Tim makes hauling large items look so easy

We’re all ready for the big snow this weekend. Picked up my new, fat, freshly mounted tele skis this afternoon, got our Zipskicar reserved,and have been obsessively checking the snow report.

Hopefully those weather people aren’t wrong because we’re all ready to go!

Have a good weekend!

 - Anne

And while we’re not big on resolutions, we do like stats and top 10 lists.

For your reading pleasure, Car Free Days top 10 posts (with the most page views) of 2011.

10. Brompton: It’s a Utility Bike (Oct 2011)

9.  Building a Kids Bike that doesn’t suck: The Mt. bike frame (Dec 2008)

8. About Car Free Days (Aug 2007)

7. Xtracycle Stoker Stems (Nov 2007)

6. RIP: Val Kleitz helped us all stay “rubber side down” (Aug 2011)

5. Ten Days with the Madsen Kg271 Bucket Bike (May 2009)

4. Kona Ute: Poor Choices at a Good Price (March 2008)

3. Kids’ Bikes: They suck and what you can do about it (Dec 2008)

2. Hey fixie hipster trick bike riders: You’ve been schooled! (Aug 2009)

……and the post with the most views in 2011:

our (first) Xtracycle on the road! (Aug 2007)

Cheers! and Happy New Year!
 - Anne and Tim

Tree Haulin Track Stand

Thought we’d post some photos of our 2011 Xtracycle Tree Haulin event.  We won’t bore you with another retrospective of all of our tree-haulin adventures, you can read the one we wrote last year if you’re interested.

2011 was pretty much business as usual: a tree was chosen, we loaded it on Tim’s Big Dummy and pedaled a mile downhill to our house.

But every year we mix it up a little and 2011 did bring a few firsts:

1) We actually choose a tree in the daylight under mild rainless skies

2) Both kids rode their own bikes to the tree lot

3) As Tim was loading the tree on his Big Dummy, a woman pulled up in her mini-van and offered to drive it home for us

In fact, it was such a non-event, Tim thought it was a little boring. As we unloaded the tree at home, Tim started talking about how we could make tree collecting more of an adventure next year. Go bike camping and cut our tree in the mountains perhaps? We’ll just have to wait and see what next year brings.

Btw, we’re not normally so festive and holidayish. We lead a Bike-to-School doughnut ride earlier in the day and we decked out our bikes and helmets. (the 8-year-old told Tim that his Santa hat made him look like a garden gnome).

Happy Holidays to you and yours.

If you’re so inclined, post some photos in the comment of your holiday tree haulin adventures.

-Anne and Tim

Mother/Daughter Panda

We’ve been getting some flak these days from our 10.958 year old about our lack of car. She’s entering those tween years: asserting her independence and trying to blend in with everyone else. And this whole bike thing sometimes cramps her style.

Not sure if you’ve noticed, but you kind of stick out when your family rides bikes instead of riding in cars.

Imagine my surprise this past weekend when the 10.958 year old suggested we head out on bikes for a mother/daughter day at the park. She could easily have chosen a walk down to University Village for some shopping: which I would have predicted had I been forced to place a bet. Instead we pedaled over to Greenlake, ate some frozen yogurt, kicked around the soccer ball and practiced our Lacrosse skills.

Yogurt and Bikes

We both enjoyed the outing and promised to do it again soon.

Tim and I find ourselves discussing kid/bike rebellion quite a bit these days. We don’t have any answers yet other than continuing to ride and be rest assured that our kids will appreciate our bike lifestyle some day. Our goal is to end up with a couple of kids who are self-sufficient, independent, able to get places using their own power and who are proud that they are just a little bit different from the status quo.

Oh, and we also hope they don’t completely hate us.

lining up at the light

Anyone else experiencing tween or teen bike rebellion? I seem to remember someone mentioning that their teenage daughter is going through something similar. We’d love to hear from you!

 - Anne

I followed a cyclist down Eastlake the other day. We yo yoed for a few miles as we both climbed and descended all the hills heading North. He passed me, I caught up, he pulled way ahead, I caught up again.

