Today’s bike excursions were several stops to get us ready for our big kid’s 5th birthday party with his preschool class. Thank goodness I did the bulk of the shopping last night because everything took a bit longer than expected today. We started off with a downhill trip to PCC Natural Market to pick up allergen-free chips I can’t find anywhere else. Then back uphill (and steeper than necessary since I chose the wrong route–extra points for that!) to Mighty-O Donuts for some mini donuts. Two boxes of a dozen minis each fit perfectly in my Linus Delano basket.

Then we went to QFC for balloons. After two pages and patiently waiting (OK, maybe not so patiently) ten minutes, the floral/balloon person showed up and spent five minutes tinkering with the helium tanks before declaring them both empty. Grr. Two strikes against QFC. Last year I brought in two train balloons (ordered from TrainParty.com–awesome site!) and the lackadaisical balloon guy tied the ribbons so loosely that one escaped the moment we walked outside. It turns out Bartell Drugs right next door has balloons, too, so the day was saved.

The birthday boy suggested we tied the balloons to his handlebars and that sounded like a good idea to me. I attached them with three slipknots, alternating sides. It looked good and started out OK, but then the two-year old decided he really didn’t like balloons blowing in his face. In retrospect I should have secured them behind the bike without a lot of loose ribbon, but rather than risk loosing the lot of them by reattaching en route, I held them down by my hip and rode home one-handed…possible since it was all flat and downhill.

We dropped off our supplies and helped Mr. Family Ride set things up for ten minutes before heading back out to Cafe Allegro for a travel coffee kit. That fit nicely in the front basket, too.

I thought I’d have to take one last ride later in the day when we realized Bettie the dog had snuck out during the cupcake-induced-sugar-revolt-mass-exodus of preschoolers. I put on long-sleeved bike jersey over my shirt, figuring I’d scout around on bike and then wear her home. I’ve never biked with Bettie (poor Bettie!), but Lyle traveled all over UCSB and Isla Vista this way. My plan was thwarted when she showed up just as I dug my beach cruiser out of the pile of bikes. I tucked her under my jersey and was going to take her for a spin just for fun, but then I heard the screams of brothers fighting over balloons coming from inside the house and rushed in to help restore peace.

Today’s miles: 7.4 miles
April cumulative: 178.2 miles

We finally made it over to see The Quad’s famous cherry blossoms. It’s been a bit windy so we missed the peak blossominess by a few days, but it was still beautiful. A friend went last week and mentioned it was a good site for kid bikes so I brought the balance bikes along and we did some picnicking and some riding.

There were lots of people around, including four wedding parties being photographed, but still plenty of room for balance biking. And there are strips of small rocks alongside the buildings for those with rock enthusiasts.

We rode our three bikes separately to the edge of The Quad at the end of our visit (still a rare occurrence, riding separately, so lots of fun for me) where the boys discovered a flight of very shallow stairs they could ride their little bikes down. And it offers a nice view to give an idea of the size of the whole area.

We’ll be back for picnics in the summer, but I’d like to visit campus on a weekday during the school year because I want to see where people ride their bikes. I couldn’t tell if I should share the narrow roads or stick to the sidewalks.

I didn’t have much spare space on the bike, but we swung by Trader Joes for a few items that fit in the front basket. I wasn’t too excited about the Trader Joes stickers on my Brooks saddle. I actually said, “Mama’s bike seat is too fancy for stickers. Let’s take them off.” Fortunately, they didn’t leave any sticky gunk behind.

I didn’t plan for an additional stop, but Trader Joes had pulled pork at their sample station which left me needing a Scratch Deli food truck fix. In a stroke of brilliance, I shoved our water bottles into the FreeLoaders and put the sandwiches into the bottle cages. The cup of potato salad fit in my basket’s cup holder. I believe my frame has a fourth set of braze-ons. I should probably attach a cage to that set, too.

