Sunday’s Kidical Mass ride took us to Ballard for our first look at the new two-way bikeway for part of the Burke-Gilman Trail Missing Link. The paint isn’t down yet and I hope they’ll put more dividers in to make things clearer, but most of the signs are up. We only took it in the westerly direction, but I don’t think it’s marked yet from the other direction because we only saw bikes coming towards us on the car half (which is fine and in fact it’s still marked with sharrows…though those will probably be sandblasted off at some point).

Click my photo below for a larger version. Bikes approach from the Burke-Gilman Trail, next to a sidewalk, off frame to the left. I hope diagonal paint will make it easy to access the bikeway entrance.

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Here’s the new all-way stop as The Missing Link crosses 14th. I don’t come through here at commute time so I’ve never seen it busy.

More cones. I don’t know if there are plans to paint the whole bike half green, but I hope so.

The end of the bikeway is where I’d prefer to see stop signs. Shilshole is not easy to turn left onto. As for entering the bikeway from the other direction, slowing down to make the right turn in front of fast-moving cars probably won’t be very pleasant, either. I’m curious to see the finished product, but I don’t think any traffic calming is planned for this intersection.

But onto better things: Kidical Mass! We met up at Ballard Library and biked a block to the NW 58th Street Greenway and got a look at the new bike counter. This one doesn’t display a number like the Fremont Bridge bike counter, but numbers should be available online from SDOT next month. The two black tubes running across the street record bikes passing by.

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We rode six blocks along the Greenway. It’s mostly flat, but the couple mild hills were a bit much for my four-year old on his 16-inch bike. The other four kid riders were on 20-inch bikes and did OK.

We took the bike lane of busy 8th Avenue NW to cross Market with a light, but soon we were back to quiet streets and arrived at Gilman Playground.

We left most of the crowd at the playground (as well as our two kid bikes) and four of us popped down to Top Pot Doughnuts for sugary snacks.

Two families caught up to the ride at the playground, bringing our grand total to 24! Then it was just one block through the park and one very torn up block (due to heavy weekday truck traffic, but the kids found dodging the ruts and potholes very exciting and everyone stayed upright) to our final destination.

Reuben’s Brews! Which needs more than just the one staple bike rack.

I chose Reuben’s Brews after seeing it on the ParentMap Kid- and Bike-Friendly Breweries in Greater Seattle list. It worked great! I was a little worried when I read “cozy tasting room” on their website, but it seemed plenty spacious for us. And there were several tables on the upper loft. All the local breweries that don’t have kitchens seem to welcome outside food so the donuts kept the kids content. As did the complimentary bar pretzels.

Here’s our full route:

After the party broke up, we followed Julian of Totcycle to Adams Elementary school for the kids to practice biking.

Sadly, my kids didn’t last too long. Their feet and fingers were getting cold and having just been cooped up at home for two weeks with the flu, they’d had their fill of excitement. But I was happy to have made our way north a bit so I could get the hill done at the beginning of our trek home, rather than the end.

I’m happy we chose to take the Greenway towards Adams and then 75th up to Phinney Ridge because we bumped into two bonus family biking friends on our way. They don’t call Ballard “The Portland of Seattle” for nothing!

And final fun item: check out this cool spill-proof carabiner mug from Fuel Coffee.

We’ve gone through a couple bike travel mugs so I’m always on the lookout for good options. This one has a lid that unscrews so it’s not for sipping while biking, but that ensures its leakproof-ness. Our previous mugs have been:
Biologic Vacuum Flask which I liked fine, but the threads of the lid failed fairly quickly and it leaked all over the place. I think we just got a lemon, but we never replaced it.
Stanley’s Vacuum Insulated Travel Tumbler was our next try which I also liked, but Mr. Family Ride didn’t like the spout.
Stanley’s Mountain One Hand Vacuum Mug is what we’re currently on and we both like it. But I still want a carabiner mug, too.

I hadn’t planned on writing a New Year’s Day post. I’ve spent the last ten days of 2013 horribly sick with the flu and am still on the mend. I’d have chosen to spend the day indoors, close to my tissue box, but I’m the healthier of the two adults at the moment so I braved the outside world to make a quick run to the pharmacy.

