30 Days of Biking day 16: Half load

Apr16

We divided and conquered today: big kid and dad drove to the grocery store for birthday party snacks while the little kid and I biked to QFC to have two train balloons inflated. I hadn’t put any thought into transporting two inflated helium balloons, but the grumpy florist took care of that by tying the string so loosely that one escaped as soon as I exited the store. Doh! One balloon fit perfectly in the Bobike maxi.

We also swung by the UPS Store to mail the Cabby’s wheel lock key back to Alternabike. I’d love to have a wheel lock for quick trips just like this, by the way. Last time I hit the UPS Store I didn’t bother to lock my bike and this time I grumbled while locking my bike to itself. I’m not sure if there’s room for a wheel lock on my bike, but I think I’ll look into it as my next add-on.

Since I was only carrying one kid, I thought about heading down to the Burke-Gilman Trail to see if I could make it home with my half load–I can make it up the hill alone, but not with both kids–but I was just too tired. I think I’m having trouble adjusting to being back in the grey and rain (and hills). I wonder how many helium balloons it would take to make it easy to cycle up these hills. Now there’s an add-on idea!

Daily distance: 1.2 miles
Cumulative: 129.3 miles

30 Days of Biking day 15: Growing pains

Apr15

Did a gazillion errands this morning, easily accomplished by bike: park, bakery, bike shop, craft store, drug store, grocery store.

My stop by Dutch Bike Co was to see if they could lengthen the shoulder straps on the rear Bobike seat. It appears we might be outgrowing our current setup. Weight-wise, they’re both fine in their seats so I’ll have to get creative with the short straps. I thought I had a year left to figure out what to do next, but that might not be the case. I’d like an Xtracycle or a trail-a-bike. Or both!

I attempted to ride up 7th Avenue from the Burke-Gilman Trail, but it didn’t go so well. A week away from the hills has left me a little soft and I had to walk two blocks.

In car news, the big kid turns four today and we flipped his car seat forward facing. The recommendation has just changed from rear facing for one year to two years, but I got a car seat with a high rear-facing weight limit (the Sunshine Kids Radian 80) so he could stay safely rear facing even longer. He’s still light enough to stay backwards, but we’ve just gone down to one car and the Radian is incredibly tall and my husband doesn’t fit in front of it. More reason to use the car as little as possible. I might still turn the seat backwards if I take the kids and car alone.

Daily distance: 9.7 miles
Cumulative: 128.1 miles

30 Days of Biking day 14: Spring? in Seattle

Apr14

Goodbye, sunny San Diego. Hello, rainy Seattle. It was sunny while we were away and apparently the locals haven’t noticed the small preview of Spring is over: the bike rack at Whole Foods was packed. I usually have it to myself.

We started our day with the short bike ride to the doctor to get the sick kids looked at. I chose my midwife/ND because she was close enough to bike to. As it turns out, most everyone I know sees her, too, but I was brand new in town when I found her. Now that we’ve moved she’s slightly farther away, but she’s moving, too! To Wallingford/Fremont (Wallingmont?). Now if only I could get the dentist to move over here from Issaquah…

Daily distance: 3.5 miles
Cumulative: 118.4 miles

30 Days of Biking day 13: Bye bye beach

Apr13

I only had time for a little ride this last morning at the beach. We met a friend for breakfast (at Kono’s, of course). She admired the Cabby and I have a feeling she’ll be a proud cargo bike owner before long. She currently crams her kindergartener and toddler into a double trailer and she’s been talking about Madsens for a while now.

I’m going the miss the Cabby! It has made this week so much fun. I don’t think I’d be able to manage one in Seattle, but it was perfect in the flat parts of San Diego. We drove to Balboa Park one day (and to and from the airport), but everything else was by bike. I still like that both boys are in front of me in the bin, but they sat so low that they couldn’t always see what I could see. It’s still much better than the car, in which they’re both rear facing.

Daily distance: 2.8 miles
Cumulative: 114.9 miles

30 Days of Biking day 12: La Jolla

Apr12

Someone put a hill between Pacific Beach and La Jolla. It was perfectly flat back when I lived here. Granted, that was on a 21-speed mountain bike toting only a bag of swim stuff.

This morning we made a couple little stops along the way to La Jolla–Kono’s Cafe, Tula Ru kiddie consignment shop, and Rusty Spokes Vintage Bicycles where I test rode a rear suspension beach cruiser. It was really cool! I didn’t want to give it back because four days on the Cabby’s unfamiliar seat has taken a small toll. Rusty Spokes also makes exhaust pipe kickstands. Heh. When I told the kids we were going to swing by a bike shop, the older one asked, “Bike shop with Legos?” Thanks a lot, Clever Cycles! You’ve ruined all other bike shops for him.

The ride to La Jolla went well. I even found the La Jolla Bike Path, which I’ve never before found on my own. It probably wasn’t the flattest route and I had to get out of the saddle to make it up the hill, but it’s great getting away from the car traffic. Plus the boys hopped out and discretely peed on the palm tree in the picture below. Yet another reason to choose bike path over busy road.

The baby fell asleep (yay for cargo bike naps!) by the time we made it to the Children’s Pool. I could have sat there and watched the seals for hours, but the big kid was irritated that children weren’t allowed on the beach so we moved along to the La Jolla Cove.

I was worried about getting up from the shoreline without walking, but we found a flat enough street. However, I did have to walk the Cabby five feet to get up to the La Jolla Bike Path. All in all, not too shabby.

Daily distance: 16.1 miles
Cumulative: 112.1 miles

30 Days of Biking day 11: Cargo bike naps

Apr11

One advantage of cargo bikes and trailers over bikes seats is their nap-inducing magical properties. With kids of napping age, I think that’s reason enough to own a cargo bike as well as a normal bike. I really should get one! I’d love not having to rush back from a bike excursion for nap.