I left the kids home with Mr. Family Ride for a few hours in the afternoon and rode to Ballard for a hair cut. I took the Big Dummy, intending to go by Fred Meyer for a bunch of stuff on the way home, but when I called to check in, he sounded a bit overwhelmed. Not surprising, considering his back’s not much better yet. I was hoping the kids would want to come back out with me, but with early wakeups and no naps these days, our evenings end pretty early. In another stroke of genious (two in one day!), I headed out solo once everyone was asleep. This is only my second time shopping solo in five years. It’s so quiet! I was tempted to practice shopping with one of the hard-to-maneuver kiddie car carts (if you’ve also wondered when you have to show up to find a vacant one, it’s 9pm on a Saturday night), but I came to my senses and shopped like a normal kid-free person.

Today’s miles: 18 miles
April cumulative: 170.8 miles

Our day started out pretty exciting: while momentarily parked by New Secret Train Tracks (not to be confused with secret train tracks), I met another Surly Big Dummy rider. He lives on Bainbridge Island so, naturally, I had to ask if he’s riding Bike for Pie this summer (he is!). He was en route to Recycled Cycles to try on clipless bike shoes. I’m too klutzy for them on the family bike myself, but I love ’em on my road and mountain bikes. I almost swung by Recycled Cycles on my way home six hours later to investigate and see if they’d share his shopping results with me…but I thought that’d be weird. Yo, Adrian, did you get new shoes and pedals??

Our next stop was Union Station to check out the new bus bike rack. The bike slots are longer and wider, but I didn’t ask if I could put the Big Dummy on it–mostly because I don’t think I can lift it, since I can barely lift the Milano. I’ve heard long tails fit existing bus bike racks, but aren’t allowed. Perhaps these new bigger racks will be different.

I borrowed the demo bike and gave it a try. It’s nice. The new racks have no release button on the front wheel clamp so it’s easier to use. And the slots for the inner two bikes both have the front wheel closer to the curb so they’re safer for loading. I asked the SDOT rep and the bus driver if they happened to know any light rail stationshad ramp access, hoping I could get the long bike down there since it doesn’t fit in an elevator. Not only is there no non-elevator/non-stair access, oversized bikes aren’t allowed on the light rail train (so said the SDOT worker and bus driver…I can’t find this info online). Grr, I was hoping to take a trip down to Bike Works and check out a nearby taco truck in a school bus I just read about. Looks like we’ll do our multi-modal trek with the old mamabike again.

I had the balance bikes along today in hopes we’d make it up to UW for the cherry blossoms, but we stopped for a long kiddie ride at Occidental Park instead. So rather than chase falling cherry blossoms, the kids zoomed around after pigeons.

I didn’t want to deal with locking up all three bikes to take the kids somewhere for a bathroom break so we paid a visit to Back Alley Bike Repair where they kindly let me roll my laden rig inside and use their facilities. We timed it perfectly–Biking for Baseball was visiting the Bicycle Alliance of Washington across the hall. They’re riding all over the country taking in baseball games and coaching kids. They’ve only just started their big tour, but I predict they’ll stay as friendly and energetic the whole way. And they gave us some great stickers–meet up with them if you can!

Heading home along the Elliott Bay Trail, I stopped when I saw a trio of cyclists taking pictures of one another to offer snapping a shot of all three together. They were visiting from New York and had rented bikes from Seattle Cycling Tours for a two hour jaunt through the locks and back via the Ship Canal Trail. Mind you, I didn’t get all this information in the one encounter. I ran into them checking their map a couple times and tried to force advice and directions on them. They were running short on time and may not have done the whole circuit, but at least they got to see a very cool visiting Norfolk Southern engine at the train yard (well, we thought it was very cool, at least). And that wasn’t all the train excitement: the blue train engine had moved from its usual spot. I thought it was just for show, but it must move those frozen fish box cars around. And some guys (not the real Pothole Rangers, but heroes in their own right, I’m sure) were patching holes along some train track nearby. A far cry from cherry blossoms, but big fun for the kiddos.

Today’s miles: 15.7 miles
April cumulative: 152.8 miles

Up until today, the hardest part of this round of 30 Days of Biking has been keeping up with the daily blogging. That’s a good thing! Proof positive that the previous rounds have changed me into a true everyday biker. But today’s ride was a just-get-it-done half mile around the neighborhood late at night.

