Commit to a small monthly donation, the price of a fancy coffee or lunch, and support Familybike in making transportation cycling accessible to all Seattle families!

My first experience with Familybike was in June of 2009 when we drove our bikes down to check out Bicycle Sunday. Riding along Lake Washington Blvd, 35 weeks pregnant with my second baby, barely still fitting on my city bike with first baby in the front bike seat, I came across the most amazing thing: a Family Bike Expo. This was the day after Seattle’s second-ever Kidical Mass so I had seen a couple cargo bikes, but I was amazed to see so many in once place! I parked my bike to meet and talk to Morgan Scherer.

I was surprised when a browsing mom wanted to test ride my bike. Just a regular old bike with a basic front seat like every single mom in the Netherlands has. And just like that, I became a part of the movement. Especially once the new baby turned one and migrated from the bike trailer to that basic front seat and his brother moved to a new seat on the back. I brought my “regular old bike” to several Family Bike Expos. Morgan liked having an example of a normal bike that carried two kids.

There’s much more than Family Bike Expos, too…

• The Kidical Mass family bike rides Morgan and I lead each month
• The amazing and affordable rental fleet
• Get-Started Family Biking and Biking in the Rain workshops (So much great info–I don’t think there’s a program like this anywhere else!)

You don’t have to be a world leader or a billionaire to give back. #GivingTuesday is about ordinary people coming together doing extraordinary things. Join the Familybike Sustainer Circle to support families in saving the world by getting out on bikes!
Give between $5 and $25 a month
Familybike Seattle is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation, and all donations are fully tax-deductible!

You also GET STUFF for joining the Familybike Sustainer Circle, like fabulous prizes, a 10% discount at G&O Family Cyclery, and A BIG PARTY at the end of January. See all the details on the Familybike Sustainer Circle page.

Donating a small amount monthly is unnoticeable to you, but has a big effect on Familybike Seattle’s effectiveness.

There’s nothing I love more than family biking and I’m proud to be on the board of Familybike Seattle. Our programs reach a lot of families and your contribution will mean we can help even more people and save the world that much faster :)
We at Familybike Seattle believe that biking as a family increases our individual, family, and societal quality of life, while at the same time moving toward sustainable lifestyles and communities.

Join the Familybike Sustainer Circle!

Sunday, November 29, 2015
10:30 a.m. (ride at 11:00 a.m.)
MiiR Flagship
Facebook event

Whether or not you registered for the Ride in the Rain Challenge with Cascade Bicycle Club, pull on your rain gear and take a 7.5-mile spin with the family!

Since I’m not leading our regular Thanksgiving morning ride around Lake Union this year (but please, someone else, lead one if you’re up for it!), we’ll do a similar ride…except we’ll start and finish out of the rain so just the actual riding is in the rain, not the waiting. You’re welcome!

Meet at the MiiR Flagship (3400 Stone Way N, Suite 4, Seattle WA, 98103–in the Brooks building, entrance on Stone Way). Come at 10:30 (or earlier!) if you want coffee, snacks (including Mighty-O Donuts), and/or potties, because we’ll start the safety briefing and bike going-over at 11.

We’ll ride clockwise around Lake Union, and last year’s Thanksgiving map has details and photos. There’s one steep climb. We’ll stop a block before that and give everyone a warning and space ourselves out. It’s rideable, especially if you build up speed in advance. And, of course, it’s fine to walk up!

If the rain is light and kids are in need of getting wiggles out, we’ll stop at the playground at Waterway 5/by Daniel’s Broiler. But this isn’t a planned stop this year–only if the weather and wiggliness of wee ones dictates.

We’ll take the obligatory five laps around the model boat test pond in Lake Union Park and if anyone needs to use the potty, the MOHAI Compass Cafe will be open.

And then we’ll finish up at the Fremont Brewing Urban Beer Garden (which is right across the street from our start point). There are pretzels and apples, but if you want to stay for lunch, you can order it in from a book of menus or bring food with. It’d be nice to hang out for a bit and compare rainy riding stories and talk strategies for bundling up (especially bundling up non-pedaling kids) as the weather gets colder.

