…and they used to live here and were able to give me route advice. I opted for the tandem-plus-trailer-bike thinking a bit of pedaling would keep the kids warmer. It was too long and uphill to consider letting them ride their own bikes (not to mention the untested route). I’d like to ride the tandem more and more often this year. And maybe the kids will even start pedaling at some point!

The five-mile mostly gradual uphill ride to the QFC on Holman Road isn’t something I’d want to do every day, but it’s fine every so often. Then the one mile of Pipers Creek Trail was hard-packed dirt and wonderful. Though there was a steep downhill set of switchbacks on the way in. Fortunately the kids decided they wanted to walk the scary downhill part and I was able to ride down with the empty train. It was magical and frost-covered along the trail…moreso around the bend behind the kids, but I had them back on the bike by then. They were amenable to walking back up the hill on the way out, too, thank goodness. I had them detrain once we were already on the steep part and couldn’t get the bike rolling up the somewhat icy trail, but I think I could ride it up empty starting lower down.

The kids were pretty cold by the time we got home, though we’ve certainly had colder and more uncomfortable rides. Playing outside isn’t something we do often in the winter and it’s even rougher when flanked by sitting on a bike for over an hour on either side.

Sunday I opted to take the Big Dummy for our ride to the Seattle Aquarium (Wolf Eel Day! Our fave!), figuring I could wrap the kids up better sitting on the deck. The front little kid wore an old adult snowboard jacket as an extra top layer and my wool sweater tied around his waist as an apron to cover his feet. And the rear kid tucked his feet into the Xtracycle FreeLoader bags (which means I can’t fill them up with crap) and I tied an adult rain jacket around his waist to cover his legs. I wouldn’t call them toasty warm, but they were comfortable enough to stop and skip rocks across the frozen model boat pond at Lake Union Park–it makes an amazing sound!

This isn’t a “first” of the same caliber as biking to Carkeek, but I locked up to the Parking Squid for the first time. I used to consider it much too far from the entrance of the aquarium, but the kids are much better walkers at six and eight and I don’t seem to travel with as much stuff these days. Mostly it’s a shame to have to cross a busy street when parking at the Parking Squid so next time I might choose between the octopus bike rack which is just as far away (But covered! That would have been nice given the unexpected drizzle.) or our summer spot locked to a railing on the side of the building.

I’m not much on New Year’s resolutions since killin’ it fifteen years ago with “Eat every item off the Taco Bell menu over the course of the year” because how does one top that? Nor am I much at kicking off the New Year with bike proclamations, always having recently done an annual recap for the Big Dummy’s birthday. But I do resolve to figuring out our layers so the kids are warm enough on the bike. I think we might ride Chilly Hilly–I’ve done it twice solo and once with just the smaller kid. I’ve been thinking about ordering a bunch of chemical heat packs, but I hate disposable things. Though now I see there are things like HotSnapZ Reusable Hand Warmers! Anyone have experience with those? I’m tempted to try them on the kids. And maybe on my toes.

And I even have a resolution for myself, but it’s kind of a boring one: sleep more. But always a good one. And sure to lead to easier mornings, more happiness, and a better memory (she types at 11pm…)

I also need to contribute to an article with my hopes for bicycling in Seattle in 2016. Haven’t yet decided what to write. Obvs, I should sleep on it.

HNY!

Despite the icky weather, the weekday scheduling, and my assuming no one would show up, we had 11 people on six bikes for our Olympic Manor ride this year! Thanks to all for showing up. (Surly Big Dummy with two kids, Xtracycle EdgeRunner with one kid, Metrofiets with one kid, Larry vs. Harry Bullitt with one kid, Brompton folding bike, regular bike.)

This ride is relatively far away for us (5.2 uphill miles) so we usually leave home early in the day and gradually meander our way to Loyal Heights via a park or toy store stop and lunch stop. But given the all-morning rain, we holed up at home until the last moment this year.

