Monthly Archives: August 2009

Rack’em up and roll’em in: SDOT seeks corral input

Posted on August 25, 2009 by Anne | 5 comments

In addition to the weather, Tim and I love to talk about bike parking, bike racks and anything related to parking and racks. If you ride a bike, you need to have a secure parking spot for it upon arrival at your destination.

SDOT wants to know where on-street bike parking is needed around the city. So go ahead and send them your suggestions! Email requests to bikeracks@seattle.gov.

I already commented, telling SDOT to expect some from me. But unless you only want them in front of cafes, bars and restaurants (when I ride a bike, I get hungry, thirsty and I need a place to park my bike!) you better submit your spots, too.

– Anne

5 Comments

Posted in alternative transportation, bikes, Rack that Bike, seattle

Tagged bike parking, bike racks, on-street bike parking, seattle

An Every Day Adventure to the Bicycle Music Festival

Posted on August 23, 2009 by Tim K | 11 comments

An Every Day Adventure at the Bicycle Music Festival

We just returned from a day of family Xtracycling. If you’d asked where we were going when we left the house, we probably would have mentioned something about the Bicycle Music Festival. Sure that’s where we were headed, but in reality we were out for a dose of every day cycling adventure.

In the course of an hour or so on the bikes we picked up the youngest from a play date, helped a friend install a basketball hoop, took some photos, stopped at the library, saw a ton of boats and houseboats, took some more photos, and picked up some excellent free stuff on the road near said houseboats (some BRAND NEW Ikea LED lights plus some high-quality nickel-plated light fixtures with sconces that will go nicely in our bathroom. SCORE!)!

And that was just on the way to the music festival. Continue reading →

11 Comments

Posted in bigger than here, bikes, kids, summer, xtracycle

Tagged adventure, bicycle music festival, bikes, kids, seattle, xtracycle

Car Free Days is Clinging to a Bikey Summer

Posted on August 20, 2009 by Tim K | 4 comments

Faster, the Night is Catching Us

It feels like Summer is fading around here.

Quickly.

Maybe it’s the way it changed from tank-top weather to sweater weather in about two hours this afternoon. Or maybe it’s the way I’ve decided that lights are now a prudent addition to my evening commutes.

Whatever the reason, the Car Free Days family is feeling some serious pressure to do something, anything, fun in the last couple weeks of summer.

Luckily for us, the Seattle bike scene has stepped up to provide some pretty family friendly, bike on music action this weekend. Continue reading →

4 Comments

Posted in alternative transportation, bigger than here, bikes, extravehicular activities, Human Powered Politics, longbikes, seattle, summer, sustainability, xtracycle

Tagged ginger ninjas, music, seattle, tour bicycle music festival, xtracycle

Hey fixie hipster trick bike riders: You’ve been schooled!

Posted on August 19, 2009 by Tim K | 12 comments

In Seattle, as in many other cities, a fraternity of tight-pantsed, butt-crack showing, truckers-wallet toting fixie riders often gathers to work on fixed-gear bike tricks. These range from the newbie skill of the trackstand (also practical in traffic), to riding backward, to wheelies, to wheelies with handlebar spins, and so on.

Some of it is pretty impressive and fun to watch. If nothing else, the beer-fueled wipeouts can be entertaining. But after seeing the following video (via Wend), I should now say the tricks used to be impressive and fun to watch because these two riders just cranked the impressiveness meter to a whole other planet.

About the only place the hipsters can still compete is tight pants and wallets on chains. If you’re into the fashion of ass-crack and/or truckers’ wallets the video may disappoint, but for bulk of the cycling world still trying for their first track stand, prepare to be wowed. (The whole thing is good, but definitely watch from about 2:30 on)

-Tim

12 Comments

Posted in bigger than here, bike lust, bikes

Tagged ballet, bikes, fixie, gymnastics, tricks

Used Bike Inflation?

Posted on August 18, 2009 by Anne | 8 comments

Median price, First 50 items for sale on Craigslist 8PM PDT 8/13/09

via Freakonomics blog

This Freakonomics piece made me chuckle. I’m pretty sure we’ve visited a couple of those used bike shops in Portland and were shocked by the prices as well.

In our quest to get more people to use bikes as transportation, we’re constantly telling people to check craigslist. We also tell people they can get a commuter/grocery getter for around $100. Am I telling lies?

How much for a decent used commuter bike in your city?

– Anne

8 Comments

Posted in alternative transportation, bikes

Tagged bike prices, inflation, used bikes

Xtracycle Bike Camping (with Kids)

Posted on August 17, 2009 by Anne | 7 comments

For those of you who were wondering, no, the heat wave hasn’t lasted three weeks. We’ve just been lazy bloggers of late!

We recently returned from a fantastic short bike camping trip with our kids. Tim and I haven’t been bike touring in 15 years. Not sure why, I guess we just haven’t made it a priority. Our kids are now old enough to carry some of their own weight (both on and off the bike) so we decided to give it a whirl.

Huge success.

Our destination: Lopez island in the San Juan Islands, a classic Northwest bike tour. The San Juan Islands are touring gems, and for good reason. Scenery is beautiful, the ferries make it fun and convenient to shuttle between the islands, people are friendly, and if you choose the right islands and the right route, the hills aren’t too bad. Best of all, once you’ve unloaded from the ferry and lets the high-speed hordes roar past, you’re free to roam on relatively traffic-free roads. Continue reading →