Note: Saturday November 28th is Greet the Season at Lake Union Park so some of us might have back-to-back Lake Union Park days.

This is a Cascade Bicycle Club Free Group Ride and all participants are required to wear a bicycle helmet and sign a waiver.

More about Kidical Mass Seattle.

OK, here’s the deal: Halloween is on a Saturday! Obvs this means costumed Kidical Mass! And hitting some neighborhood business trick-or-treat events. And voting (as in #bikethevote, not a costume contest–everyone’s a winner when it comes to biking in costume!).

Saturday, October 31st, 1:30 p.m.
Greenwood Library (8016 Greenwood Ave N, Seattle, WA 98103)
Facebook event page
Costumes not required, voting not required

Start your day as early as noon for the 2015 Hunger Goblin/Phinneywood trick-or-treat event that benefits the VOAWW Food Bank. All businesses with Hunger Goblin flyers in the windows will have treats for kids, as well our buddies at G&O Family Cyclery who didn’t have a flyer last I checked. Bring $2 or a can of food to donate at one of the VOAWW boxes along Phinney and Greenwood Avenues and receive an awesome Hunger Goblin sticker!

So trick or treat for an hour and a half and then convene in front of the Greenwood Library at 1:30 for THE COSTUME RIDE.

We’ll parade 2.8 miles from the Greenwood Library to the Ballard Library and those of us who have ballots will drop them in the ballot box for an awesome, costumed, photo op!

Then we’ll continue the parade into Fremont for Trick or Treat in Fremont, the biggest neighborhood business event, with over 150 places participating! It runs 3-6.

Note: Sunset will be 5:53 p.m. in case you want to time things to arrive home for trick-or-treating in your own ‘hood at “go” time (which I imagine will be 6:00 p.m.). We live in Wallingford and I hope we can make it to the Wallingford Center before 5pm for their Wallingford Center Halloween Trick or Treat which is also having a food drive, to support FamilyWorks.

Here’s our route (except no jog off the 58th Ave Greenway at 15th as suggested by Google Maps–we stick to the Greenway there and back, woo hoo Greenway!). It’s a one-way, 5.8-mile ride, but if you need to get back to the start point or any other spot, please check in for route advice or for assistance in finding other families heading your same way. Personally, I’d take 6th Ave NW (a proposed Greenway) back up, were I to head back to Greenwood. NW 75th Street is the first street I’d dare take towards the east to crest the ridge.

Costumes are not mandatory! Please come ride, even if you don’t dress up.

Here’s some information from Cascade Bicycle Club about the Move Seattle Levy, Proposition 1:

If Seattle is going to reduce traffic fatalities and build out its bikeway network, it needs to pass the Move Seattle Levy on the ballot this Fall.

Cascade strongly supports the levy. Cascade and our Connect Ballard team would like to see the funding for Ballard Bridge maintenance, seismic retrofits and long-term replacement study to be retargeted to near-term solutions for the safety of people walking and biking across the bridge. In addition, Cascade supports an increase and prioritization of Safe Routes to School funding for schools where more than 50 percent of the students are in the free and reduced lunch program.

This is a Cascade Bicycle Club Free Group Ride and all participants are required to wear a bicycle helmet and sign a waiver.

[First of all, if your kids don’t have their hearts set on a hay maze like mine, attend the Celebration of Life for Jerry Baker at 1pm in Magnuson Park.]

But here’s what we’re doing on Saturday…
Saturday, October 17, 2015
1:00 p.m.
Flying Bike Cooperative Brewery (8570 Greenwood Ave N, Seattle, WA 98103)
1.6 miles to Swansons
And back

Flying Bike is conveniently located a block away from G&O Family Cyclery which opens at 10am if you need bike stuff or train table time before the ride.

[update: I tested the route and will add pictures if I have a chance, but for starters, this is the route there and this is the route back.]

