Got the bike back from the shop yesterday so we were able to celebrate World Carfree Day by bike today. The bike is all tuned up and has a couple minor changes. The back tire is now a stylish solid black. Hearing my whining about the color change, Mr. Familyride suggested I order a redwall to replace it and save the black one as a spare. It sounds a bit extravagant, so I’m going to stop whining and see if the black tire grows on me. I also got a replacement double kickstand (Pletscher, again). The old one bent a while back rendering it mostly useless. I’ll try to take it easier on the new one.

Apparently when I dropped my bike off, it wasn’t only moments away from exploding, it also had a dry chain. Shame on me. Hoping to remedy that, I think I’ll attend one of the Seattle Public Library upcoming Bike Maintenance classes, part of a series of Urban Self-Reliance workshops. They’re also offering several Introduction to Bike Commuting classes.

Yesterday’s miles: 3.9 miles
Today’s miles: 8.4 miles
September cumulative: 152.0 miles
Days missed: 5

I’ve always thought it’d be cool to have a bike-based business (selling what, I don’t know: ice cream in the summer, socks in the winter?) and I got a little taste of that today. As one of the million Seattle parents selling Chinook coupon books, I’m trying to stand out from the crowd by offering bike delivery. I emailed my ad to the 1800-strong local moms group and got one bite. Not the best odds, but more books than I thought I’d sell.

Almost as exciting as the Chinook Book sale was today’s marvelous weather. I really didn’t think we’d see the sun again until next July so we enjoyed a bonus beach day after preschool. We even saw a dog riding in a bike basket along Shilshole in Ballard which only happens on the most summery of days.

As we were getting ready to leave the beach I admired the lights on a guy’s electric bike. Turns out they’re just for electric bikes, but we had a nice conversation about bikes and he asked if my loaded-down bike had a motor, which always makes me feel superhuman. I think this wasn’t your everyday electric bike, but more of a hybrid bike-only/electric-only vehicle. He mentioned he’d recently had the bike part worked on by Dutch Bike Co, which just so happened to be our next stop.

I’d scheduled a tune-up at DBC for tomorrow and was originally going to drop the bike off midday Wednesday, but it seemed even better to dump it off on the way home from the beach. I’m so spoiled getting to bike everywhere; walking half a mile to catch the bus took forever. But it’s a good thing I dropped the bike off when I did. A few days ago I noticed a thwacking noise every revolution of the back tire and it turns out that was due to the excessively worn tire bubbling out. Fritz said I was lucky it hadn’t blown out. I assumed he meant getting a regular old flat, but he elaborated by making a big explosion gesture and saying “Flames and death!” Fortunately the boys were busy with their dollar bananas in the cafe area and didn’t hear the scary news. I’m a little sad my cute redwall tire will be replaced with a whitewall, but that’s better than being bikeless while waiting for a redwall to arrive.

Today’s miles: 17.1 miles
September cumulative: 139.7 miles
Days missed: 5

I had a glimpse of our multi-bike future today when I had to use two locks to secure my bike, two balance bikes, and the trailer. I’ve lugged the trailer of balance bikes around quite a bit lately, but never somewhere I wouldn’t be close enough to the locked bike that I was worried about the trailer. This was also the first time the balance bikes stayed in the trailer at a first stop. I’m sure the Wallingford Wurst Festival isn’t a hotbed of crime, but it attracts a lot of people and I wouldn’t be within sight of my bike most of the time.

I got a couple impressed looks and comments on my way to the festival and felt the need to point out that the trailer didn’t contain kids number three and four, but simply tiny bikes. Not to belittle my accomplishment, but five people on/behind one bike is more of a feat than one person moving two people and three bikes.

All bounce housed out, I slowly unlocked my very secure bike and we headed to a bike-themed birthday party in the empty Green Lake wading pool. Little girl bikes are so cute! Here’s the birthday girl’s balance bike with her brand new basket and tassels.

Today’s miles: 5.6 miles
September cumulative: 101.2 miles
Days missed: 5

There have been several bike crash fatalites in Seattle recently. Tom of Seattle Bike Blog wrote a stirring piece We have reached a turning point in Seattle bicycle safety which alerted me to the Cascade Bicycle Club press conference today. It was less than a mile from home so I dragged myself out of my sick bed and biked over with the kids. There was a great turnout, though things ran late waiting on two City Council members who got stuck in traffic on the way over. But at least that allowed us to make the obligatory “they shoulda biked!” jokes.

M.J. Kelly’s (Cascade Bicycle Club Director of Communications) speech was particularly moving. There were news cameras there, but I don’t see the whole thing televised. Here’s an interview with her from today on KOMO News. Cascade posted a recap of the press conference with rules of conduct for motorists, bikes, and pedestrians while we wait for a much-needed better infrastructure.