The only reason he kept getting so far ahead of me is he was running red lights. As in, not–even–a–question the light was red, it was R E D.

I found my frustration growing each time I caught up to him. He clearly wasn’t gaining any time by running lights. So, what’s the point? Not only is running lights dangerous, it’s one behavior that really pisses off drivers.

And one guy on a bike running red lights makes the rest of us look bad.

He almost negated the cheerful carefree feeling I usually experience when I pedal somewhere. I really wanted to catch him one last time and yell at him, he made me so angry.

Then I passed a chick on the University bridge riding an Xtracyle who gave me a fist pump. And another rider smiled at me at the North end of the bridge. As I approached the Ave,  a couple pointed at my basket and grinned as I pedaled by.

And I realized it was my Fall basket decoration that was drawing all of the smiles.

By the time I got home, I was back to my happy place and I had (almost) forgotten about red light runner.

And I owe that to my tacky, plastic, leaf-decorated basket.

 - Anne

Julian posted details for November Kidical Mass over at Totcycle. The ride includes the opening of the Ship Canal Trail and ends at Fremont Brewing.

What’s not to like about that route?

Let’s meet at the Ballard Library at 10am, ride through the Locks, and through Fisherman’s Terminal to the 11am opening ceremony. There will be a short stretch of on-road action between the Locks and Terminal. We can do it.

Then we’ll ride this scenic (in an industrial then canal sort of way) trail, and pop over the Fremont Bridge for a lunch at Fremont Brewing. We’ll bring hot cider to warm folks up. Fremont Brewing is BYO food, and quite kid friendly. You can pack a picnic, but there is adjacent teriyaki, and nearby sweet and savory PIE.

Details here:

If kids and bikes and hot cider and beer aren’t your thing, there’s always Cranksgiving.

Cranksgiving is a ride for everyone from racers and messengers to families and slow riders. It’s a celebration of goodwill and bicycles. It’s a test of your city navigation skills, but also a demonstration that the bike is a great way to accomplish simple errands like going to the grocery store.

Most of all, it’s about having a great time.

Riders will be given a map with grocery stores marked and a list of items to buy. The goal is to buy at least one item at each location and get to the finish line somewhere near Columbia City (you will find out where when the race starts).

Have a good weekend!

 - Anne

Tim and Maddie had a conversation about that very subject on Twitter today…she was surprised to learn that our kids play soccer and we don’t have a car. (She knew about the car part, she just didn’t know about soccer).

The answer is Yes, it can be done. You don’t need no stinking mini-van to be a soccer mom.

In Seattle, bikes and soccer are a breeze the first 3 years when the teams are in House League (more on this later). It gets more complicated as they get older and start playing teams from other parts of the city. But it’s still doable. Kids have an infinite supply of energy, remember?

House League and City League:

Seattle Youth Soccer  is divided into Clubs based on geographic boundary. Our kids play for LVR (Laurelhurst, View Ridge, Ravenna).

For the first 3 years, the kids play “House League” and they only play other teams from their club. All of the games are at the same field – ours were at Eckstein Middle School (a short .8 mile ride from our house).  You’d think it was farther judging from the stream of cars in and out of that parking lot every week. Since this is a neighborhood league, I’d say the majority of families live at most 2.5 miles from Eckstein…and most people drive there.

Avoiding the Eckstein parking lot and all of the traffic is motivation enough for me to ride instead of drive. Field side bike parking is an added bonus.

When the teams move up to City League, they play teams from other parts of the city. While you could potentially play teams from far away clubs, we’ve been lucky and most our daughter’s games have been against clubs that are close. With the exception of 1 game, all have been within a 3-5 mile bike ride from our house.  

Our home field is Magnuson (3.5 miles away) and the farthest game on the schedule is in Magnolia (7.9 miles away). And while I groan when I see the far away games on the schedule, it’s really not that bad. Our daughter rode 25 miles a day on our bike tour this summer, she can certainly ride 7.9 miles to Magnolia to play soccer. If she complains too much, Brompton on Metro is always an option.

What? You make your kids take the bus? What kind of mom are you?