We’ll take a nice, slow, mostly-uphillish-1.6-mile ride to Swansons Nursery Hay Maze. I’ll do a route test before the ride, but just looking at Google Maps, this is what I’m thinking (and it certainly won’t take anywhere near as low as 12 minutes!):

1. West on 87th
2. North on 12th
3. West on 90th
4. North on Mary to cross Holman with the stoplight
5. West on 95th
6. North just a bit on busy 15th

I know many of you are more familiar with this area than I (we’ve only biked to Swansons a few times) so if the other side of the graveyard is more interesting–or if it’d be safer to stay on Mary longer and hit Swansons from the north–please let me know.

Psst…I happen to have insider information on the theme of this year’s holiday model train. Ask me at Flying Bike and I’ll tell you. It’s a good one! Maybe we’ll repeat this ride in six weeks for the Swansons Reindeer Festival if there’s any interest.

Kidical MASSIVE–all the Kidical Masses on the same day!!!–was a HUGE success! I don’t know if there will be a tally or estimate of participants at kidicalmass.org, but there were about 50 different rides around the world!

Checking out the various cities is most easily done at the #kidicalMASSive twitter hashtag.

I think our Seattle ride may have had THE MOST PARTICIPANTS OF THEM ALL with 221! Of course we were also the only ride that coincided with an Open Streets event–Ballard Summer Parkways–so Seattle Kidical Mass can’t take full credit for the amazing turnout.

We even got to kick off the whole Summer Parkways event! Seattle City Councilmember Sally Bagshaw spoke onstage first, and then I had a couple minutes to tell the story of Seattle Kidical Mass (birthed in Ballard six years prior) and laud the changes I’ve witnessed to the streets in the area since then, making it safer for people of all ages and abilities to bike here. Then I wove my way through the throng of kids eager to ride their bikes and off we went!

I didn’t take many photos during the event because there were lots of photographers around, as well as videographers for the Less Car More Go cargo bike documentary.

Here’s a nice photo from Greenwood/Phinney Neighborhood Greenways:

And I got a great one as we waited at a red light:

Hopefully more photos will pop up soon.

We started the day with an hour of bike decorating before Summer Parkways officially launched.

And since the previous weekend saw Seattle’s very-first Summer Parkways in the Central District, I inherited Central Seattle Greenways’ leftover bike decorating supplies, along with this awesome sign:

I was able to add to my pipe cleaner stash (great for helmet antennas!) and CSG advised me to order more pinwheels, which was terrific advice. I will have to add those to my regular repertoire.

We biked 2.3 miles, covering just part of the 7-mile street closure, starting at Salmon Bay Park and ending at Ballard Commons Park and the Sustainable Ballard Festival. Some families continued exploring Summer Streets, but we stayed at the festival so I could set out the bike decorating supplies again while the kids rode skateboard and scooter in the skate bowl (they’ve gone multimodal–we have to bring bikes, skate, and scoot everywhere now), watched the Bubble Man, and spun every prize wheel at the many booths.

Meanwhile, I got to do a quick interview for Less Car More Go, as Kidical MASSIVE will be featured at the end of the documentary. I can’t wait for it to come out!

Saturday, September 19, 2015
Salmon Bay Park (2000 NW Sloop Pl, Seattle, WA 98117)
Bike decorating starting at 10:00 a.m.
Ride at 11:00 a.m.
Facebook event

Come be a part of history:

• It’s the first Kidical Massive.
• It’s the first Ballard Summer Parkways.
• We’ll be part of the footage of the closing scenes of the Less Car More Go cargo bike documentary.

Kidical Massive
Kidical Massive is ALL THE KIDICAL MASSes at once: “The biggest global family bike ride EVER!! Join us as THOUSANDS of families around the country go for a bike ride together. We’ll be showing that Kids are Traffic Too and that cities that plan for family biking are more livable, sustainable, profitable, and FUN! Make a ride in your community happen; register your community and start planning your event.”

Kidical Mass was born in Eugene, Oregon in April 2008 and the birth of Seattle’s Kidical Mass was May 15, 2009–from Ballard Summer Streets. Full circle, y’all!