It’s not flat, but it’s a short route: two quiet blocks to the Wallingford Neighborhood Greenway, eight blocks of Greenway, and one block along an arterial (i.e. busy street) to the store.

I’m fortunate to live so close to the Greenway, and our Wallingford Neighborhood Greenway is the first in Seattle–we celebrated its opening in June of 2012. I love the Greenway and go out of my way (uphill!) to use it regularly, but it’s just paint and signs–no added stop signs and speed bumps like the newer Greenways enjoy. I’d like to think that motorists notice the Neighborhood Greenway sign and keep an extra watch for pedestrians and bicyclists, but all too often if people aren’t forced to slow their cars, they won’t.

Case in point: today at 3:30, still light out for a bit, I’m riding along the Neighborhood Greenway and notice an SUV approaching from my right, about 100 feet (two houses) away. I’m already at the traffic circle, but I stop and wait. I probably had enough time to cross the intersection before him and I have the right of way, but in this situation I tend to assume the driver won’t see me. I’m glad I stopped because he was going a bit over the speed limit, had a cell phone to his ear, and didn’t even glance my way.

I worry that our Greenway isn’t slated to be finished as it’s more exciting to unveil new projects, but I hope I’m wrong (looks like SDOT calls it “complete” so I’m not holding my breath). It’s a real treat to ride along the new Ballard and Fremont Greenways, knowing cross traffic has stop signs.

So here’s to more Complete Streets in Seattle for 2014!

From the National Complete Streets Coalition:

Complete Streets are streets for everyone. They are designed and operated to enable safe access for all users, including pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and transit riders of all ages and abilities. Complete Streets make it easy to cross the street, walk to shops, and bicycle to work. They allow buses to run on time and make it safe for people to walk to and from train stations.

Looks like SDOT has a Complete Streets page, too, though their description doesn’t give me the same warm and fuzzy feeling as the one above.

We were in the newspaper yesterday!

Mel–our elementary school’s crossing guard (who bikes to work!)–tipped me off as we passed him on our way to preschool. We tend to leave the house five minutes late despite my best efforts, but for a miraculous change, we were out the door five minutes early and I had three quarters in my messenger bag.

Here’s the online version: Cargo bike as 2-wheel minivan is here for long haul.

And it all started last last Friday with Cargo bikes the new minivan for cycling families, by the local Associated Press. Same article, but with video and more pictures.

The article titles are a little misleading as it’s not only about families, but a cargo bike is certainly a minivan replacement. I love that the article spawned a complimentary piece north of the border: Cargo Bikes: Haul Stuff on Two Wheels with a photo of a mom (Hi, @Sunrise604!) hauling a Christmas tree by cargo bike.

Some friends laughed at me for

Carlson’s enthusiasm has caught on. Two friends have bought similar cargo bikes and have started riding.

Apparently I have inspired more than two people. Which is great! I’m also mortified for having been quoted as saying “damn.” Something else to blame that f—ing box spring for. I have yet to live that down. But if it somehow helps to inspire, so be it.

I made the mistake of reading the comments on the local KOMO version of the story. First rule of reading comments: DON’T READ THE COMMENTS! There were only a few comments when I looked and they weren’t as horrible as I’d expected: it must be hard to ride in those shoes and I probably won’t ride when winter hits. I’m sure there are more and worse comments now. DON’T LOOK!

Thank goodness I wasn’t photographed in flip flops–those incite riots! Remember the Bicycle Times cargo bike cover? I wear flip flops a lot in the summer. And I go clipless on my road, cross, and mountain bikes. They’re both perfectly comfortable.

As for weather, I still feel like a Southern Californian living in the Pacific Northwest so I’m quite proud of myself every time we go out in drizzle. Which is often. Bring on the rain and bring on the [light] snow. I’m still not ready to ride with the kids up on the deck in deep snow. If we replace the double trailer, I’ll haul them by mountain bike like I did during Snowmageddon. Assuming we get snow like that again. More likely, now that we’re all pedaling we’ll just go out near home and practice snow biking on individual bikes. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m excited for snow biking…though I won’t be disappointed if we don’t get real snow. I still prefer my snow an hour’s drive away, associated with a ski lift.