Today was my once-every-three-week working day at our coop preschool and in order to get home in time to transport a broken Mr. Family Ride to the chiropractor (very messed up back since Monday–probably only partially caused by my dragging him out on his bike on Sunday) was to take the car. We’ve only taken the car on Wednesdays to go directly from preschool to our Lake City class so naturally I got a bit lost on my way.

We forgot sockeye salmon behind at school (the last day before Spring Break!) so I thought that’d be our daily bike ride, but by the time we all got home from the chiropractor, it was late and the kids were tired and hungry so we dropped Mr. Family Ride at home and drove to school again. But at least the second time driving home from preschool was easier.

Today’s miles: 0.5 miles
April cumulative: 137.1 miles

Normally today would be car day, but since the four-year old didn’t go to preschool, we had plenty of time to make it to our afternoon class in Lake City. I don’t know how to get there by bike–I’m not sure there’s a route that’s not too steep and not too trafficky for me. We loaded up the old, small-enough-for-the-bus mamabike and discovered a cool bike lane on the way to the bus stop:

The lower of the two NE 40th streets, starting at 7th Ave NE, just east of the freeway is one way (westbound) for cars with the half the street dedicated to bikes going both directions. How great would it be if more streets were set up like this?

After class, we biked a mile to Kaffeeklatsch, whose custom bike rack was facing removal a week ago. I read the good news this morning on the Save the Kaffeeklatsch Bike Rack Facebook page–the rack is moving to the street. The owner said it will happen sometime next week. I can’t get over the speed at which things are unfolding. Go SDOT.

We checked out the bike rack once last year, but this was our first time inside Kaffeeklatsch. It’s got a wonderful kid area and delicious pastries and coffee. We stayed for quite a while, waiting to see if the rain would stop. It didn’t.

We took the bus back towards home and stopped by Trader Joes to grab a few things. It’s not nearly as fun shopping with the old mamabike. The kids had to help carry a couple things that wouldn’t fit in the baskets. Outside TJs I discovered I wasn’t the only Seattleite who didn’t think 30% chance of rain would turn out to be all-day-long rain: five of the seven bikes parked outside didn’t have fenders.

Once the kids were sleeping, I took a three-block solo ride to the Rancho Bravo taco truck. I think my beach cruiser is probably the best bike for this job, but I missed the Big Dummy. Oh, and the rain had finally stopped by this point.

By the way, I am all bus-ed out. It’s great to be able to access far places without the car, but it is a lot more work riding the bus with two kids than riding the bike with them.

Today’s miles: 4.3 miles
April cumulative: 136.6 miles

Today was a beautiful day–so warm that I wore flip flops and removed my sweater while riding on flat ground–much different than taking layers off on an incline. I can ride in light snow in short sleeves thanks to my heavy setup. We spent the day at the Seattle Center–a wonderful destination rain or shine.

The original plan was to go to free day at Pacific Science Center, but we didn’t arrive early enough. Fortunately, the kids didn’t mind a last minute change of plans to the Children’s Museum (we’ve got a membership) and we had a chance to see a motorcycle parked at the PSC bike rack. I thought motorcycles got to park free so I was a little peeved about it. Even if they don’t get to park free, I’m peeved. This isn’t the same as when I can’t find a bike rack and lock up to a trash can, right?

We didn’t stay in the Children’s Museum for long, but it was very convenient to have checked in and gotten hand stamps so we could rush back over for a few bathroom breaks over the course of the day. Biking with Brad and kids (and their balance bikes since he always seems to show up with more impressive loads than I!) met us at the International Fountain where the kids could run around on the grass and in the fountain. Brad played cargo bike ambassador and assisted a mom of two in a test ride of my bike. He doesn’t realize last month’s visit from Hum of the City was the first time I’ve shared a bikey toy. But I’m learning to be better about that.

