We hope you enjoyed Bike to School Day and Bike to Work Day!

more photos here

 - Anne and Tim

The entire Car Free Days family enjoyed watching this whimsical video that’s a refreshing reminder of the fun involved in leaving our cars at home on occasion!

Happy Bike-to-School-And-Work-Day tomorrow!

 - Anne

It’s all about the stoker:

Tim rides with our 11-year-old daughter as the stoker position on his giant tandem just fits her. And mine is set up with the kidback to fit her shorter brother. Tim plans to swap the kidback over to his bike for the tour to even out the power a bit. But for now, I’m stuck paired with the younger (and more distracted stoker).

And I just have one teeny tiny problem with my stoker: he tends to get distracted and forgets to pedal. Even though it’s hard to see him back there, I can definitely feel when he’s not putting any muscle into his pedal strokes (especially on hills). When I ask demand that he pedal, he usually screams, “I am pedaling” and then proceeds to stand up, give me 150% power for @ 10 seconds violently shaking the bike.

I’m sure we’ll get it all sorted out in the coming weeks – that’s why we train, right?  We talk a lot about inertia and momentum: he’s into science so it helps to speak in terms he can relate to. But if  anyone has some tips for getting a nine-year-old boy to pedal, I’d love to hear them!

- Anne

Our mission (though calling it such seems a little grand right now) is to build a network of parents, neighbors, members of school communities, and yes, students, who can share ideas and energy around the goal of encouraging more kids and families to bike to school—at least some of the time.

Our loose group of ~6-8 parents has been reasonably successful—Bryant won SDOT’s Golden Shoe award for the largest number of students regularly arriving on foot or bike last year. But we know things could be so much better if we could tap into the collective intelligence of other bike and walk programs in our city and learn what as worked (and not worked) elsewhere.

So we came up with this kind of selfish idea. You help us reach our goals of getting more kids out of cars and onto bikes or feet. But then again, it’s not totally selfish—we’re also here to share our success, failures, and ideas with you and hopefully help you make your programs a little better, too.  Because ultimately our goal isn’t just to get more kids out of cars in our neighborhood — it’s to get more kids on foot and bike all over Seattle!

What’s the state of your program?

Maybe you have a core of walkers and riders—a regular bike train or  a walking school bus—but you think there’s potential for more. You just need inspiration, or some new ideas (or both). But don’t sell your program short—you probably have some great ideas and wins to share, too. Come to the meeting, write a blog post on WalkBikeSchools, and add your photos to the Walk.Bike.Schools flickr pool.

Because Seattle schools’ walkers and bikers need to hear from you!

Or maybe you’re just starting out and don’t know where to begin. You’re hoping to find out about Safe Routes to School grants and Bike to School Month. You have some ideas for getting kids out of cars and dialed into human power, but maybe need a little support from some established schools.

We need you too! Come to the meeting, comment on the blog or ask for feedback on the s0on-to-come listserv! Chances are one of us has the info you need and would be happy to share.

It doesn’t matter if you’re at either end of the spectrum or something in between. We’d like to build a community of people supportive of bike and walk programs but can’t do it without YOU.

Please come to our meeting Thursday (4/12) and get involved.

7:00–8:30 pm| Bryant Elementary School
3311 NE 60th Street, 98115

And if you can’t make the meeting keep watching the Walk.Bike.Schools Blog. We’ll post a recap there and ideally start highlighting posts from contributors at schools all over the city (contact me if you want to write something).

And share your photos of kids walking AND/OR biking to school, event posters, and more on the Walk.Bike.Schools flickr pool. Images of kids in action and examples of promotional ideas are great inspiration for all of us!

Thanks for your support!

-Tim

(edit:I’ve been told that a shared definition of a Neighborhood Greenway would be helpful for some readers. We’re working toward  our “ideal vision” but in the meantime check out the “What is a neighborhood Greenway” section in this post by Sally Bagshaw for the basics. -Tim)

The Carfreedays family is jumping into the hotbed of Seattle Greenways grass-roots activism and joining up with our neighbors in NE Seattle on the NE Greenways project!

Greenways fit with the kind of riding we do (parent and kid-powered transportation), and c0uld really be the key resource for making it safer and easier for kids all over this city to skip the minivan and ride bikes or walk to school!