It feels odd to write this on a rare day we didn’t bike. My first grader is down with a stomach bug and I didn’t want to drag him out to bike his little brother to preschool: 2.2 miles away, about 20 minutes each way. I wouldn’t have wanted to drag him out in a car, either, though it didn’t occur to me. Though this is really more a matter of Mr. Family Ride being out of town than transportation choices. Last week the preschooler was down for a day with the same bug and I was able to leave him home for ten minutes while I walked the healthy kid two blocks to school.

Here’s to fewer tummy bugs, more cargo bikes, and more fun!

‘Tis the season to hone those cold-weather-kid-bundling skills and bike at night to see holiday lights! Olympic Manor is slide one of Red Tricycle’s 9 De-Lightful Neighborhood Light Displays and was the destination of December’s bonus Kidical Mass ride on Sunday, December 10th. Regular Kidical Mass rides occur on the first Sunday of each month.

We started gathering at Loyal Heights Community Center at 3:45 when it was still light out so I could get some pictures before it got too dark and blurry (here’s the full set of photos).

It was still a bit light out when we arrived to Olympic Manor, but that meant we could admire the view of the Puget Sound behind the houses. I had expected rain and dark skies; the sunny, but cold day messed with our timing.

My plan was to follow the route from last year’s Critical Lass ride to Olympic Manor, but I accidentally took us on the reverse route and then turned east a block early which resulted in a hellacious and busy hill. I stopped for a beat halfway up and several riders had to walk up. I think they all forgave me and hopefully they forgot about the hill a few blocks later, like I did. I also promised I have the best route picked out for next year. I do! It’ll be great!

But soon enough we were back on track. Sadly, the Flying Spaghetti Monster wasn’t lit yet. I don’t know if we were too early in the evening or if he hasn’t been strung with lights yet. Some neighbors were still setting up their displays as we rode through.

Heading to the after-party we saw a great light display at Bicycle Bob’s (the guy who lives across from Salmon Bay Park and sells used kid bikes). The peppermint wheels on the train spin and I’d imagine the “20.00” sign mean it’s for sale.

Then we discovered a train mural on the side of Grumpy D’s Coffee House, our end spot:

And my bike sported a train Christmas tree ornament we’d found in the morning. The lights are just cheapie Ikea battery-powered indoor lights. They held up OK in drizzle last year, but one can find safe outdoor battery-powered lights online, I hear.

There were a couple instances of cold kids here and there. My kids fared OK in snow pants, winter coats, thick mittens or gloves, and snow boots. One wore his balaclava (helps to refer to it as a “ninja mask” for reluctant wearers). Underneath they wore cotton socks, jeans, and sweatshirts. Ideally they’d wear wool socks and wool base layer, but we don’t own wool base layers and have outgrown last winter’s wool socks. I discovered their ski goggles don’t fit comfortably over bike helmets so I’ve got to search the basement for their snowboard helmets for future very cold rides. I didn’t take quite as much care with my outfit as the heavy bike keeps me warm enough and I’m often down to short sleeves and no gloves for my last hill on the way home in any weather. This day I wore fleece-lined tights and skirt, two pairs of cotton socks under boots (and my toes still froze–I need to find my road bike shoe shoe covers, I think they’ll work for regular shoes/pedals), snowboard jacket, and too-hot-for-most-seasons Bern helmet with Helmuff ear covers. My waterproof cycling gloves didn’t keep my fingers warm, but holey, fuzzy mittens did!

There were several families who didn’t make it out for the ride. Afternoon events are hard. I worried we’d have trouble leaving our warm home late in the day so I circumvented that risk by hitting the road at 10:30 a.m. This worked great because we stopped by G & O Family Cyclery and saw No Spandex Required receive her new Xtracycle EdgeRunner.

Stats:
21 participants in the form of 9 parents and 12 kids upon 11 bikes: a Bullitt (Totcycle!), two Surly Big Dummys, a Kona MinUte, an Xtracycle, two regular bikes with rear kid seats, two solo adults, and two solo big kids.

Happy second anniversary Big Dummy

It’s been another amazing year with the Big Dummy!