In addition to the fine tuning of our layers, I’m also still fine tuning our bike choices. And how wonderful to have choices! Usually. I love that the kids want to ride their own bikes more and more (I think. Usually. Because that means less hauling and less work for me.) but I tried to suggest we ride the tandem plus trailer bike for this ride so the kids could do a bit of pedaling to keep warm while not having to be responsible for propelling themselves uphill on their own little bikes. Last year thanks to a sick kid, I took the old mamabike and trailer and it worked great, but this year I conceded to their suggestion of riding separate bikes.

Big mistake.

We started out somewhat OK (but not quite OK) layers-wise. Both kids in rain pants for extra leg layer, little kid put on snow boots but decided they were uncomfortable (big kid still doesn’t have new, bigger snow boots) so they were both in tennis shoes, sweaters and snow jackets, snowboard helmets, balaclava only on small kid (but balaclava packed along for big kid), no one in snowboard goggles, it turns out they needed to see the number on their twist shifters so each kid had a handlebar mitten on the left handle, but thinner of our two glove options on the right hand (they can’t shift well in their thicker gloves, but I had them along for just-in-case later). Do they look like adorable little Fiddler crabs or what? And ohmigosh, I didn’t notice Pixie in the window when I took the picture! I told her she could come with originally, but then it was so cold and rainy I decided she should stay home and be comfy albeit lonely.

My six-year old made it one block before he declared he was tired and I offered to carry him and his bike, which he quickly agreed to. My eight-year old made it half way. They both had frozen paws so we swapped thing gloves for thick and to deal with their frozen feet, I put my spare rain jacket on the six-year old as an apron to hang over his feet, and had the eight-year old tuck his feet into the Xtracycle FreeLoader bags. It seemed to do the trick. And of course there were quite a few mentions of “Next time I suggest we take the tandem, we’re going to take the tandem!” But the good thing was that I finally got to do a two-kid, two-bike haul with my new tow hitch! It worked great!

And by the time we arrived to the start point, the rain had stopped and we even saw blue skies off to the west!

However, I didn’t lash the front wheels to my Hooptie well enough and lost one during the course of the ride. Talk about embarrassing to hear “Watch out! Loose wheel!” and realize I’d loosed a wheel at my followers. Fortunately, no casualties and I was able to quickly retried the lost wheel. And that certainly will never happen again. Still loving the Gear Ties, but I shouldn’t have tried to share my twinkle-light-holding Gear Tie with the 24″ wheel.

This was our first year holding this ride on a weekday and the Loyal Heights Community Center was open! So despite arriving 20 minutes late (“Meet up at 4pm so I can take pictures while there’s still some light and we’ll roll at 4:45”) we were the first there at 4:20. We stopped at the play structure, our usually meeting spot, which worked well since the day-long rain had finally stopped (yay!), but soon migrated to the community center for warm lobby, train table, and Duplos.

Our three-mile route worked well, and it was great to have cut out the last uphill block to busy 96th last year, though 95th still proved to be a steeper downhill than what we normally do for Kidical Mass. Note to self: test ride this route and see if it seems better for next year.

The ride was awesome overall. There wasn’t a lot of car traffic, but there were still a few people to shout “Happy holidays!” to. I stopped us to take a picture of this decorated van I don’t remember from years past.

And the Flying Spaghetti Monster looked as good as always.

We lost a couple families who peeled off towards home before our stopping point (always OK!) at Grumpy D’s Coffeehouse, where we had treats and played with the many kid toys.

Heading home, we stopped by a friend’s house around the corner who has the second-best light display (second after the holiday house, currently still undecorated after the explosion). Our friend’s house gets more elaborate every year. The last two years the light-up Christmas trees tell jokes between songs. This year we heard: “What did one snowman say to the other snowman?” “Hey, do you smell carrots?” Ha ha ha! We live in the best neighborhood!

Happy holidays! Happy Solstice!

