This was our third group ride (Critical Lass in 2012 and Kidical Mass in 2013) through the Olympic Manor holiday lights. Last year proved a little early in the season and not all the houses were decorated, so waiting until the 21st this year worked out well. Plus, the kids got to shout “Happy Solstice!” to everyone in addition to “Merry Christmas!” and “Happy Chanukah!” The weather was perfect and we had 20 participants.

My original plan was to leave home early in the day, like last year, because it’s difficult to rally to get out the door once it’s late in the day and dark. However, a sick five-year old kept us home all day (he slept from 5:00 p.m. Saturday to 2:00 p.m. Sunday!) so rather than cancel the ride, I opted to take the old mamabike and stick him in the trailer with a blankie and stuffed animal. He was eager to hang out and stay awake for a while so it worked out well. Thank goodness my seven-year old is still light enough that he fits in the Bobike maxi rear seat. But I have to admit this setup was pretty heavy for the eight-speed Bianchi Milano and gave me a reminder how much I respect those with insufficient gear range for our hilly city and/or those saving up for electric assist bikes who are struggling for the time being.

Part of the fun of a holiday lights ride is stringing extra lights on one’s bike, but due to the last-minute vehicle change, I tossed on what leftover battery-operated lights I could find before rushing out the door. I attached my seven-year old’s shark handlebar bag to hold the battery packs and wrapped red and white strands around my top tube, candy cane style. These lights aren’t waterproof, by the way, but they’ve lasted a few seasons, which is apparently not bad per Car Free Days: Light Up Your Bike with Battery-Powered-Holiday-Lights one- or two-season light estimate. The little white and red lights are from Ikea and the blue lights on my rear baskets are from Bartell Drugs.

The timing worked well this year, we gathered at the playgroud at Loyal Heights Community Center at 4:00 p.m. while it was still a bit light out so we could see one another and I could get some pictures of the bikes.

All my pictures are here in the Flickr gallery.

I was fifteen minutes late to the park–oops–so we probably ended setting out around 4:45 which proved perfect.

My bike-by photos were all blurry so I might have us do a start/stop tour next year if the weather is as good and all the kids are cool with that–sometimes it’s not so fun for passengers when the momentum stops repeatedly. Thank goodness holiday Yoda and Darth Vader (with lightsabers!) came out OK:

And my favorite, the Flying Spaghetti Monster in Santa hat.

Behold the FSM! The kids were all impressed, too.

I wish I’d thought to do a group shot at the start when it was still a bit light, but our group shot in the dark is good one:

We arrived to Grumpy D’s Coffeehouse at 5:30 p.m. There’s a warm fireplace near a group of comfy chairs, plenty of table seating, and toys! I didn’t stay for the afterparty this year due to sick kid, and three other families peeled off during the course of the ride as they got close to home, but several families stayed for peppermint hot chocolate and other treats.

After getting the ride a bit lost last year which resulted in us doing the loop in the opposite direction and climbing a huge hill, I decided to up my route map game a bit. My regular system is a bit convoluted: I take a screen shot of my Google map directions and paste it into Photoshop where I type in each street name REALLY BIG so I can see it on my small phone screen easily. Then I email the image to myself so I can download it on my phone. My old system was to just save the image to my camera roll, but then as I take pictures during the ride I have to scroll farther and farther back to see the map. So this time I set it as my lock screen and could see it with just a quick push of a button!

And with this and checking our position on the real map, we stayed on course.

However–and this is mainly a note to myself for next year–we’ll turn off at NW 95th Street next year. Riding down 96th afforded us a beautiful view of the Sound, but it’s a busy street without any spectacular lights we would have missed. Plus we’d cut out one uphill block of 23rd by turning earlier. Everyone seemed fine with the amount of hills–it wasn’t too hilly of a ride, but it’s nearly impossible to avoid some climbing in Seattle. The three Xtracycle EdgeRunner longtails had BionX electric assists and the Larry vs Harry Bullitt longjohn had an Ezee front hub assist, but the two regular bikes, the Yuba Boda Boda midtail, the tandem, and my rig were regular ol’ pedal-and-sugary-candy-cane powered.

Happy holidays!

The best bike in the world has turned three! Happy birthday, big girl! Three cheers for the Surly Big Dummy!