In keeping with last year’s Happy Birthday, Big Dummy, let’s take a look at some of the awesomeness of the past year, thanks to the amazing cargo bike:

• I carried a box that was too big for a friend’s car
• We introduced Bettie the dog into the biking crew
• I did a bit of our house move by bike
• We traveled with the bike thanks to Bolt Bus! to Portland for the Disaster Relief Trials. And again for Fiets of Parenthood, which I have yet to recap
• We went bike camping again
• I carried our train table by bike – to the new G & O Family Cyclery where more people can buy cargo bikes!
• I hauled more and bigger bikes regularly
• After missing the opportunity for two Halloweens, my bike wore its first costume for Cranksgiving

The Dummy started her day with the usual school run, during which I learned if a guy in a stinky older truck rolls down his window at a red light and says, “How much for the bike, $1500?” the correct answer is not an approximate price including kid stuff, with hurried explanation of dynamo lighting. Next time: “I’ve seen a new Sun Atlas Cargo bike for $500! Add on stuff and go up from there.”

Once the kids were away at school for a few hours I headed off to an appointment. Normally, I’d ditch the Big Dummy and take my quick (and 55-pound-lighter) road bike, but several friends have lately mentioned they choose their cargo bikes for all trips, even when they’re riding alone. I started feeling a little guilty about neglecting the Big Dummy for such excursions so off we went on a 15-mile trek to Harbor Island and back. And it was fine. A cargo bike can certainly be an only-and-everything bike and maybe if I stopped scheduling appointments with as little time to spare as possible I’d start treating my cargo bike as such.

So here’s our anniversary ride:

Sandwiched between buses on 3rd, which is the least evil of all the evil downtown streets.

Weaving through the detoured waterfront trail, around delivery trucks and spitting pedestrians (seriously, I missed getting spit upon by three seconds).

And scooting around five police cars–fortunately I couldn’t see an incident they were all there for. Maybe it’s just a convenient place to park?

And finally across the street and along the Bertha construction.

And then back north again. East Marginal Way South isn’t the most pleasant of streets with so many big trucks blasting by, but I like the view of Downtown Seattle in the distance. That’s Starbucks Headquarters with the big flag at the far right.

With the bike empty of passengers, I could have taken 3rd back to preschool pickup, but I opted for my familiar gentle slope of Western–which I learned by following an un-e-assisted pedicab–they make for good route finding! The only problem with using Western is the ensuing one-block salmoning at Pike Place. I’ve heard a lot of Seattleites plea for the block to be closed to cars and allow delivery trucks only at certain times. Hear hear!

This is the block of Pine I opted to skip. It wouldn’t be so bad with the empty bike, but it’s not nearly as exciting as riding along Pike Place Market.

The bike’s anniversary present will happen tomorrow in the form of a minor tune. I’m still thinking about our next steps in terms of kid containment. I thought about a Hooptie and decided it’s not for me, but now I’m toying with the idea of half a Hooptie. I wonder if keeping just the right rail in would be comfortable for the kids and still allow me to do everything I’m used to. I could use the left rail as a running board with the option to lock it in up high if needed. First generation Hoopties weren’t easy to take on and off, but I hear the new ones are. I’d appreciate any insight!

Despite unusually strong winds, our merry band of 15–seven adults and eight kids on seven bikes–made it to the Seattle Center the long way around. I wish I’d thought to ask the dad on the Bullitt how the wind treated his weather canopy. I was relieved today’s kids were all passengers because those gusts could have swept light little riders away!

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Our ride was 7.8 miles. I take a three-mile route when it’s just the kids and me, but I wouldn’t want to lead a group on it. And today’s ride coincided with the Seattle Marathon so this was the way to avoid the street closures, too. Once the Mercer West project is completed we can ride a cycletrack under Aurora and take a more direct route, but the picture I took of Mercer yesterday shows only the two eastbound car lanes are ready.

The blue line below shows today’s route. The orange segment shows a slightly less kid-friendly route I use for Critical Lass rides and would have worked fine for today with all the kids as passengers, but I figured I’d still show off the as-pleasant-as-possible route. The green segment shows our return route (and route most people on regular bikes would take in the outbound route, too).