This picture of the fountain is misleading–there were tons of kids there. I didn’t think the day was quite warm enough for getting doused by the musical fountain, but soon we’ll have to travel everywhere with swim suits and towels.

Based on events yesterday morning and this evening I’ve learned a lesson: when in doubt, take a bike; when in doubt which bike, take the awesomer bike.

Yesterday morning I went solo to the University District and couldn’t decide which bike to bring. I ended up bringing the Big Dummy because I didn’t want to deal with special shoes for the road bike and didn’t want to deal with the little hill on the beach cruiser. I ended up talking Big Dummies with a guy who’s only seen them locked up before, never having encountered an owner. Shame he didn’t find a more knowledgeable owner, but I’m better than nothing. He asked how many gears I have so I had him crouch down and count and report back: 27! I thought I only had 21. Then an Xtracycle-riding mom of two girls walked by and said hi.

This evening I offered to send a fax for Mr. Family Ride and was initially going to walk with both kids…then just one kid…then no one wanted to accompany me. I ended up taking the old mamabike to make it quick and be prepared in case one or both kids changed their mind about coming while I was headed out the garage. Not a block from the house, I saw Victor from the cargo bike rides on his new bike. Yesterday I joked that I probably wouldn’t recognize him if he wasn’t on his familiar Xtracycle since no one recognizes me off a mamabike. We were a block south of our official Neighborhood Greenway, but otherwise it felt like a greenway type of encounter. Post-fax the bike made it easy to swing by the new neighborhood food truck, Scratch Deli. It’s actually more of a food trailer than a food truck. If we were in Portland, a fleet of cargo bikes would probably haul it around town, but here in Seattle it remains tucked behind Wine World. By the way, it’s great!

Today’s miles: 11.4 miles
April cumulative: 123.3 miles

The weather was great for today’s Easter Cargo Bike Ride! A far cry from last year’s rainy affair. I loaded up the Big Dummy with balance bikes, picnic blanket, food, sand toys, and boys:

Oh, and a six-pack of IPA. I called Aaron’s Bike Repair yesterday to ask if he’d sell me a 12-inch inner tube for the borrowed kiddie pedal bike and this was the price. The beer didn’t really ride over in the basket–that was just for the glamor shot. I was able to fit it in the FreeLoaders, too.

This is the first time I was able to easily get more than just the balance bikes on the sides. I’m a little disappointed in myself that I had to resort to a bungee cord to attach the big yellow truck. I feel like I should be able to get reasonably large loads on without resorting to bungees. I’ll probably get over that once I’ve done this a few more times.

Seattle Cargo Bike Rides aren’t only for cargo bikes and most participants come on regular bikes, but today there were seven cargo bikes–and all longtails! In the photo on the Elliott Bay Trail above there are a Big Dummy, an Xtracycle, nine regular bikes, bike plus trail-a-bike, two Xtracycles, me on my Big Dummy, and behind me an Xtracycle, a Big Dummy, and a couple more regular bikes.

Last year the Ship Canal Trail wasn’t completed so the Easter ride involved quite a bit of Nickerson, a street I’m not fond of. We also took a car lane to cross the Fremont Bridge that day which I thought was awfully roguish at the time, but was, in fact, preferable to this year during which our bike train came to a full stop a couple times on the bike/ped path to let by pedestrians coming in the opposite direction.

Speaking of the Ship Canal Trail, I discovered a nice alternative to the 6.5% Emerson Place climb at Fisherman’s Terminal: I turned right on 21st and took the first left on Elmore to 23rd. It was only a two-block detour and made all the difference, but I have a feeling I’ll forget how bad the hill is and resort to trying to climb it a couple more times before I make the detour a regular thing. I’ll make the full Magnolia trek again soon and put it all on a map.

The slight cloudy haze was completely gone by the time we arrived to Gas Works Park and we had an excellent potluck. The kids did a bit of tooling around on their balance bikes and the four-year old even built his own first “cargo bike” using the bungee cord.