Ballard Summer Parkways
Ballard Summer Parkways is an Open Streets event with seven car-free miles of music and activities.
Here’s the overall event map:

UPDATED SIMPLER ROUTE (but I’m leaving the original details below because riding 67th is cool): East along 70th from Salmon Bay Park, right on 17th, left on 58th, U-turn at 6th, back west along 58th to Ballard Commons Park. Boom.

We’ll follow the blue line south from Salmon Bay Park, including the two-block jog east along 67th that cuts through Salmon Bay School, which I remember thinking was so cool and sneaky when we rode it as part of Seattle’s second-ever Kidical Mass in June of 2009. Then we’ll follow the NW 58th St Greenway (I used to call this “The Ballard Greenway” but now that there are two Neighborhood Greenways in Ballard, I’ll have to clarify with a street name!) all the way east to 6th (since it’s the sixth anniversary of Kidical Mass in Seattle)…but if the kids aren’t feeling it and don’t want to do the last uphill-ish block, it’s cool if we turn around at 7th (since it’s the seventh anniversary of Kidical Mass proper). Then we’ll head back west along the 58th St Greenway to Ballard Commons Park for the Sustainable Ballard Festival.

We’ll officially end at Ballard Commons Park, but continue to explore Summer Parkways–we’ll only have covered part of the whole event with our ride.
Or if you’re in need of doughnuts, I have a feeling a lot of us will backtrack along 58th to 17th to head south a couple blocks to the brand new Mighty-O Donuts. They accept Bicycle Benefits! And then we’ll most likely migrate a bit farther south to kid-friendly Peddler Brewing which has indoor and outdoor seating so it will be fun in any weather.

But wait, there’s more! At 4:30, head over to the nearby Summer Social for Familybike Seattle (you’ll need to be a member of the Seattle Family Biking Facebook group to see the details of this event).

Arrrrrggg!! SO MUCH FUN I CAN’T WAIT! Oh yeah, it’s also International Talk Like a Pirate Day and some of our fellow Kidical Masses are rolling with a pirate theme. Please feel free to come as pirates if that’s what floats your boat.

The Labor Day Cargo Bike ride was great! Alex of 20/20 Cycle came and led the ride, which I recorded and included a map of at the bottom for future reference. Alex was an excellent ride leader and provided tons of commentary and history along the way with several “Val would have wanted you to know this”-es and a “This is a Val route!”

Our ride featured:
1 Bilenky cycle truck
2 Larry vs Harry Bullitts
2 Surly Big Dummies
1 Xtracycle EdgeRunner
3 regular adult bikes
2 kid bikes
2 kid passengers
1 dog
* Note: cargo bikes are not required. From the RideYourBike.com event page: Cargo bike not required! Val would note that every bike is a cargo bike. “It is hauling YOU isn’t it?”

I have a bunch of photos below and some additional ones here on Flickr.

I started with a bit of an extra load since the kids and I are dogsitting 20-pound Marley for a few weeks. She’s used to riding on a bike (and running alongside a bike) so our five-mile ride to 20/20 was easy-peasy. Marley got a ton smiles and I got called a superhero for carrying her. Fun!

This was the kids’ first time riding their own bikes on the new Montlake Boulevard walk/bike overpass so that was fun, too. We rode it recently with a group of friends, but it’s different when we’re all on one bike (that was the ride in which Tom of Seattle Bike Blog called me a “well-documented bad ass” and I didn’t even have a dog in my basket!).

We made it about 15 minutes before the kids demanded a snack stop. I’ve mentioned it’s fun to ride separate bikes more and more, right? It’s also very slow going, though.

I got pretty lucky in terms of kid carrying. I carried one kid for the first half of Interlaken Park and just after he decided he wanted to ride again, the other one wanted a lift. Carrying just one kid and one bike is so much easier than both. Then they both wanted to be carried for the last (flattish!) three quarters of a mile so I arrived looking like a stud.

The ride made the obligatory stop at Dick’s Drive-In.

And we spent a perfect afternoon in Ravenna Park.