Seems timely to write a post about bundling up for the cold. I forget much of what I know about rain and cold each year. I figure it’s a survival mechanism, not laziness (please humor me on this). We tend to underdress and hone our cold-weather or wet-weather layers as the seasons begin to change. Partially due to having to locate all the bits and pieces of gear, partially having to figure out what has been outgrown and needs to be replaced, and partially that intentional forgetting. If I’m on the cargo bike I don’t often get too cold since it’s heavy, most places are uphill both ways, and I’m a mom–I’ll suck it up and give every article of clothing to my offspring so they may stay layered up while I grin and bare (<- that was intentional, though I’ve never had to bare so much as to be indecent. But I would. Comes with the job.) it. But those non-pedaling kids need an extra layer or two.

So we’re still in the process of getting enough layers on when we leave the house, but we were just about there on Saturday for 40 degrees with rain:

• Merino wool base layer…
  …is not part of this picture because I’m too cheap for fancy base layers, but merino wool long sleeved shirts and leggings are awesome and your cold kids deserve them. Instead these guys had on their usual uniforms of sweatpants and t-shirts.
• Rain pants.
  Better than nothing to help block the wind. I haven’t yet located their snow pants and it’s probable the bigger kid has outgrown his.
• Sweatshirts…
  …are a good idea, and hoods fit under helmets, but neither kid wanted to wear a sweatshirt. However, my eight-year old has his Blue Angels flightsuit over his sweats and shirt so there’s an extra layer right there. ADVICE OF THE YEAR: OFF-SEASON COSTUME AS EXTRA LAYER.
• Snow jackets.
• Extra old adult snowboarding jacket as bonus extra layer (on the front kid).
• Extra adult rain jacket as apron for extra layer over legs with added benefit of draping over feet clad in regular tennis shoes (on the front kid).
• Feet tucked into Xtracycle FreeLoader bags (rear kid).
  I’ve seen photos off this as a means for having somewhere to put kid feet if one doesn’t have running boards, stirrups, or U-tubes down there, but it also seems to be pretty insulating. I need to find a pair of size 4 snow boots for the big kid and we’ll up our footwear game. The little kid has grown into the big kids size 3s from last year, but I think I need a pair for each kid before either will want to boot up.
• Warm gloves. BUT I need to insulate my Xtracycle Hooptie. The metal conducts cold. I’ve heard bar tape and pool noodles both work nicely. I should do something soon.
• Balaclava (just on the front kid). Call it a ninja mask if they seem reluctant to wear them–that always works. Um, except on the rear kid today.
• Snowboarding helmets and goggles. The goggles don’t stay put very well with bike helmets so we switch to their snowboarding helmets when it gets cold.
  The rear kid is holding his away from his face because he picked all the foam off them a couple years ago. I remind him of this fact every time he says they’re uncomfortable.

But even with our almost-there rain-and-cold gear, I worried about dragging them all the way to our planned destination of the Seattle Center. They had wanted to ride their own bikes and miraculously I was able to talk them out of that just before we set out (even after applying BarMitts and BikeMitts to their little handlebars and pumping up the little kid’s slow leak I’m too stubborn to change and rather have been successfully reinflating weekly for the last three months…ha, I win, slow leak!). They’ve biked all the way to the Seattle Center in group rides in warmer weather and I can easily tow them if it gets dicey, but I just wasn’t feeling it, plus we had to detour by the library to return some books on the way and despite being a few blocks off the Burke-Gilman Trail, the Fremont Library isn’t very easy to access in a kid(s)-riding-solo way.

It had started out a little messy as it took me a good 20 minutes to get everyone settled on the bike and layered up (including running back inside for the old snowboard jacket to toss on the front kid). It was really too cold for us to be outside so long without moving. Fortunately, they conceded to my wimping out and we didn’t make it past the library, reading books and doing puzzles for long enough for my shoes to dry out. I, uh, was in ballet flats because I need to go get the zipper on my boots repaired. Then we walked (I walked the bike) around the corner for a late sushi lunch and that was our whole day.

I figured at least now I had everything figured out for a do-over on Sunday. And for the record our ride, small that it was, was very fun. The rain, wind, and cold were pretty intense, but we created a song: “It’s a perfect day if you’re a ______” with verses about dolphins, worms, platypuses, sockeye salmon, chinook salmon, coho salmon, etc.