Today’s extra couple miles were from a post-nap grocery trip. No biggie, but this was our second shopping trip with eggs and our first with no eggs broken! Of course the broken egg last time wasn’t from transit, but from “Mama, can I just hold one? Now can I hold two?” incident that involved an accidental egg drop. Thank goodness he forgot that I told him although I was going to carry the eggs on our first shopping experience, he could hold them on the way home the second time. There’s plenty of time to risk more egg casualties.

Today’s miles: 3.7 miles
September cumulative: 83.7 miles
Days missed: 5

Third time wasn’t the charm–I’ve failed my third pass at 30 Days of Biking. The past three days should have been spent in San Diego, riding Alternabike’s Gazelle Cabby cargo bike, but instead I’ve been sleeping off a kidney infection. Perhaps I could have dragged myself out for quick solo pedals without doing any additional damage, but I figured I could also stay in bed and demonstrate that things don’t always go according to plan. I do have to pay tribute to my car because I was very happy to be driven to the doctor Friday morning. It was also extremely helpful for broken-shouldered Mr. Familyride to drive the kids to the beach so I could recuperate in a quiet house. So thanks, car. I know I don’t see the inside of you often, but I’m happy you’re still in my life.

I’m not race-ready yet, but I was (barely) up for the school run this morning, with both kids in tow this time. The front kid and I had a nice little adventure on the way back home. We got to wait for the drawbridge and chatted with another bike rider who recognized my bike by the “one less minivan” bumper sticker. Then we stopped halfway up Stone to watch the huge Stoneway Village construction site. Morning is prime construction-watching time! We keep hitting it after 5pm when there’s little going on.

We hit the grocery store on the way home to utilize our extra cargo space. Note the guard dog in the above photo. If he was going to be there the duration of our shopping trip, I could have left my bike unlocked. Little guy was cute, but extremely barky.

I carefully perched our spare helmet on the rear seat grocery bag–a sign that I’m obviously not quite back to normal yet. Hopefully tomorrow is a more energetic day and I manage both drop off and pickup (today I was conveniently stuck home with a napping toddler so Mr. Familyride handled pickup).

Today’s miles: 4.7 miles
September cumulative: 80.0 miles

First day of preschool for the four-year old! It was actually a bigger first for the two-year old since today was my once-every-three-weeks working day at preschool…so rather than the four-year old experiencing his first stint away from Mr. Familyride or me, the little guy had his first babysitter experience. Both kids did fine, but I was exhausted from my five hours of work.

I was worried the bike would be squirrely with just the rear kid, but it handled just fine there and back. That’s the good news. The bad news is that even minus the 25 pounds of front passenger, I had to walk the steep block home. Preschool is tiring!

Today’s miles: 4.4 miles
September cumulative: 75.3 miles

We haven’t had the most exciting couple of days, but it’s 30 Days of Biking, which means 30 days (OK, just 29 now since I’m combining two) days of blogging about biking so you get to hear about them.

Yesterday I had to make up for skipping Bumbershoot and take the kids to “Space Needle Swimming Pool” (DuPen Fountain) for some wading action. We hung out for a while and then biked under the monorail tracks to Westlake Center to look for bento boxes at Daiso and ride the escalator. And just to complete our touristy experience, we next headed to Pike Place Market and wandered around and ate blackberries.

I’m sure I’ll kick myself in a month for this complaint, but it was too hot today! I was tired and my easiest two gears had disappeared again and I somehow thought riding up Fremont Avenue would be easier than slogging up Stone. Not so. But it’s a pretty street with lots of trees so I think I might give it a try again on a cooler day with just the little one along. The big kid is starting preschool tomorrow (woo hoo!) so I should plan on scaling some big hills in my 12 one-kid hours a week.

This morning was spent in the car doing breakfast out, thrift store, and groceries. All places we can (barely) bike to, but I was feeling hot and tired still. But this afternoon was bikey with a trip to the local farmers market. I had originally told the boys we’d hook up the trailer and bring their balance bikes to the park, but I just couldn’t stomach the thought of more bike walking so soon.

We saw some awesome bike accessories on the bike rack at Meridian Park. First up, was a knit bike basket sweater. I’m calling it a sweater and not a liner on account of the cute mismatched buttons. I saw the owner riding away later, but was too shy to flag her down and ask about it. Next time.

And these handlebar flowers are pretty sweet. The boys sometimes have plastic flowers on their balance bikes, but these look fairly realistic as well as sturdy.

Best, though, was finding the lantern fish van in the Uptown Espresso parking lot. I think it was probably part of Art Walk and not part of farmers market. One of these days I hope to see it after dark when it’s all lit up.

Yesterday’s miles: 12.1 miles
Today’s miles: 1.3 miles
September cumulative: 70.9 miles