A couple big changes with bike-related life over the last year, but just little changes with the actual birthday bike. The kid seat isn’t in the photo above, but we’re still rolling Yepp seat for the five-year old at the back of the FlightDeck and stoker bars for the seven-year old at the front. I’m still thinking about switching to an Xtracycle Hooptie soonish. Maybe after winter. Which is what I said last winter. Minor additions are: an Xtracycle Mini MagicCarpet seat pad for the front kid and mudflaps from T Leatherworks with cool silver cogs on them. The front mudflap is completely new, the rear one a replacement.

And some choice highlights since her last birthday:

• For the annual family bike camping tip, I carried everything!
• We traveled internationally to Victoria, BC, Canada
• Big Dummy ON A CAR to ride the Iron Horse Trail

You probably noticed the recap list is a lot shorter than last year’s. We’ve been doing just as much family biking, most of it on the Big Dummy, but I haven’t been blogging as much of it–and it all started exactly a year ago, on her second birthday. The appointment to which she and I biked was a meeting with Mountaineers Books about writing a guide to urban bicycling. So blogging has taken a back seat to working on that. Look for it next fall!

And the other big news is: I’M CAR FREE. So exciting. And about time, right? The car’s title is still in my name so I haven’t really felt official yet and will make a more proper announcement with details at some point soonish, but it’s so nice to be rid of my car. Yippee! And with the departure of the car, came the arrival of a new bike, a Surly Straggler that the poor Big Dummy had to spend her birthday babysitting. I can totally relate–so hard to become a big sibling and suddenly share time with one’s baby sister (or in my case, colicky baby brother)–but I know they’ll be best buds in time.

Which relates to more change in the form of growing children: both kids are in school five days a week. Last year, my younger son was in preschool three half days a week, with me volunteering there once every couple weeks, but now both kids are at the same school 9:30-3:30 Monday through Friday, a mere two blocks from home. So we walk (Walk! It’s quicker than biking!) to school and before the Straggler I’d been heading out with my road bike and laptop in my backpack (granted, an awesome All-City Low Profile backpack I won at Menstrual Monday Girls of Summer two years back). This worked OK, but I’d been dreaming about a true commuter bike with eyelets for a rack so I could get Swift Industries panniers to carry my laptop more comfortably and sturdy fenders instead of my road bike’s clip-on fenders, which are certainly better than nothing, but often rub against my tires.

So my poor birthday girl had to deal with towing her pesky baby sister around on her birthday because I’d dumped the Little Struggler at Back Alley Bike Repair for a front-rack install the day before. Oh yeah, the baby bike gets a name, yet the Big Dummy is still nameless outside of the very generic “the Mamabike”. And to add insult to injury, the Dummy had a broken front gear cable fixed; no one likes seeing the doctor on her birthday. But look, fun stuff, too! The bikes went to the movies:

And had a GIANT POPSICLE:

And checked out the ducks at the Lake Union Park model boat test pond:

The small bike (just 32.4 pounds to the Big Dummy’s 74.6 pounds!) is really a joy. The kids are riding more and more on their own, though at 7 and 5, they’re certainly not safe riding on all Seattle streets, but we’re doing more and more riding separately, which is another thing to appreciate in the “new” column. I still primarily take the Big Dummy if we’re on separate bikes because odds are I’ll carry one of them at some point on a trip. But some day we’ll do more riding all on one-person bikes.

As a good example of the kids getting bigger, the night before the Big Dummy’s birthday, I dragged the kids to a school meeting at a house a half mile away, all uphill. All our biking means we don’t walk as much as many families, but they can handle this kind of walk now! So we left the bike at home and walked, and it was great. And to be completely honest, walking uphill is easier for me than biking us all uphill. I’ve slightly changed my route up to our house from the Burke-Gilman Trail to make the climb a little more gradual and compensate for the heavier kids, but it’s still working just fine to carry the both of them.

And of course the Little Struggler will be a kid-carrying bike of some sort, too. I’ve put the rack for the Burley Piccolo trailer bike on it, but it might need some adjustments before it can handle the weight.

And it’s a cargo bike, too! The night before the Cascade Bicycle Club bike move I was at Peddler Brewing Company filling a growler and mentioned the bike move. The next thing I knew, I had borrowed their Haulin’ Colin heavy duty trailer. It felt very weird attending a bike move without my cargo bike, but look at how much I could carry! Naturally, I had to put a Bike Rodeo Kit on top since that’s what I usually carry away from CBC.

Don’t feel too bad for the Big Dummy, she got to celebrate her birthday properly come evening. After school, the kids and I biked to the grocery store. Kids and groceries: what she does best! And then we headed to Peddler Brewing Company (yes, kid friendly!) for the graduation ceremony of the latest Cascade Bicycle Club Advocacy Leadership Institute class. I was in the first round of graduates two years ago and went to cheer the new bike advocates.