The kids were game to keep riding their bikes after the picnic (which is good because they’d poured water over their heads for most of our downtime and probably would have been too cold if they weren’t pedaling) and then something very cool that isn’t all that new happened: they both walked their bikes up our last hill (I think it’s 700 feet at 6.5% grade if I’m using the Veloroutes hill grade calculator correctly…though it’s not drawing the line in the right spot). If they’re not tired they can ride up this hill. They generally ask to be carried on other hills, but for some reason, they are fine walking this one. And thank goodness…I often have to rest halfway up this hill if I’m carrying them both these days.

And here’s my Strava recording of the ride and screenshot of the map:

Really, it doesn’t always rain in Seattle as you can hopefully tell from the images on this blog. I’ve lived here seven years now, but I’ll probably always identify as a Southern Californian and I seem to forget everything I know about rain if it’s been clear for a couple days. I figure it’s a survival mechanism.

Anyhow, yesterday started out clear with a forecast of 70 degrees and some clouds here and there. Perfect last beach day of the year. I packed up Shade Shack, picnic blanket, swim suits, beach toys, extra clothes, and snacks. The kids opted to ride their own bikes, which is happening more and more these days, but I went light on toys in case I had to tote them both at the same time. I ended up only having to tote the six-year old after he jumped off a Google step too high (as I was saying, “Hey, that’s too high to ride down!” of course) and banged his shin on his pedal. I love when they ride their own bikes, but it’s also nice getting to carry one of them because we move more quickly and I only have one trailing kid to worry about staying out of trouble.

The beach was a little cool and cloudy. I didn’t pop up my Shade Shack and soon needed to put on my sweatshirt…and that’s when I realized I’d forgotten the kids’ sweatshirts at home. But they were fine playing in swimsuits, as were all the other kids at the beach. The clouds got thicker and thicker, we heard thunder rumble in the distance, and the multitude of boats out in the sound quickly made their way back into the marina.

Fortunately, I thought to check my favoritest app: Dark Sky. I don’t have a ton of apps on my old iPhone and rarely shell out for non-free ones, but Dark Sky is worth the $3.99. I saw we’d have light rain in three minutes, lasting for 25 minutes, so we walked over to a sheltered area for snack. Dark Sky doesn’t always get it right and the light rain was more of a heavy rain and the wind blew it into our overhang so we darted for the ladies restroom and the kids changed back into regular clothing as we waited out the accurate 25 minutes.

My six-year old was content to keep riding on my bike so I wrapped him in our picnic blanket, rubber band holding it closed in front of him. He stuck his hands into his spare socks for make-shift mittens.

I sacrificed my sweatshirt to my eight-year old a few blocks from the beach when he said he was cold, but I was OK in just tank top, shorts, and flip flops. Having a heavy bike really helps at times like this, although I would have been cold if it was all downhill.

We stuck to our original plan of dinner at Red Mill Totem House, getting hit by a bit of drizzle on the way there. I had expected it to be empty, but it was full of people taking refuge from the storm…including a family of four on bikes–one parent with a rear kid seat and the other with a trailer bike–figuring out how to get home to Capitol Hill. I heard them wondering about getting the trailer bike on the bus. I told them they’d probably be able to carry it on, though it was at the discretion of the bus driver and volunteered to carry it home to Wallingford on my cargo bike if they found themselves in a bind. I assured them I love carrying things for people, but they ended up getting on with no problem.

I was very impressed by them. It’s one thing for everyday riders to get stuck out in the rain five miles from home, but this family had “done this ride before” so it wasn’t a regular thing. Not to mention what a hassle it can be to put both bikes and little kids on a bus! I hope they had fun getting home. I was quick to declare, “What an adventure!” to my kids as the drizzle hit and fortunately they agreed. Dolphie the dolphin rode on the rear rack of my eight-year old’s rack and his chauffeur declared, “Dolphie hopes it starts raining!” but fortunately we didn’t encounter any drizzle for the 45-minute ride home. Lots and lots of puddles, though. Thank goodness for fenders!