Sunday started with dry skies, but I was feeling a little skittish about tackling our colder colds so we took the bus. Also, with three destinations planned (Space Needle, ice rink, model train), I didn’t relish having to drag around a bag containing our three helmets and all our extra layers. We don’t do any busing outside of our once-a-month orthodontist visit, but I wouldn’t mind incorporating it a bit more.

Here’s some even colder cold last year in full gear and no complaints. But he also rode his bike part of the way and had a couple months of acclimating under his belt by this point:

I think we might do Chilly Hilly on the tandem and trailer bike this year and I’ll most likely get some chemical heat packs for them if we do.

Do you have any great cold-weather family biking tips to share?

How time flies, the best bike in the world is four today! And on this special day comes the obligatory gear/accessory updates, recap of the past year of mamabike-related exploits, and a summary of our deeds of the day.

Ch-ch-ch-changes: After three years of procrastination, I finally got the Xtracycle Hooptie! And will post about it at some point.

But the bigger news (well, more unique news) is my new two-bike tow hitch! No more bag-and-drag!! Bag-and-drag is AWESOME, for the record, but 20 inch and bigger wheels take up all the cargo space. It’s gotten hard to carry two kids, two bikes, and still squeeze in our other stuff (snacks, toys, bike event craft supplies, impromptu groceries).

(Picture of bag and drag above, tow hitch thingy below)

Made by Haulin’ Colin at Cyclefab (p.s. nine days until A Very Open House at Equinox Studios Creative Industrial Complex where Cyclefab resides–you should go!), it’s a custom job, but I’m sure he’d make more. So why the hitch? While the kids (8 and 6 now) are riding their own bikes more and more, I always ride the mamabike in case of exhaustion or tantrum so I’m towing as much as always. Also, the kids have recently each moved up a bike size (20″ and 24″ Islabikes) which means they both have quick-release front wheels now! And if I put a wheel of 20 inches or bigger in my right pocket, it often pinches my rear derailleur cable. This isn’t an extremely big deal since I have a triple on the front and can make do with the range it provides, but I prefer to access to all my many gears. And now that the kids are both sitting on the deck, a wheel 24 inches or bigger means the rear kid needs to sit side saddle (see the bag-and-drag picture) which isn’t horrible, but also isn’t ideal. Now if they both sit side saddle, it’s noticeable and takes more muscle on my part to manage…although I joke it’s the only core strengthening I get.

Three themes for the year:

• Camping! There was a lot of camping! I don’t consider myself a practiced bike camper (or any kind of camper), but whereas in past years we went once each summer, and only for one night, this spring and summer we went a bunch of times and twice for multiple nights! We took the Clipper to Canada again for Spring Break Victoria, BC multi-day bike camping! However, our friends brought our gear to the campsite and back so this should be considered “supported bike camping”. We also led a family bike camping trip for Swift Campout (photos on Flickr here) that had 65 people and 2 dogs! And the kids did an S24O (sub-24-hour-overnight) when I fetched them from swim camp at 3pm and whisked them away to Fay Bainbridge, only to wake them up at 5:30am to deposit them back at swim camp by 9:00! However that involved me riding to and from Fay Bainbridge Park twice (the hell I was gonna pack up camp by 5:30am! I’m like the slowest tent un-pitcher in the world). And that was the day I realized that while Fay Bainbridge is relatively close for bike camping, it’s farther than I want to bike to twice in one day. I don’t think I can claim S24O for myself due to my extra time spent away from home versus the kids’ time spent away from camp.
• Kidical Mass family bike rides are still going strong in Seattle. We led a ride on the same day as all the other Kidical Masses for Kidical MASSive…and ours had 221 participants!
• Carry all the things! I carried some exciting stuff this last year: huge bike speaker, teeter totters to a Kidical Mass and PhinneyWood Summer Streets, 300 potatoes after DRT (first home from the Central District with a bunch of other stuff, but then just the 150 pounds of potatoes to FamilyWorks), our new tandem bike, lawnmower, tradeshow booth, two Christmas trees, dogs! (if you noticed the dog in the bag-and-drag photo, we’ve been dogsitting two small dogs, separately, the last couple months)

But back to today…
Today’s biking started after I walked the kids two blocks to school. I recently started hosting a weekly #coffeeoutside called #coffeeoutsideforher (but everyone is welcome, not just women). Currently, we meet every Thursday at 10am in the Gas Works Park picnic shelter. I post a reminder to my Instagram each Wednesday. It was drizzly at the time, but earlier rain meant there were some fun puddles. Uh, note that I always caution the kids not to ride through puddles because you never know what might be lurking in them…like a pothole that could toss you over your handlebars. Although last time I tried this argument my six-year old said, “But Mama, I’m a pro.” I can’t argue with that.