Demonstrating the sturdiness of the Big Dummy and the Rolling Jackass centerstand in the ALI grad party photobooth:

Here’s to yet another wonderul year with the Big Dummy! Thanks so much for reading along.

Our Third Annual Thanksgiving Family Group Ride was a huge success! We started with 27 participants and grew to 33 by the end after picking up two families along the way. One family went the other way around the lake, which worked well for finding us, but I’ll be clear to announce CLOCKWISE LOOP next year.
See all 122 photos here.

I kept with last year’s rough timeline:

10:00 – Start gathering at Gas Works (near the play barn)
10:30 – Depart
11:00-12:00 – Playground at Waterway 5 by Daniel’s Broiler
12:30 – Starbucks warm-up stop
1:30 – Back to Gas Works

…except the playground stop was more like 11:30 to 12 and we got back to Gas Works Park close to 2pm.

Everyone was able to stay with the ride the whole time this year! I think it helped to have the timeline so those with cooking and nap obligations stayed away, though on all Kidical Mass rides–and especially this one–families are welcome to drop off early if need be.

As with all rides in which my five-year old rides his own bike, I had to stop the ride several times. First for a water sip and a bit farther along, as you can see in the picture below, to load him onto my bike because he was too tired to go on. At least it makes for a nice group picture and I feel like it sets an accurate example of how one must sometimes be flexible when biking with kids.

I thought we had fun dealing with steep Hamlin and Yale Terrace and mused about naming the hill something fun for next year. Hellacious Hamlin? Tantrum Terrace? But it turned out not to be so popular with everyone so I’ll take a vote about changing the route for next year. I dislike riding the sidewalk of Eastlake, especially with a big group, but I think we’d need to stay up on Eastlake for three sidewalk blocks were we to avoid the hills.

We added a new element to the ride this year–a stop at a Pronto Cycle Share station for the kids to climb on the docked bike share bikes.

And shortly after we were at the real playground at Waterway 5. The sun shone on us for a brief minute there–I snapped a picture with shadows!

Then three circles around the model boat test pond in Lake Union Park (photo taken while standing on my FlightDeck):

And snacks, restroom break at Starbucks.

As we approached Gas Works Park at the end of our loop I decided I shouldn’t make everyone cross Northlake Way to enter the park since most of us would be heading one way or the other along the Burke-Gilman Trail. So we pulled into the little area at the Wallingford Steps. It was a bit awkward given the last-minute change of stopping point, but I think I like this for future rides…with advance notice so we can all pull off the trail to take one last group shot and say our goodbyes.

Here’s the map:

And recaps from 2013 and 2012.

Hope to see you out there next year!

It’s that time again! Seattle’s Third Annual Thanksgiving Family Group Ride is coming up next week.
[But first: Cranksgiving is tomorrow!]

Same rough timeline as years past:
Thursday, November 27, 2014
10:00 – Start gathering at Gas Works (near the play barn)
10:30 – Depart
11:00-12:00 – Playground by Daniel’s Broiler
12:30 – Starbucks warm-up stop
1:30 – Back to Gas Works

On Facebook? You can RSVP here.

As always, families are welcome to drop off early for naps and Thanksgiving- and cooking plans. We’re usually a much smaller group by the end.

Here’s the route, same fun loop around Lake Union as always:

Recaps from last year and the year before.

And a few pictures from last year:

Note: I’m putting this on the Cascade Bicycle Club calendar this year for the first time so there will be the waiver to sign and exciting safety spiel at the beginning.

I miss the good old days of three on a bike. I’ve pretty much given up on my quest to carry two bigger kids on a regular bike so our monthly (or more often) trips to our orthodontist 20 miles away have meant using two bikes: five-year old in the Bobike Maxi rear seat on my Bianchi Milano city bike and the seven-year old on his own bike.

I like the bus OK, but we don’t use it often enough that I’m adept at it. I have yet to embrace the idea of transferring between buses as a good way to get around, so when we were all on the one bike I’d take us downtown and just ride the 554 to Issaquah. I don’t consider Seattle’s downtown streets friendly enough for my seven-year old to ride on his own so we catch a bus somewhat near home and transfer to the 554. Our varying appointment times and my inability to memorize a good bus combination means it’s a little different each time. Today we started with a 0.4-mile ride to catch the 73 Express which was a first so I didn’t realize we’d be getting off in the transit tunnel.