Practices:

Practices are at local fields. Since I coach our son’s team, I get to choose the field location. I purposefully chose a field that is bikable or walkable for most families. And I’m happy to report, we did have walkers and bikers this year!

Our daughter’s practices are at Magnuson Park (3.5 miles from our house). Except for some rides with friends to practice, most of the transportation has been done on bikes. Since I had a conflicting practice time with my team on one of her practice days, she (and a Brompton) got a ride with a friend to practice. Tim rode down to Magnuson after practice and biked home with her.

3.5 miles is a completely doable ride for any kid who is able to run around a soccer field for an hour an a half. Just call the ride to and from practice their warm up and cool down.

We often wonder why more parents don’t bike (or walk) to soccer. But then again, we wonder why more people don’t walk and bike in general.

Any other parents out there who bike to soccer?

 - Anne

And took rides then ran a little bit and hopped back on:

(Gone also are the two-kid Snapdeck arguments and helmet bonking  - let’s be honest, it’s not all fun).

My kids hardly ever take rides on my Xtracycle anymore. And when they do, it’s usually for just a few short blocks. But I’ll take those blocks when I can get them because I know that soon those will be gone too.

Yesterday, the 10-year-old had a sleepover at a friend’s house who lives close by. Tim and I made plans with the 8-year-old’s friend and his family to meet at Fremont Brewing for some dinner and beers (for the adults of course). I hauled our daughter on my Xtracycle those few blocks because I didn’t want her to have to deal with storing her bike for the night. Our son rode his bike because he wanted to be a big kid and ride his own bike at night.

But I hauled him and his bike part of the way too because we were late and he was slow and I could. And I enjoyed having him back there riding side-saddle on the Xtracycle with his bike trailing behind us.

Even if that too was short-lived.

He reminded me several times while he was sitting back there that he wanted to be a big kid on his own bike and ride at night. Oh yeah, I remember,” just a few more blocks and I’ll let you off”.

And he did get off, pedaled his bike in the dark with all of his lights on and he was proud to arrive in Fremont using his own power.

Days like yesterday make me think about why we do this whole bike thing (and drag our kids along with us). Of course we do it to better our community, connect with people and reduce traffic and pollution along the way (oh, and let’s not forget about the fun).

We also ride out of nostalgia: Tim and I both grew up riding bikes to get where we needed to go (school, the store and everywhere else). Even though our parents also drove us around, we’re most nostalgic about bikes and the freedom, joy, power and sense of accomplishment riding them instilled in us.

And we want our kids to experience all of these things too.

We may miss hauling them from time to time, but we’re also proud that they are learning to ride on their own.

For those of you with littles, enjoy the time you have with them as cargo even if hauling them around sometimes feels like a chore.

Soon they’ll be big and you’ll miss them.

 - Anne

The driver of the vehicle that killed him has not been located nor charged for the crime.

Next Tuesday, October 18, Mike’s friends and colleagues are holding a benefit dinner and silent auction in his honor.

Please join us for an evening to remember our colleague, friend, and fellow cyclist: Mike Wang.  We lost Mike on July 28, 2011, when he was struck and killed by a vehicle while riding his bicycle home from work that day.

Mike was an exceptional photographer whose work has touched the lives of so many of us.  On this night, we will feature several of his pieces in a silent auction to raise money for a college fund for his children, Sylvie (age 10) and Walter (age 12).

Additionally, the evening will include remarks from Washington State Representative Eric Pettigrew and PATH Leadership.  Local radio personality and friend of Mike’s family, Cathy Sorbo, will emcee the evening.

Tickets must be purchased in advance and are available through Brown Paper Tickets

More on the project here:

Do you love your cargo bike? Has it changed your life? Your family? Your town?
Join me in producing an authentic crowdsourced document of a cultural revolution in progress. I’m seeking submissions from cargo bike folk all over the world to combine in the form of a feature length documentary. Send me your video, audio and photos by uploading to Youtube and emailing me a link. More info at www.lizcanning.com. Watch the trailer, visit my site, send me an email and learn how to become a co-director!

via Matthew

 - Anne