We don’t claim to be Greenways experts but we have some strong feelings, nonetheless. We’ve been riding around Seattle for longer than we’d like to admit. We know this city pretty well. We know the terrain and the people and the baggage that comes with both. And we’ve been avidly riding the streets of PDX on visits for the past five years or so. We aren’t Stumptown natives by any stretch, but we have more than a passing familiarity of what it feels like to ride the Green Streets of our fair neighbor.We think having some experience in both places is pretty important because PDX is where everyone points when they mention potential Seattle bike infrastructure. As in, “Hey look at that awesome (insert bike thing) over there in Portland! Let’s do that heeeere.”

We’re not Portland, OK?

We at Carfreedays are as  Portland-cycling-crushed as the next skirt- or trousers-wearing rider, but also know we shouldn’t let that get in the way of reality. We aren’t going to be Portland—no way. Our streets are different (Narrower. Less elbow room in the grid; hardly anyone there parks on the street). Our geography is different (they’ve got a river. We’ve got a river and lakes and canals and hills and ridges and all sort of other stuff). And maybe most important now, our city transportation planning priorities are different (insert your favorite viaduct or SLUT joke here).

So let’s give up on emulating our neighbors to the south and get moving on a network that fits the constraints of our city and embraces what makes Seattle such an awesome place to live (and ride).

Neighborhoods must Lead

I’ll try to do more on that whole there vs. here  thing later, but for now I want to focus on a local characteristic that will really make a difference as Seattle works toward a real neighborhood greenways effort: The strong (powerful!) tradition of community and neighborhood activism in this city.

In contrast to Seattle, Portland has kick-ass (and getting better all the time) transportation options for cyclists. They got there in no small part because they’ve had the benefit of some forward thinking planners and city leaders who have made a huge effort and priority to increase the ride-share. Make no mistake, these people stuck their necks out to make cycling and walking a priority.

We all know Seattle’s system is far (faaaaarrr) behind Portlandia (bear with me, I promise I’m not wallowing in self-loathing). We’ve had some good but sporadic leadership, and even developed some great bicycling plans. But  mostly when push comes to shove our politicians choose cars and developers over bikes and human-scale streets.

So here’s where we get to the good part. Seattle communities and neighbors are wicked-strong and quite adept at killing projects. Examples? The Montlake/Madison Park neighborhoods blocked 520-bridge improvements for the last 30 years. The Laurelhurst community puts fear into the hearts of Childrens and UW planners. All over the city, neighbors have picked causes and marshaled their forces (time, energy, will) behind (and admittedly, usually against) them. The hands of the people hold a lot of power in Seattle.

And now Seattle neighbors are turning their attention to our streets. Instead of blocking something, we want to create. We’ve decided it’s time to take a sliver of our public space currently dedicated to cars and make that space safe for children and families.

Imagine how great it would be to have just one street within a few blocks of your home where you could walk with a friend, and know your kids could ride their bikes or safely play soccer with neighborhood friends. Yes, it would still be a street with cars and all, but the scale of the place would be different. Slower. People would be the priority, and cars, 0n this one street, would know they are visitors.

Now imagine how much better the whole city gets when we stitch together many these slower streets. Each street is focused on the needs and character of the neighborhood, but strategically connected to make a city-wide transportation network, allowing neighbors to safely and easily ride from say, their  house in Laurelhurst to the Ballard Locks. Or from Beacon Hill to Madrona. And from anywhere to Greenlake!

Possible? Definitely. Parts of Seattle are lovely to traverse by bike and foot.  And we need not wait for top-down planning to make it better. Neighbors only have to work together and say “Hell Yes! Greenways are a priority!”

It’s working in Wallingford, it’s working on Beacon Hill, and it’s getting ready to work in NE (with a nice push from Children’s). So get on out there. Come to a Greenways meeting. Talk to your neighbors. Call a city council member. Whatever you want. Just get involved and help make Seattle Greenways a priority for Seattle!

Upcoming events and resources

Events

• 7:30pm March 21st at the Sand Point Methodist Church (4710 NE 70th 98115), Paolo Nunes-Ueno, Director of Transportation at Seattle Children’s, will be presenting to the Hawthorne Hills Community Council on the Children’s Liveable  Streets Initiative. If you live nearby this is  chance to show some support for Greenways efforts in NE Seattle (and to Children’s for their leadership on the project).