But we fit fine in both of the elevators to get up to street level. I knew we would, having shared an elevator with Julian of Totcycle, his Xtracycle, and his two kids two years ago. Look at all that room! I could fit 20 camera-shy five-year olds in there!

But while we rode the elevator and walked our bikes one block down the steep hill for the second bus, I wondered if things would have been easier without the bikes. Back when legs were littler, walking 0.4 miles to the bus stop would have been a hassle, but we can totally do that now! Of course I have absolutely no idea how long that would take. Please tell me if you have any idea how long walking specific distances with a five-year old takes. Factoring in sibling tussles on a once-per-block basis.

A bike-free trip might require one more bus: the free 200 to bring us 1.5 miles from the Issaquah Transit Center to our dentist. Or maybe we could walk 0.8 miles from the downtown Issaquah stop.

As I locked our bikes together on the walkway outside the dentist (there’s no bike rack in the whole strip mall), I thought this was also something I wouldn’t miss if we left the bikes behind.

Normally our bike route doesn’t take us along Front Street since the streets are a bit too busy for a kid on a bike and the sidewalks are narrow so I don’t like taking up space on the bikes…so popping into Bicycle Center of Issaquah would be better served by visiting on foot. But our friend Kent Peterson wasn’t in and Dillon the little dog was off camping (poor Dillon! He must be freezing!) so we just banged on a couple floor-model bikes and posed by the penny farthing outside.

As we finished lunch at the Issaquah Brewery, which is conveniently close to the downtown bus stop, I realized my five-year old had left his elephant stuffed animal at the dentist, 0.9 miles away. Thank goodness for the bikes!

The Issaquah Trail system features wider-than-normal sidewalks that allowed us to ride most of the way on trails…just 115 feet of Gilman Avenue on the sidewalk rather than bike lane on super-busy street. Rainier Boulevard just reopened from a long repaving (or something) project so it wasn’t this pleasant our last handful of visits.

Here’s a better picture of the wide “trail” sidewalk. With a bit of bike dancing, note the foot in the air.

Great sunlight and shadows today, by the way!

The bikes also made it easier to watch the salmon in the Issaquah Creek. I didn’t see any, but the kids claim they did. We stopped by the fish hatchery next to the brewery (walking our bikes) to check in on the baby salmon so luckily my day wasn’t salmon-free.

Coming home we only had a block and a half between buses so we walked our bikes again. I should have chosen a better connection in the transit tunnel, but it just seemed too complicated with the bikes (I choose bus connections the night before an appointment and don’t like changing things on the fly unless forced to), so we had a nice long wait for the 26 that takes us just two blocks from home. The five-year old and I walked, the seven-year old rode his bike those two blocks.

So I’m not sure what we’ll do next time, but I’ve got six weeks to figure it out. However, I do know that for my next cleaning in a couple months, I’ll go alone while the kids are in school and ride my bike the whole way. I can’t wait! And I can guarantee neither visit will include stuffed animal tag-alongs.

Are you lucky enough to have a pumpkin patch within biking distance? I’m not aware of one in Seattle this year.

OK, that’s not entirely true–I just discovered Swanson’s Nursery has a Fall Festival Saturday and Sunday 10-2 with:

Tractor Rides • Veggie Car Races • Autumn Mobile Art Project • Leaf Rubbings • Pumpkin Putt-Putt Miniature Golf • Straw Maze Madness. Tickets will be on sale for races, games, and art projects to raise money for Child Haven.

The Ballard Kiwanis club will sell hotdogs, beverages, and desserts from 10am–2pm • Cupcake Royale will sell special fall cupcakes & traditional baby cakes from noon–4pm • Sweet Wheels Ice Cream Truck from noon–4pm.

Last year Northwest Seaport had pumpkins on one of the ships at Lake Union Park which is a little easier to get to for us, but looks like it’s not on this year.

So yesterday we visited the underground parking lot pumpkin patch at the Roosevelt Whole Foods:

I was a bit disappointed these were the biggest pumpkins to be had. I could have fit slightly larger ones on board.

Earlier in the day, while the kids were at school, I swung by the Ballard Fred Meyer and saw some truly enormous pumpkins. They had their weights and diameters displayed…diameter I guess to make sure it could fit through the car door to drive home? Lots of them over 100 pounds. I don’t think I could manage the two-block uphill climb home from the Burke-Gilman Trail were I to get a pumpkin at the Ballard Fred Meyer, but I bet the Greenwood Fred Meyer has a selection of obscenely large pumpkins, too. Because the terrain on the ride home definitely dictates the weight of the pumpkin(s) I’ll haul!

