Learning to ride in Binaba by Mary Jane Cassady
Our friend, Tom, who is involved with the Village Bicycle Project, sent us information about a bike drive this weekend at the West Seattle YMCA.
Details below.
The Village Bicycle Project provides affordable transportation for Africans. People who own bikes can get more easily to school, to the market, their farm and health care. Bicycles reduce poverty and save time and energy. Millions of Africans do not have basic, reliable transportation–most rural Africans walk everywhere they go. 99% of Africans cannot afford cars, and public transportation is expensive and unreliable.
In Africa, a bicycle can make all the difference. The Village Bicycle Project is a Pacific Northwest-based organization that has shipped over 100 containers of bikes to Africa and has staff and volunteers in Ghana to receive the bikes and run local programs.
You can help by bringing your old bikes to the West Seattle YMCA
4515 36th Avenue SW, West Seattle
Saturday, July 31st, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
– Anne
Categories: alternative transportation · bigger than here · bikes
Tagged: bikes, bikes for Africa, donate, West Seattle YMCA
Tip of the day: crossing busy streets with kids
Crossing a busy arterial with two young riders is sure to rattle any normally calm, cool and collected parent. Many parents simply won’t do it: “Too many busy roads to cross where I live” is one of the most common reasons I hear from parents for why they don’t get around town on bikes with kids.
How do you get everyone across safely and keep what’s left of your sanity? Like everything else in life, it takes lots of practice. And you have to cross many intersections with kids before it becomes second nature.
We cross several of these intersections on a daily basis and have come up with a system that works for all of us and allows for safe crossing. Keep reading →
Categories: bikes · family cycling · kids
Tagged: bikes, city, neighborhoods, riding with kids, safety, traffic
Car Free Days Kids (Summer 2008)
Our summer series about transitioning kids from being cargo hauled by parents to pedaling on their own power was born a couple of weeks ago when I wrote about luring parents back to bikes to get more kids riding. I loved all of the comments; they sparked such a rich discussion among parents and non-parents alike about riding with (or as) kids. Keep reading →
Categories: bikes · family cycling · kids · kids' bikes
Tagged: Family Cycling, kids, kids' bikes, riding with kids, transitions
A restaurant owner in Madison wants to create a low-impact, seasonal eatery smack dab in the middle of the local human-powered trail system. Entry to the proposed eatery would require walking, skating, biking or … whatever. Just no cars allowed.
Described as “a hobbit hole meets the American Players Theatre meets a 1950s National Park recreational area,” the “Badger Den” would be a “bike-in” bar and grill open from April through October.
The best part about it is they don’t even have permission to use the space. Instead they are launching a little PR campaign (which I’m now helping, if Seattle PR does any good for a business that is yet to exist half-way across the country) to build public support so the city will have to approve the plan. And it seems to be working:
Mayor Dave Cieslewicz said the cafe would be consistent with what the city has been doing to encourage bicycling. “I think it’s fascinating idea,” Cieslewicz said. “We’d love to work with him on it.”
Ha! I’d like to see more of this action-based planning here Seattle.
Overall the plan sounds lovely to me, though I’m a little ho-hum on the idea of bringing in supplies via golf cart. If they are really serious about this as a no car thing, how about using some cargo bikes instead?
Read the actual article for the full scoop. And if you’re planning to open one of these somewhere along the Burke (though the Sammamish River Trail is probably the more pastoral choice), let me know when to show up with my mug and tree-stump chair!
-Tim
Categories: Burke-Gilman Trail · beer · bigger than here · bikes
Tagged: bikes, beer, business, wisconsin, madison, trail
Like many parents around the world, we have embraced using bikes instead of cars to haul our kids around the city. It’s been 3 years since we built the Xtracycles and started using them for everyday transportation.
First Ride, August 2007
Wow, 3 years already? How did that happen?
It’s been a great run: we’ve learned so much, met some fantastic people, laughed and smiled a lot….and developed some beefy quads. We wouldn’t go back to our short-distance car driving ways for anything. We’re hooked on bikes.
If you read Car Free Days with any regularity, you already know that. I don’t want to talk about the benefits of cargo bikes.
I want to talk about growing kids and what to do about them. Because while we were out enjoying cargo biking, our kids have grown.
A lot. Keep reading →
Categories: bikes · cargo bikes · kids · kids' bikes
Tagged: cargo bikes, Family Cycling, kids, riding with kids
To encourage Seattle residents to leave their stinky cars at home on occasion, the city is continuing its Walk Bike Ride campaign with a July Walk Bike Ride Challenge.
Starting July 4th and continuing through July 31st, Seattleites are invited to take the challenge.
- Simply replace two car trips a week with walking, biking or taking transit
- keep track your trips
- record them
- and you’ll be entered into a drawing to win some fabulous prizes Keep reading →
Categories: alternative transportation · bikes · seattle · summer
Tagged: seattle, Walk Bike Ride, City of Seattle, Way to Go
School has been out for a week and we’re just starting to get into our summer groove. Swimming, beach time, garden time, cleaning the deck, you know, all that fun summer stuff.
And of course, getting around on bikes.
I didn’t blog much about Bike to School Month this year (our 3rd year organizing and promoting it at our local elementary). Despite the record-setting rainy and cold month in Seattle, quite a few parents and kids got to school on two wheels in May. Of the 550 or so kids at school, 105 kids participated in Bike to School Month. Not a terrible statistic, but definitely has room for improvement.
Last summer Tim read Pedaling Revolution, by Jeff Mapes. I didn’t get a chance to read the whole thing but I did read Chapter 9: Bringing Kids Back to Bikes. Keep reading →
Categories: bigger than here · bikes · kids
Tagged: kids, parents, riding with kids, kids and bikes
Spoke and Food is tonight, June 29th. Ride your bike to dinner and 14 Seattle restaurants will donate a percentage of their profits to Lettuce Link at Solid Ground.
On the evening of Tuesday, June 29th, we invite you to bicycle to and from one of the 14 Seattle area restaurants who have all agreed to participate in our event. In support of our event goals, the participating restaurants have also agreed to donate a percent of the revenues they receive on the evening of our event to the non-profit organization we have selected to support. This year’s non-profit is the Lettuce Link program at Solid Ground.
Don’t forget to check the participating restaurants before you make dinner plans tonight!
– Anne
Categories: Events · bigger than here · bikes · extravehicular activities · summer
Tagged: bikes, seattle, summer, events, Spoke and Food, Solid Ground