Next up I realized shortly before the kids were done with school that I wanted a Square credit card reader for my iPhone and I wanted it now. I opted to take the Straggler instead of the Big Dummy, which goes against the rules of The Big Dummy’s Birthday, and that must be the reason I confused the two mail stores and went uphill the wrong direction to the UPS Store and had to turn around and head to the closer and woulda-been-flatter FedEx Store. I think had I been on the 80-pound Big Dummy rather than the 35-pound Straggler, I would have thought things through and not mistaken one store for the other. Hills, man.

Finally, we had planned to attend the Seattle Neighborhood Greenways #Party4OurStreets 5:30-7:30 p.m., but things seemed to conspire against us. We set out early, kids reluctantly on the mamabike rather than their own bikes because I don’t want them riding through downtown to Pioneer Square, especially in the dark and rain. It was dry and not very cold when we headed out so our rain gear was stowed in a bag and we only planned to ride to South Lake Union for a very early dinner before the event. But then we got a phone call and had to head home to quickly help a friend. On the way back the rain started up, but the kids didn’t want to stop and don rain gear. It’s hard to get back into the swing of cold and rain after summer and we’re still getting back into the groove of layering up out the door and stopping to add rain gear as soon as rain starts. 10 minutes from the venue (and still on time at this point!), my six-year old finally admitted he was cold so I pulled over to help him put on his balaclava, rain pants, and shoe covers. My eight-year old was shivering, but just wanted to push on. I figured we’d all dry out over the two hours so I didn’t force the issue.

A block later we came to the first block of the 2nd Avenue protected bike lane…or rather the construction tunnel taking the place of the first block of the 2nd Avenue protected bike lane that none of my friends will ride through. I have only taken the lane in the safety of group rides and otherwise slowly navigate the tunnel. Today I had my Xtracycle WideLoader on because I was carrying a box of books to sell at the party (oh hey, Urban Cycling: How to Get to Work, Save Money, and Use Your Bike for City Living is out now!) which caught on the one tunnel post that protrudes into the bike lane. And we tipped over. By the way, this has happened once before–coming home from bike camping a year or two ago when I caught it on a car parked sticking a foot into the Dexter bike lane. I think I don’t ride with it often enough to clear unexpected obstructions. Though I’ve had a hundred successful rides with it, on many of which I avoid certain favorite routes due to very narrow spots.

So bummer! Sorry kids! They were unscathed, of course, but were unhappy. And freezing. Had they not been freezing, I think they would have wanted to still go to the party, but I took one look at their little faces and said we could go home if they wanted. And they wanted. We stopped in Westlake Park to get a hot dog for the six-year old, but the eight-year old just wanted to go straight home to a hot shower. Not too surprisingly, we all had fun on the ride home. An Uber driver rolled down his window to laugh and say hi as he saw me holding the hot dog out for my six-year old to take his “red light, hot dog bite!”…and then zoomed forward as the light turned green so he could pass us from the right-turn-only lane on our right and continue straight into the bus-only lane before merging to the left. Grrr. We admired the parked boats by MOHAI as we biked through South Lake Union Park…and had to dodge a Vespa on the path. That can’t be legal! Grrr. As you can tell, I’m a tad grumpy after the crash. Of course there was the obligatory brother-on-brother pummeling when they couldn’t agree on the lyrics to the “red light, hot dog bite!” song, but stopping to watch a barge go through the open Fremont Bridge helped distract them.