Happy fall and I hope you’ve had some pumpkin-on-bike fun, too!

Oh, and learn from my mistake: I meant to stick two pumpkins on the street side and one on the sidewalk side. You know, to better impress the people driving alongside us.

I’ve been doing most of my Kidical Mass posting over at Familybike Seattle, but today was sunny and beautiful so I have to do some picture posting here, too. (And full Flickr set is here.)

20 people came out to explore Mad Campus at University of Washington and I discovered there’s nothing better than a long bike rack for a group shot–kids climbed the rack and parents stood behind them. Photo taken with the TimerCam app by my iPhone wedged in my helmet vent, by the way. This is one of my least crooked results.

We gathered at installation number one, Sentinel, which worked fairly well, but in hindsight, hanging out at a non-climbable piece for a good half hour while waiting for everyone to arrive wasn’t ideal. If we’re in a similar situation for a future ride, I’ll choose a spot around the corner with climbable rocks and running-around space.

I wasn’t sure all the kids would want to hit all 12 installations, but they did! Sadly, number three, Lone Stranger was missing (popped? blown away?).

Also a bummer was the DO NOT CLIMB sign at Wave Sine that was new since the Seattle’s Child article that gave me the idea to ride through the event and mentioned climbing the waves.

The Legend of Jerry Roundtree in Red Square was my favorite because the kids could truly interact with it. They all clustered in the pyramid and explored the cool (as in cool to the touch, but also cool as in kewl, of course!) marble pieces.

An interesting thing happened while heading home. We took the two-way protected bike lane that leaves campus on NE 40th Street. Side note: I think this lane is permanent, but it’s also part of a big Burke-Gilman Trail detour for the time being. While we rode down the bike lane, four faster people took the main lane to the right. I really like having options. Of course I’m biased and think bicycle facilities should be built for all ages and abilities so I can comfortably ride them with my slow, heavy bike or let my kids ride on their own bikes, but having a parallel route for people who don’t want to ride on a bikeway attractive to people of my caliber is important, too. I’d also like if all these new protected bike lanes were twice as wide to allow passing, but just having them is such a great start!

For the record, I suspect many faster riders would still avoid double-wide protected bike lanes in favor of taking the lane on a regular street, but having space for parents to ride alongside children or medium-speed people passing slow-speed people would be terrific.

There are lots of people who avoid the Burke-Gilman multiuse trail–some because it’s too slow and full of inexperienced bike riders (those might be the people in the right lane in the photo above) and some because it’s too fast and full of impatient experienced bike riders (hopefully these people would use this protected two-way bike lane, but they might be holding out for protected one-way double-wide bike lanes).

A mere four days after our family bike camping trip, the kids and I were off again. This time much farther away, yet with a lot less pedaling, less gear, and less hills–Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. My father was stopping through Victoria on his way to see his sister on Salt Spring Island (to where I biked solo a year ago and will write about at some point!) and since it’s surprisingly easy to get to Victoria from Seattle, we headed over to see him for a few days. Check out the light load (compared to camping, that is): suitcase of clothing on one side and two soft bags of snacks and various other kid stuff on the other:

I was relieved Bainbridge Island’s Bike for Pie event didn’t coincide with Hempfest this year, but our trip to the ferry on August 14th was subject to the cannabis convention construction. It wasn’t really so bad, but we were routed away from the bike path to the narrower walking path and our forward progress blocked by mis-parked trucks a few times. I knew from signage ahead of time that I’d have to contend with this detour, but I figured setup wouldn’t be so bad that I’d want to forgo the longer, flatter trip to the waterfront. Traversing the area during Hempfest is totally out of the question and our return trip was during clean-up which I figured would be worse than set-up so we took the shorter, steeper trip on our way back home.

The Victoria Clipper isn’t cheap, but it’s extremely convenient. Less than three hours to get to Victoria, and it leaves from easily-accessed Pier 69. Regular bikes are $20 each way, but big bikes, like mine, are double that. Still worth it–Canada with a cargo bike! Our boat ran 20 minutes late so everyone got free coffee and 10% off duty free bulk booze and smokes…and then they made up the 20 minutes at sea anyway.

Regular checked baggage travels in big metal boxes, placed on the boat by crane.

Bikes are wheeled on and covered with a tarp. Forgive the poor quality of the photo, it’s taken through the window because passengers aren’t allowed access to the bottom deck where the bikes travel.