• 6:30 pm March 22 at the Phinney Neighborhood Center, SDOT Director Peter Hahn & Traffic Engineer Dongho Chang will present to the Seattle-wide Greenways meet-up. Info on Facebook.

Resources

Seattle Neighborhood Greenways general information:

Seattle Neighborhood Greenways on Facebook

Seattle Neighborhood Greenways blog

Neighborhood Greenways groups:

• Ballard
• Madison Park/Montlake
• Wallingford
• University
• Beacon Hill
• Northeast (and since it’s my blog post, here’s NE on Twitter and our Google Groups link, too)
• Central Seattle Greenways (thx, Tom)

If I’ve missed anyone please let me know in the comments. I’m happy to update and I’m sure follow-up posts are coming.

-Tim

Je tire mon casquette à vous grand-mère!

-Tim

Via Adventure Journal and biCyCle Store Paris. Holler if credit should be applied elsewhere.

Lucky for you, our buddy Ryan, AKA Go Means Go, is throwing down his  a 3rd-annual Pedal Party, an essential post-Expo opportunity to shed your Cascade-mandated yellow jacket, helmet and clicky shoes to slip into some sexy partywear (or at least some clean skinny jeans with a rolled up right leg) and SHAKE IT.This is an honest-to-goodness grown-up event.: 21+, alcohol, music you don’t recognize, alcohol, and a chance to mix it up with a wide cross-section of the Seattle cycling community (the booty shakers and drinkers, at least).

We’ll probably use it as a covert opportunity to check out the drinking habits of our “competition” for the next 9-5 Solstice Scavenger Hunt (our 3rd annual go at the Ryan-hosted event). As my Mother always said, “it’s never to early to plot a bicycle adversary’s PBR-fueled downfall.”

Childcare not provided.

-Tim

]]> http://carfreedays.com/2012/03/07/grab-a-sitter-shirley-its-pedal-party-time/feed/ 2 Tim K fremont brewing is pouring at the Pedal Party PedalPartyPoster http://carfreedays.com/2012/02/09/family-bike-touring-character-building-on-wheels/ http://carfreedays.com/2012/02/09/family-bike-touring-character-building-on-wheels/#comments Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:48:34 +0000 Anne http://carfreedays.com/?p=3847 Continue reading →]]> Yesterday I began a post about our summer bike tour. As the post progressed, I realized it was becoming bigger than just recounting our trip. It was more about the lessons we all learned. As parents, Tim and I want to teach our kids about character and grit, and bike touring is a great way to accomplish that.

(continued)

…How many of the character traits have I covered so far?

With two kids along for the ride, bike touring is even more challenging. Because bike touring involves some suffering and grit and our modern-day, middle-class kids aren’t accustomed to that.

Karen Fierst, a teacher who oversaw the character program  at Riverdale, reflected in the aforementioned NYT piece:

“Our kids don’t put up with a lot of suffering. They don’t have a threshold for it. They’re protected against it quite a bit. And when they do get uncomfortable, we hear from their parents. We try to talk to parents about having to sort of make it O.K. for there to be challenge, because that’s where learning happens.”

Yes! I completely agree. Suffering is OK, it’s where learning happens.

Whether you’re learning math or reading or riding a bike, it takes some suffering to learn and grow. Experiencing suffering brings to mind all of those clichés that sometimes fall on the deaf ears of little people:

• “perseverance pays”
• “trial and error”
• “if at first you don’t succeed, try and try again”

Bike touring does teach us about perseverance. That lesson was definitely not lost on our kids last summer as we pedaled to the San Juan Islands.

While slogging up endless hills day after day, coaxing our 10-year-old to keep pedaling, tough it out and not give up, we learned about suffering and hard work. As I urged the 8-year-old to help me pedal the tandem and not just kick back, drink water and enjoy the scenery, I learned about self-control (there might have been a bit of yelling) and we both also learned about suffering.  Pedaling those last few miles of the day when we were all  really really tired and hungry and ready to be done made the arrival at our destination extra sweet.

• Zest, check
• grit, absolutely
• self-control (working on it)
• social intelligence (yes, I think we got that one)
• gratitude, yes
• optimism and curiosity, of course
• Success, definitely

We all learned that you can’t really experience success unless you suffer a bit. And then you can relish it. And be proud of your accomplishment. And keep track of your miles and congratulate yourself for how far you’ve pedaled.