Janice’s mixte Xtracycle was the prettiest bike after mine:

I took note of two intriguing details, the Dirty Dog MTB Skull Rotor (Aaron’s Big Dummy has one, too):

And the Twofish Unlimited Quick Cage Water Bottle Holder she used to transport a vase of flowers.

And Aaron had a great way for storing an extra bungee cord…though I realized this probably wouldn’t work on my bike with my bungee-loving passengers so close by.

Mr. Family Ride even came down towards the end. Here’s his bike parked between those of Haulin’ Colin and Kelli of Yoga for Bikers. Kelli told me she’ll lead some demonstrations at Pedalers’ Fair in a couple weeks. By the way, Colin met the party at Gas Works therefore I didn’t tally his cargo bike in my earlier count.

We never made it to the sand pit, but the boys used their sand shovels to dig worms out of the dirt. The first worm didn’t fare so well, but we got things worked out and several worms and a pile of dirt took a joyride around the party in the back of the big yellow truck. I was happy when we returned the worms to their families and headed home ourselves. Their chauffeur, however, wasn’t happy about parting company. And the other kid dropped a prized rock he’d been holding on the back of the bike so our ride home featured many wails of “Worm!” “Rock!” “Worm!” “Rock!”

Today’s miles: 17.8 miles
April cumulative: 111.9 miles

I can’t wait for Bike for Pie this summer! More information and registration should be available on the Squeaky Wheels site soon, but in the meantime, here are the details from the flyer I got at Chilly Hilly:

Bike for Pie
Sunday August 19, 2012
Bainbridge Island
Scenery + Bikes + Pie + Fun
Challenge Ride – 32 miles
Family Ride – 12 miles
Register online at: www.squeakywheels.org
Or pick up forms at Classic Cycle and BI Cycles, Bainbridge Island

In the meantime, I’m in training: biking then pie-eating. Today’s training ride was a couple miles–uphill, that’s crucial–to West Woodland Park Playground to meet up with Jen of Ballard Greenways and her friend who is in the process of getting her mountain bike turned into an Xtracycle by LionTail Cycles. Jen rides with her son using a Burley Piccolo trailercycle, which has gears and is very stable, unlike cheapie trailer bikes. It’s a wonderful way to attach one kid behind the back of a bike.

After the playground we headed across the street to A la Mode Pies. Between the seven of us, we had slices of Blue Hawaiian, Spiced Apple, Mexican Chocolate Mousse, and Marionberry & Hazelnut. Part of Bike for Pies training is photo-documenting the pie:

I can personally only vouch for the Marionberry & Hazelnut–it was great!

Today’s miles: 4.5 miles
April cumulative: 94.1 miles

This is what took an extra ten minutes to leave the house today:

One kid snuck one dinosaur out so I had to let the other one go in and grab a dinosaur…but he came back with two…so the first kid had to go grab a horse. But finally we were on the road–to the new destination of Maple Leaf. I knew it would be all uphill, but we were on our way to claim a free rice cooker. The lengths I’ll go to for free stuff! I don’t think we’ll make this trek again–it was tough. The route I took up (recommended by Google maps) had great bike street markings most of the way.

I came back down on Roosevelt thinking I’d have a bike lane, but it was just sharrows until 73rd. Though we got a lovely view of the water tower this way.

And it was convenient to pop into Ride Bicycles and say hi. Christiaan and crew were getting their Xtracycle Radish ready to put on display at Ten Thousand Villages, the unique handmade fair trade gift shop. I’ve never been, but seeing the Radish in such a cool setting sounds like a great excuse to finally make it over.

Then three days in the works, we finally made it to Trader Joes. I saw Car Free Days Tim’s Big Dummy parked out front so we located him inside to see if he had a shopping cart loaded to the brim to pile on his rig. Sadly, it was just a small trip for him. For us, too. I could have fit four bags, even with the bulky rice cooker, but we just got two bags worth of stuff.

That’s Paul sweeping the sidewalk in the background. He runs a bike-based business selling foam-mounted photo prints outside Trader Joes. He’s got a lot of nice bike and local landscape shots.