And before you know it, you’re in Victoria! This is the parliament building, very close to the Clipper terminal. As was our hotel. I couldn’t find an amazing stand-alone hotel deal online so I booked Clipper tickets and hotel through the Clipper Vacations website. The Harbour Towers Hotel & Suites worked very well and had a swimming pool, which seems to be a requirement for the kids as of late. And a parking garage with bike rack. Red Tricycle just ran an article about visiting Victoria without a car, Bon Voyage: Your Guide to a Hassle-Free Victoria, BC Getaway. No bikes utilized, but feet and buses got them around the city.

On our first full day we met up with the Growing Up Bike family. Eunice wasn’t on her own Xtracycle, but instead borrowing her friend’s Tom’s Cargo Bikes longjohn. I know this bike! It was Fred King’s bike at last year’s Portland DRT. He’s since upgraded to a Bullitt and his old bike has a new happy family.

As you can see from the above picture, we did a lot of kid swapping over the course of our visit–I think every combination imaginable. And not for the purpose of separating squabbling siblings, as is usually the reason to swap kids with a pal.

Our first destination was the Victoria Bug Zoo. It’s amazing.

The Bug Zoo was within walking distance of our hotel, but it was much quicker to bike there. And afterwards we biked a mile to Cook Street Playground, then along to Big Wheel Burger for dinner (and where Eunice was discovered by a photographer for Momentum Magazine!) and finally for a scenic tour back to the hotel, including Mile 0 and the World’s Tallest Totem Pole.

Our destination the following day also qualified as within walking distance: Fisherman’s Wharf, where we found a playground, many food options, and hungry seals we could feed by hand.

On day three we ventured a bit farther afield, first to meet up with Olena Russell, Mike Russell, and Ruth for coffee at Habit in Chinatown. I love Ruth’s Kona Ute and all its special touches!

After coffee we followed the Russells to the Beacon Hill Children’s Farm. Along the way I realized something that had been nagging at me the previous days–people in cars don’t give much space to people on bikes on the narrow downtown streets. I do a lot of comparing Seattle to Portland and bemoan our lack of bike infrastructure and lack of respect as fellow road users from people in cars, but I felt my space much more encroached upon here. It didn’t feel intentional and threatening, just close.

But soon enough we were in the park with room to fly! Mike called this Victoria’s only protected bike lane, but as you can see from the paint, it’s a separated multi-use trail, which I think isn’t quite as exciting. Separate spots for walkers, bikers, and drivers would be ideal. He also pointed out the roads used to be closed to cars–that would have been ideal-er!

Behold our three bikes lined up–Surly Big Dummy, Workcycles bakfiets, Surly Big Dummy, at the outdoor orchestra. I was quite taken by Mike’s Schwalbe Big Apple tires. I know they provide a cushier ride than my Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires, but they don’t boast the same flat-resistance. However, he said he’s been rolling strong for three years on this set. Perhaps once I’ve destroyed my current tires I’ll make a change, but I’m not one to swap away perfectly good tires…especially when they’re the most flat-resistant ones on the market.

Then we found Eunice at the playground and I finally got to see her Xtracycle in person! And, of course, more kid swapping:

The kids had a blast at the playground in Beacon Hill Park, and even more of a blast in the wooded area of Beacon Hill Park, but we returned to Cook Street Park because its zip line can’t be beat.

The next morning we hopped the Clipper back to Seattle. Again, the trip was quick and uneventful, but things had changed at home! I saw markings in the street for a two-way protected bike lane on Pike Street, between Pike Place Market and 2nd Avenue. I wouldn’t have noticed them had we not been avoiding the Hempfest teardown and taken the direct-but-trafficky route home. Thanks Hempfest!

The direct route also carried us by Lake Union Park so we wisely changed into swim suits at the Clipper terminal after clearing customs and were ready to hop into South Lake Union on our way home. I don’t think I’ve ever had such a quick and easy vacation that I was willing to stop for a swim on the way home!

We had an excellent time, though it’s a shame we didn’t get to travel the Galloping Goose Trail or Lochside Trail. Obviously, we’ll have to go back and remedy!

It’s been nearly three years since our Snoqualmie Tunnel ride with Brad and a lot has changed since then. I have a Big Dummy now, too! And all four kids have since traded balance bikes for pedal bikes. Also in the interim, The Path Less Pedaled has come Bikefishing on the Iron Horse Trail and many more people know how cool it is here.

If you want even more photos than those in the post, see my Iron Horse Trail Flickr album.

Most exciting: this was my cargo bike’s FIRST TIME ON A CAR!