And when you get home and review your photos, you sort of forget about all of the suffering and only remember the good times.

And that suffering amnesia allows you to do it all over again next time.

And there will be a next time.

We’re in the process of  planning a longer, more difficult trip in July. Perhaps on two tandems down the Oregon Coast? With both kids on tandems we can cover more daily miles and more days in the saddle. I think we can handle it. Think of all the character building!

Stay tuned!

(Here’s a link to all of the Seattle to San Juan Islands trip photos)

- Anne

Last summer we loaded up Tim’s Big Dummy (with most of our gear), the tandem (equipped with 3 Ortliebs and a bucket pannier) piloted by Anne and the 8-year-old and the 10-year-old’s bike (toting her clothes, sleeping bag and thermarest) and  pedaled away from our house on a sunny Saturday afternoon in August.

We ended up in the San Juan Islands 5 days later.

The family spent 5 more days camping, relaxing, reading, playing on the beach and enjoying the tranquility of Lopez and San Juan Islands. We then hopped on the Victoria Clipper and motored back to downtown Seattle (covering the same distance on the passenger ferry in a few hours that took 5 days on the bike).

The trip came to an end after a 5 mile ride back to our house in North Seattle on a quintessential Seattle summer evening.

Sounds nice, huh?

Recounting the trip in that manner makes it seem like a piece of cake. We pedaled, arrived 5 days later, hung out on the Islands for 5 days and took a ferry back to Seattle.

Truth be told, there was plenty of suffering mixed in as well. And some grit and definitely some character building.

This  NYT education piece about education, failure, building character and ultimately success reminded me of bike touring.

(stay with me for a bit).

Many of the traits (zest, grit, self-control, social intelligence, gratitude, optimism and curiosity) that are explored in the piece relate to success in education and life in general.

These traits also apply to bike touring.

Frankly, you don’t even need to leave your town or city to experience many of them, these traits can be learned from riding bikes instead of driving in cars on a daily basis.

Take some time and read about family on bikes  journey from Alaska to Argentina and you might follow my meandering train of thought.

While the 200 + mile tour our family completed in 10 days last summer pales in comparison to the Vogel’s epic journey, the lessons we learned are similar: bike touring is challenging. And whether you’re young or old, challenging experiences foster growth.

As bike tourists we pedaled up hills, cruised down hills, crossed some “scary” bridges. We rode on the narrow shoulders of highways shared with speeding cars and trucks, ultimately fraying our nerves and causing some of us to shed tears. We experienced tense moments that tested our self-control and possibly resulted in a bit of yelling.

We’re being honest, right?

The weather was sometimes hot, sometimes cold, sometimes very wet. We all got tired and hungry and thirsty and at times wanted to give up. From time to time, we may even have fantasized about sticking out our thumbs and getting a ride (which I admit I did 20 years ago while on a bike tour of New Zealand’s South Island with the boyfriend I didn’t marry. But that is a whole nother story).

We got up every day and did it all over again. And looked forward to the new sights we would see and the new smells we would smell. And we learned to read each others moods and realize when it was OK to complain and when it was time to keep our pessimism to ourselves. We were thankful for sunny days and when it rained, hopeful that the sun would come out soon…..

more tomorrow.

 - Anne

When he rides the Brompton, Tim forgoes toting around a heavy U lock and frequently chooses to take the bike with him when he arrives at his destination. In a shopping cart, in the corner of a restaurant or in a waiting room at the doctor’s office, Tim’s choice is usually to tote and stash the bike.

Tim thinks leaving the bike outside locked up with all of the normal sized bikes defeats the purpose of riding a portable folding bike.

Tim’s Brompton riding m.o.: If you can, why not take it with you?

I’d much rather carry around a 3 lb U Lock than a 25 lb bike so I typically lock it up outside. Yes, it’s nice to be able to take the Brompton on the bus and abstain from using the Metro bike racks. But once I arrive at my destination, I’m a locker.

Why carry around a 25 lb weight if I don’t have to? Unless the rack situation is sketchy, I usually lock it up.

What’s your preference? Are you a locker? Or a carry and stash folding bike rider?

 - Anne