Just one last quick stop on our way to drop off our cargo–I’d just read about Scratch Deli food truck on Thrillist and wanted to check it out. Wine World is easily visible from the street, but I’ve never noticed a food truck by it. Turns out one has to turn up 4th and find the parking lot behind the building. Food trucks are very convenient when biking with kids and it looks delish so we’ll be back to actually buy something.

Then we headed down to Westlake Park for the Blue Trees. Soon we’ll head view the ones along the Burke-Gilman Trail (near NE Bothell Way and 80th Ave NE in Kenmore), but today was perfect for Westlake Park since the Easter Bunny was in the area, too.

In even more food truck news, we passed Snout & Co. and Skillet on our way to the trees. It was 1:45 and when I checked the bunny’s whereabouts on the Downtown Seattle Twitter I saw “Easter Bunny will be at Waterfront Park til 1:30, then back to Westlake Park 2:30-3:30pm! Even bunnies need a lunch break!” so headed back to Snout & Co. but they were in the process of closing early having sold all their food. Today’s nice weather brought too many people out.

The trees were striking, but it was hard to stay in the one spot for 45 minutes waiting for the bunny. At first I thought Fridays downtown are exceptionally colorful, but it turns out the Sakura-Con anime convention is in town. I learned this when I asked Rainbow Brite what was going on. There were only two people who I really wasn’t sure whether or not they were part of the convention.

Other exciting downtown sights were a horse-mounted policeman, a guy riding a bike with his cat on his back, and this pedicab who loves shouting, “Hey! You’re stealing my business!” every time he sees me.

Heading towards home through South Lake Union Park we noticed an unfamiliar boat, the Olympus, so we rode alongside to admire it and appreciate how gorgeous the day had turned.

Our last stop of the big day was the elementary school by our house to meet a friend. She’s loaning us a 12″ pedal bike. I’ve decided that if the big kid doesn’t want to start pedaling, I’ll just teach the little one first. My younger brother learned to ride a bike before I did, so it’s only fitting. The kid loaning us the bike just upgraded from his twelve-incher to twenty. He just fits on his new bike and is so fast. And look at him threading the needle through the two mamabikes:

I started out trying to tow the bike with the rear wheel out, but it didn’t work very well (maybe because the rear tire is flat, but most likely because I didn’t secure it well) so I ended up putting the whole thing in the FreeLoader like I do the balance bikes.

But much more impressive was the setup of the Madsen bucket bike for their ride home: Radio Flyer Scoot About bungeed to the front rack (frame-mounted front racks are awesome–they can carry so much weight!), two kids and the 20″ bike in the bucket.

Today’s miles: 17.4 miles
April cumulative: 89.6 miles

We were cooped up and coughing half the day, playing with (fighting over) trains and Legos, but finally made it out of the house to meet a preschool friend for lunch at–you guessed it–Pel’Meni Dumpling Tzar. On the way there I finally talked to the dad who rides a bakfiets I’ve been stalking. I waited through a light cycle which meant getting barked at and gnawed on (by the kids), but it was worth it. They do indeed live in Wallingford (I saw the mom drop down to the Burke Gilman from the ‘hood one day) and have had the bike a few months, they know about the Kidical Mass rides, and that was all we had time for. They wisely got a weather cover for the bike–I don’t think I’ve seen them with the box exposed yet.

I think I’d make a million bucks if I “momvented” a lock for securing kids to bike racks:

The kids cavorted around the Statue of Lenin after lunch and it turned out to be a good thing I put their helmets on prematurely–the little guy whacked into the bronze head first a couple times.

I had wanted to go by Trader Joes on the way home, but the kids were both tired and the little kid started attacking his brother. I love the Big Dummy, but it was certainly nice to have them separated on the city bike. I considered swapping their seats, but wasn’t sure I should have a rampaging toddler unrestrained directly behind me. A bus-load of 44 passengers got to see me pry his mouth off his brother’s jacket before we pulled off 45th where I was able to reason with him. Still better than driving a car with a screaming kid.

Today’s miles: 4.2 miles
April cumulative: 72.2 miles