Brad says his rack is a Thule van rack, but I don’t see that they make one, so I think it’s a regular little trunk rack like mine. Eek. My bike weighs 76.4 pounds before I take the Yepp seat off (which was stowed inside the van) and Brad’s must be about the same. He removed his Xtracycle rack, bags, and deck, but the BionX motor must add back some of that weight. And his frame is the biggest 22″ to my smallest 16″–more steel, more real. Last year we had three adult bikes back there and it was a tight squeeze. These two fit pretty well and it would have been even easier if one of us didn’t have a big front basket and wide Rolling Jackass centerstand.

Here’s what it looked like with just Brad’s bike on the rack:

Brad picked us up at 8:00 a.m.–two cargo bikes on the back of the van, four kid bikes (and their kids) inside. We stopped for breakfast in Eastgate where we met up with Mark and his daughter. They ride a Counterpoint Opus semi-recumbent tandem. These make great family bikes. Find this bike now as the Bilenky Viewpoint tandem and find a similar setup in the Hase Pino.

After the people fueled up, the cars needed to do so, too, so we drove separately to nearby Issaquah where we were drawn to Bicycle Center of Issaquah when we realized it was almost 10:00 a.m. opening time and we could visit with Kent Peterson. Brad and Kent talked kid mountain bikes while the kids biked around the store and played with Dillon the shop dog.

And eventually we made it to Hyak parking lot and were ready to go!

…but after a bit of fun: we posed Brad’s BionX battery on my frame. He’s pretty much killed his e-assist system so he didn’t have much of an advantage. Sadly, I didn’t get to hear the weird, animal-like noises he says it makes when he asks too much of it.

After a string of clear and sunny days, today was foggy and though Hyak had cleared by the time we arrived, fog belched out of the tunnel towards us. Inside was dark and creepy, like last time, but having dynamo lights meant I could light my own way this time. My kids’ Knog Blinders probably didn’t do much, but they stayed alongside the big bikes and Brad’s kids had bright headlamps and charged on ahead.

I’m not sure if the kids had more fun traversing the tunnel or closing the gate on us after they made it through. Ha ha. Don’t come with us next time if you’re claustrophobic.

We spent a lot of time on the south side of the tunnel. The kids hiked down the ravine and then up and over the tunnel. Where mine fell into a creek. Of. Course.

I climbed up to the tunnel’s lid, but didn’t explore with the kids. I did, however, take my new favorite picture:

These two decided they are best friends who stop for one another as needed, be it to skid to fish-tail-y stops (over and over and over again) or to stop and pick edible (I hope) flowers.

And this guy is riding in his spare pants and my sweater with wet, sockless shoes (saving the dry socks for later). The 30% chance of rain meant I brought his jacket, but that went in the creek, too. Next time I bring spare shoes. Even the biggest bike will not always carry enough in the way of spare clothing or snacks for a day trip with kids. And this big bike was kept to minimal load so I could bag and drag both bikes if need be.

We saw a few other riders in both directions. I forgot to ask Brad what this guy’s story was. I was worried one of the kids would demonstrate a skidding stop right in front of him…but he made it past us unscathed after a five-minute rolling chat.

Then we broke for lunch on the bridge over Hansen Creek.

Mark and his daughter turned back to Hyak at this point. I think it was after 4:00 p.m., so he knew they would miss rush hour traffic by the time they got in the car.

The other six of us continued on in search of “the next bridge”. Brad had left his extra water at home. And then left his replacement extra water in the car (so glad I’m not the only one who forgets important things!), so he filled his camping stove with water from the river and boiled it alongside the trail while the kids frolicked on the hillside. And then: hot chocolate!

As well as some parental frolicking. I did most of my riding with butt on saddle and feet on pedals, but Brad is more, uh, creative.

We continued our search for “the next bridge” for a while, but eventually decided we should turn back. Our original plan was to ride 20 miles downhill to a waiting car, but I’m not sad that didn’t work out because it would have been a shame to miss the uphill climb back–we’re Seattleites after all, we eat hills for breakfast! Of course I was only carrying my five-year old and the grade is 2% so “uphill” might not be the best word for it. As it was, we were probably 10 miles past the tunnel when we declared it was turn-back time.

Brad’s uphill ride started with his five-year old and her bike and my seven-year old and his bike, but that wasn’t enough so I gave him my cargo strap to use as a tow rope for his seven-year old. Behold our photo and video series “What could possibly go wrong?” [Spoiler alert: nothing goes wrong.]