The Google map doesn’t show the bike trail within Fishermen’s Terminal so I Strava’ed that segment–it runs parallel to 21st Ave West, but down within the terminal.

We paused to check out a couple trains along the way–blue engine along the Ship Canal Trail:

And trains carrying airplanes (!!) in the Magnolia train yard:

Between those two trains we rode along our one big street of the day, Gilman Ave W (turning into 20th Ave W at the Boxcar Ale House), but there were surprisingly few cars parked along it today so the bike lane alongside parking lane felt like a dreamy wider-than-necessary bike lane:

Then we reached the Elliott Bay Trail, which I think is the most beautiful bike trail in the world, but today meant BIG WIND. Waves usually don’t break on these rocks!

And the view to our right of a white cap and the stolen Victoria Clipper being towed back to shore while followed by a police boat.

Then we started our climb to Lower Queen Anne with the West Thomas Street Overpass where our group shot at the top of the page was taken. And five blocks later we reached the Space Needle and International Fountain.

We spent 90 minutes inside the Armory checking out the Winterfest model train and eating lunch.

I didn’t notice much extra foot traffic due to the marathon, but there were lots of pedicabs making the rounds outside. I was quite taken by this detachable pedicab trailer:

He liked my bike, too, and in swapping bike bios I uncovered a couple cool things on his rig, like the Sunlite dual-cable brake lever so he controls the bike’s brakes with one hand and can detach the pedicab’s separate brake from the other side when he takes the trailer off. I’ve seen this lever before when looking at components for adaptive cycling and I think they might also be popular for tandem bikes. And the moss green ball on his handlebars is an adorable Trek Time Watch.

By the time we headed home the wind had lessened a bit and we saw a bit of blue sky! And, yes, I rode through the middle of that puddle.

Our next ride is in a week: Kidical Mass rides to Olympic Manor holiday lights on Sunday, December 8th – meet at Loyal Heights Community Center at 3:45 p.m.

Sorry for the short notice!

Have you ever wondered if there’s a family-friendly bike route to the Seattle Center? Well, there is! Starting from Fremont it’s 7 miles versus 2.5 miles, but it’s scenic and fairly traffic free–no Mercer Mess or Aurora Ave to cross!

Join us to check out the joy and mayhem of Winterfest.

This is the route we’ll take:

Meet at Milstead & Co (770 N 34th St, Seattle, WA) in Fremont which adjoins the covered outdoor History House sculpture garden where we can huddle with warm drinks in case it’s rainy.

Here’s the Facebook event if you want to RSVP.

In continuing last year’s Thanksgiving Family Group Ride tradition, we took a fun bike ride around Lake Union Thanksgiving morning. This year there were 42 riders! (Or so. I didn’t think to count.)

To accommodate families working around naps and cooking, we had a timeline. The only bad part is that now everyone knows when I say “firm,” I don’t really mean it. We’ll wait for you if you’re on the way! But our littlest riders appreciate an on-time departure. Thankfully we didn’t lose any riders before the start.

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

My six-year old rode the whole thing on his 20-inch-wheeled bike with three speeds, but I opted to carry my four-year old and his 16-inch-wheeled single speed bike as he’s not so capable on even small hills. However, there were kids on small bikes, including a balance biker who passed me twice! There’s a variety of riding surfaces for the Lake Union Loop and it’s all pretty kid friendly, with sidewalk options for all the busy parts. I added photos of the ride to my saved map to show most of the different parts, indicated by yellow pushpins:

The day started out very foggy, but no rain! And relatively warm (mid-forties, I think). It was a great day for hanging out with friends new and old. The ride was relatively flat, though many had to walk up the steep half-block at Hamlin. Perhaps next year we’ll coast along a floating esplanade in its place!

Many of my photos are posted here, but see the Flickr set for even more.

By the way, for bicyclists interested in a bigger Thanksgiving Day ride, check out the Annual Seattle Thanksgiving Day Ride to benefit Northwest Harvest.

I was thankful my two kiddos wanted to ride/walk their bikes home (which lasted for a bit over one of our last two uphill blocks).

Happy Thanksgiving!