The baby caught a stomach bug last night so I bundled him up in a sweater and beach towels and he happily came along for a little bike outing. We started out with a visit to the Bahia to see Billy and Gracie in the seal pool and walk around with the baby ducks by our wedding gazebo.

Next stop was dog beach in Ocean Beach since we thought the sight of puppies would cheer up the sick baby. He got out of his comfy nest, but decided the dogs were too big so he hopped back in and we rode around OB a bit before heading back. Both kids fell asleep on our way back up the Ocean Beach Bike Path.

I made it up the Glenn A. Rick/Mission Bay Drive bridge (pictured below) again! I think it’s steeper heading into Mission Beach. Yesterday I saw a woman walking a beach cruiser up and a man walking a mountain bike. Today the roadie who passed me was panting louder than I.

I had to keep the bike rolling to keep the kids asleep so I headed around Mission Bay and over to Law Street Beach. I also discovered it’s not a good idea to ride a Cabby over soft grass. It seemed a good alternative to a twenty-point turn to get headed back the right direction. I didn’t get stuck and no one woke up, but it required even more muscle than getting up the bridge!

Daily distance: 14.9 miles
Cumulative: 96.0 miles

30 Days of Biking day 10: Sunday is family biking day

Apr10

The families were out in full effect today! I wish I had kept count of how many WeeRide bike seats I saw. I even saw one on a beach cruiser with ape hanger handlebars. I also saw lots of trailers, trail-a-bikes, and rear baby seats. So my Cabby was still the coolest thing out there. Our riding today was pretty basic: breakfast run in the morning and playground trip in the afternoon.

Daily distance: 6 miles
Cumulative: 81.1 miles

30 Days of Biking day 9: Family and dog biking

Apr9

Yesterday the Cabby was only getting covetous looks by the guys that live under the bridges with their bikes and dogs. Today it was admired by the 20-something beach guys–included a bedredlocked dude called Wiggles on a cute white-with-pink-flowers beach cruiser–who were probably imagining how much beer it could hold. However, we spread the Alternabike love to a few local families who came up to check it out. We also saw several other family biking setups: a couple trailers, an iBert, and a WeeRide. And of course several small doggies in front baskets.

Daily distance: 5.6 miles
Cumulative: 75.1 miles

30 Days of Biking day 8: Seeing San Diego by Cabby

Apr8

We’re sitting pretty on a Gazelle Cabby thanks to Alternabike. Early this morning, before getting the bike, we walked a mile and a half along the boardwalk in search of beach toys and coffee and it took soooo long. As soon as we got the bike we took back off down the boardwalk for second breakfast. Much better getting there on two wheels.

Our big adventure of the day was riding to Old Town. The Cabby did great. The only hill was the Mission Bay Drive Bridge which I wasn’t a fan of back in my beach cruiser days, but we muscled up it just fine. It was also my first time on the Ocean Beach Bike Path. It was great being able to travel so much of the way on separated paths.

Unfortunately, we got caught in a rain storm on the way back from Old Town. The baby was miserable as he’s used to being a bit protected from the rain by his Bobike windshield. I was pretty miserable, too. I think if this had happened to me back when I was living in San Diego (not that I would have ventured out given today’s forecast), I would have hidden under a bridge and cried. But it was a brief rain storm and we saw a gorgeous rainbow afterwards.

We stopped for dinner and then swung by the grocery store and I realized my dream of grocery shopping by bike. The kids had to bunch up their legs a bit, but I fit three full grocery bags in front of them.

I might change my opinion of the Cabby a bit over the course of this week, but so far I’m loving it! …As a rental, that is. The kickstand is a beast to disengage and I think that alone is deterrent enough that I wouldn’t want to own one. Of course in Seattle I’d only have to wrestle with said kickstand while wearing flip flops for six weeks of the year. I love sitting at a 90 degree angle on the bike; it’s such a relaxed ride. I also love not worrying about bumping my knees on the seat in front of me, while having not one, but both kids right in front. I still find the handling a bit weird, but I was able to negotiate the crowded boardwalk just fine. I also took the wrong side of the Sunset Cliffs Boulevard Bridge on the way back and ignored the “Narrow bridge, cyclists should dismount” sign and made it across with no scrapes so I guess the handling isn’t that hard.

Daily distance: 17.6 miles
Cumulative: 69.5 miles

30 Days of Biking day 7: Three-stop shopping

Apr7

Another low-mileage day today. I had high hopes of trying my new longer route along the waterfront to get to the Seattle Center, but between the crappy weather and having to finish packing for an afternoon flight (to San Diego–yay!), I’m happy we got out for a real ride. This round, I’d really like to avoid any solo rides up and down the driveway just to say I got on my bike. Today’s trip was a quick three-stop shopping trip: pet store, mail store, drug store. I would like to point out that this would have been a big hassle with the car (no parking, lots of traffic, unhappy kids) and it was just a fun little jaunt with the bike. It probably took less time this way, too. Granted, I didn’t bother locking the bike at the mail store and we kept our helmets on at each stop so that kept things quick and less cold. We ended up timing things well and were out for a rare rain-free half hour.

The bike also trumps car these days because the poor baby thinks that every time we get in an automobile, we’re going to drive for three hours to Portland. Yesterday’s half-hour trip to Issaquah and today’s half-hour trip to the airport aren’t restoring his memory of short car trips, but I don’t think I can bring myself to drive him somewhere close just for the sake of taking a short drive.

Daily distance: 1.9 mile
Cumulative: 51.9 miles