I took my kid bike (but not my kid) back after the videos for better side-to-side “water skier” action and I’m sad I missed filming the first stop because it was hilarious: the tow-ee stopped a second before the tow-er and was dragged into the funniest lurch forward.

It was slow going much of the way–my seven-year old was determined to ride the whole thing for a while and Brad’s BionX display helpfully let us know we were crawling along at 3.5 miles per hour. Brad cheerfully said, “If we take long enough, it will all be a tunnel.” And then he got a flat.

During the changing of the flat he dropped this other gem: “I’ve actually had a number of flats with these tires. I should change them, but I really like the color.”

The speed at which he took the bike apart and changed the flat was impressive, but it still makes me rethink my recent idea to swap my Schwalbe Marathon Pluses for Schwalbe Big Apples when the time comes.

And then we were off again. Our second spate of drizzle started and after riding through it for a bit Brad said, “Oh, yeah, lightning” and I started giggling hysterically. My cheeks still hurt, I laughed for so long. That’s when I realized I was a bit worn out. The tiredness caused by gravel riding really sneaks up on me.

We reached the bottom of the tunnel at 7:12 p.m. I forgot to check what the numbered alcoves start with at the top so I couldn’t gauge how quickly we were getting through. For next time: 40. 40 consecutively marked alcoves. Now you can keep track on your way up, too.

We stopped for dinner on the way home and were finally deposited at our door, kids fast asleep, at 10:04 p.m. What a long and awesome day!

Of course a trip to the Iron Horse Trail need not take this long. The two-car, one-way 20-mile trip from Hyak to Rattlesnake Lake, or even a bit shorter from Hyak to Exit 38, seems great for riders both little and big. And even just riding through the tunnel and back is worth the trip. Having the luxury to both carry and ride alongside the kids thanks to the cargo bike is wonderful, but it would have still been fun carrying both kids the whole way or on separate bikes, being careful not to take them too far before heading back.

Brad regaled me with tales of randonneuring (long-distance unsupported endurance cycling) throughout the day. The stories are great, but actually doing randonneuring sounds a little scary. However, I would like to do a regular-bike ride along the Iron Horse Trail–maybe even with just adults!–someday.

While we were 60 miles from home, having the time of our lives on the car-free Iron Horse Trail, something horrible happened back in Seattle: Sher Kung was killed by a delivery truck driver while biking in the 2nd Avenue bike lane. I hate 2nd Avenue. Everyone does. Bike expert John Pucher gave it a scathing review. I used it for the first time two years ago. Brad and I were both in Cascade Bicycle Club’s first round of the Advocacy Leadership Institute and we usually biked over together, except for this one time when I was on my own and followed Google maps’ instructions to take 2nd Avenue to Pioneer Square. After a couple scary blocks I caught up to an experienced bike commuter and followed him. I learned so much during that ride. I followed him up into driveways to skirt around the backs of cars poking out into the bike lane despite the enticing open space in front of those cars. And we danced to the right (the bike lane is on the left side of one-way 2nd Ave) of cars stuck in the middle of left turns. It was exhilarating! Exhilarating in the sense that I couldn’t believe we’d made it through unscathed. He didn’t know I was behind him so I pulled alongside at my last red light before turning west to thank him for the lesson. He said this night was worse than normal. Now I use 3rd Ave with the buses or 1st Ave with its many red lights. They’re both crappy, too, but not as bad as 2nd. And if my destination is on 2nd I use the right lane instead. But I only know about using the right lane by reading comments on Seattle Bike Blog. A lot of people ignore the left-hand bike lane and ride to the right, but a lot stick to the left lane–why would it be there if we weren’t supposed to use it? This tragedy is extra frustrating because this horrible street is finally getting a protected bike lane in a week. We experienced the practice version on Park(ing) Day last year and of course it’s a world of difference. Just too late for Sher. And others.

If there’s a memorial ride next week, we’ll attend. The only other thing I know of to do as an individual is to donate to the Sher Kung Memorial Fund. And if you bike downtown, join Connect Seattle’s Connect Downtown group. And/or join a different Connect Seattle team. And your nearest Seattle Neighborhood Greenways group. And ride your bike. And talk to others about biking in Seattle. We need better bicycling infrastructure, but we also need more people biking. And if you drive, slow down. 20 is plenty in the city. Even if the speed limit sign has a higher number. And stick your phone in the glove box when you’re driving. And open your car door with your right hand to make it easier to look out the window into the door zone first. And know that I’m shedding a tear (or 100) for Sher with you right now.