I look forward to reading details of the party. I heard I won something! Of course we’re all winners when we choose to ride bikes…we’re just more winning when we keep the rubber side down.

In reviewing last year’s birthday post, I see I spent a lot of time talking about my then-new Surly Straggler (who also just had a birthday, but it didn’t get celebrated because that only happens for the amazing Big Dummy! But still totally loving the Straggler.) This year we got a new bike, too, which I fully intend to post about at some point. It’s a previously-owned, locally-made Rodriguez tandem to which I hook a Burley Piccolo trailer bike. It’s awesome! Two of our camping trips were taken with it. The kids don’t do a lot pedaling yet–which I knew would be the case because we see other kids on tandems–but overall the bike weighs about ten pounds less than the Big Dummy so it’s more pleasant to take hilly bike camping. I think we’ll gradually use it more and more because I can’t imagine the kids riding their own bikes many places in this city still, but rest assured the Big Dummy will never leave our fleet.

I also see that a year ago labeled myself “car free” with the car title still in my name for “a little while longer”. LOL, that “little while longer” finally came a few days ago so now I am car free. For real this time. The last time I used my former car was when I borrowed it two summers ago for Portland Fiets of Parenthood. I can’t remember the time I used it before that. So the Big Dummy is even more my One Less Minivan now. As a family, I feel that we’re less car free than before which weighs on me. To explain: the car left with the-former-Mr.-Family-Ride 16 months ago. So while I enjoy the freedom that comes with never having to think about a car, the kids now spend every other weekend in a car. I feel a bit inauthentic when I think about being car free. Like the much bigger adjustments this change to our family entails, I think it will just take time to get used to the new normal and maybe at some point I’ll feel comfortable using the term “car free”. But either way, I’m ecstatic not to need to deal with a car now.

So since this is a blog and not, like, a wiki, I feel obligated to provide a teensy more info for human interest purposes. (Being a blog and not, like, a wiki is also why I can use “like” so freely…and I wish I could find a link to the brilliant, but scary, piece I heard on NPR a few years ago about “like” becoming part of the lexicon of professionals–like lawyers and doctors! Not to mention so. Many. Exclamation. Points. And periods after each word in a sentence for emphasis.) Anyhow, to answer your questions:
1) The kids? They’re totally fine! Phew.
2) Me? I’m “profoundly sad”. I’m not sure if that was a diagnosis or an observation, but it fits. UNLESS I’m riding bikes, that is. Or talking to people about bikes. Or thinking up group bike rides. Or writing about bikes. So basically, way more often than not I’m perfectly fine. Because bikes are magic and make even profoundly sad people happy. And I’ll eventually be fine 100% of the time, of course. Also, while I find it difficult to be without the kids every other weekend, that does mean 100 less pounds on my bike every other weekend so I can ride a lot farther. And ohmigosh it’s really easy to travel as just one person with one regular bike! I’ve taken the train to Portland and Vancouver to hang out with family biker friends. It takes like (like!) five minutes to pack and I don’t need to go to three different grocery stores to get the appropriate train and travel snacks. So there’s that!
3) If you have any other questions, I don’t know that I can answer them, but contact me anyway! Advice always welcome.

Let’s do this again! And on winter solstice again! Check out last year’s recap or just go straight to last year’s Flickr album.

Monday, December 21, 2015
Meet: 4:00 p.m. Loyal Heights Community Center playground
Roll: 4:45 p.m.
Tour: Olympic Manor neighborhood holiday lights
End: 5:30 p.m. Grumpy D’s Coffeehouse
Length: Exactly three festive miles

Come to the park at 4pm to have time for playing, stringing lights, and taking photos of our lit-up rigs while there’s still a bit of daylight left. We’ll roll out at 4:45pm. I’m chopping off that last hilly block from last year so this year will be even more fun!

Here’s the route. (And see image of map below…I can’t seem to embed with my route adjustments staying put at the mo’.)

We’ll finish up at Grumpy D’s Coffeehouse around 5:30 p.m. There’s a warm fireplace near a group of comfy chairs, plenty of table seating, and toys! Hang out a bit for peppermint hot chocolate and other treats.