The question I get asked most often about our “biking lifestyle” is: How do you grocery shop on your bike? Do you shop every day? Can you really carry enough for a family of four? I think people can wrap their brains around getting from here to there, but dealing with the stuff is a whole ‘nother thing. It just seems too daunting. Continue reading
Posted in alternative transportation, bikes, seattle
Tagged alternative transportation, bikes, grocery stores, seattle, shopping
Bike to School month was a huge success at our local elementary. We averaged about 60 riders every day–the bike racks were full and fence and gate locking was overflowing every day this month. It was certainly a beautiful sight.
A big thanks to Leslie and Clint for leading the effort – you did a great job!
Many parents joined their kids and pedaled to and from school all month. I talked to a few who said they were hooked and plan to get to school on two wheels from now on. Right on. Others say “they’ll see” if they can keep it up. I tried to encourage any parent who would listen to keep on riding. It’s so great to see the kids excited about riding and the traffic reduction around school was definitely noticeable. Continue reading
Posted in alternative transportation, bigger than here, bikes, kids, seattle
Tagged Bike to School Month, Family Cycling, kids, seattle
This morning I was reading Copenhagen Cycle Chic’s report on the véloculture in Paris. It’s so wonderful to read about the success of the Vélib program. Since the program was introduced last summer, biking has exploded in the city of Paris.
When I lived in Paris many years ago, transportation options were limited to
Biking around Paris would have been so great!
Tim and I were there last July and we missed the installation of the Vélib bikes by one week. We saw the stations all over town, but they were all bikeless. We walked and took the Metro – but would have prefered cruising around Paris on bikes. I guess we’ll have to go back and give Vélib a try.
While Copenhagen Cycle Chic’s post was about biking culture in Paris – my key take away was this quote:
The key to any successful bike culture is to get women onto bikes. They are the group that is most likely to ride and yet least likely to actually do it, especially in urban settings. Continue reading
Posted in alternative transportation, bigger than here, bikes, Human Powered Politics
Tagged bike culture, cycling, Paris, Velib, women
Our kids are so comfortable riding on the Snapdeck, they are getting a little um, casual. Sometimes I feel the weight shift a little and look back and discover them in a different position than when we started our ride. Continue reading
Posted in alternative transportation, bikes, kids, seattle, xtracycle
Tagged alternativetransportation, bikes, kids, reading, xtracycle, XtracycleSnapdeck
As we’ve said, we took the One Less Car Challenge last fall. We sold our newish Saab, and got $600 in Zipcar benefits (among other things) in exchange.
It seemed like a pretty good trade. We didn’t drive very much, but wanted to keep the car around because, well, you know: “just in case.” The Zipcar benefits handled the just in case part and it was a lot easier to let go of the car, it’s sunk costs, and associated negative externalities.
We’ve yet to use the Zipcar benefits, as we drive even more rarely since giving up the Saab (funny how that works), but having the benefit made it easy to let it go. Continue reading
I would like to applaud all of the parents who are taking their kids to school by bike this month. You are all doing a fantastic job. Way to go! Continue reading
Posted in alternative transportation, bikes, Human Powered Politics, kids, neighborhoods, seattle
Tagged bike-to-school, bikes, Family Cycling, kids, parents
The first day of Bike to School Month went off without a hitch. This morning, my two kids enthusiastically pushed their bikes up all six hills. No complaints. I usually get at least oneten complaints out of the five-year-old. To which I usually reply, “please don’t whine so early in the morning”. I didn’t hear a peep out of him this morning. He even wanted to push his own bike up the hills. Even though we always go to school by human power – we regularly hoof it up the hills or take the Xtracycle, for some reason the kids knew today was special. They got really excited when they saw the first fellow cyclists riding their bikes to school. Their excitement grew as we got closer to school and saw even more cyclists. Upon arrival, we were pleasantly surprised to see the one rack and most of the fences and gates surrounding the playground completely packed with bikes. (the most I have ever seen at school).
Great Day. Hopefully the momentum will continue and we’ll see just as many bikers tomorrow and during the coming weeks.
How about you – did you ride to School/Work today?
– Anne
Posted in alternative transportation, bikes, kids, seattle
Tagged alternative transportation, bike-to-school, bikes, kids, neighborhoods, seattle
Tim had knee surgery last week and hasn’t been able to ride to work for a few days. Since walking downhill is a bit painful – I offered him a lift to the stinky bus. I wouldn’t want to ride very far like that, but downhill for a few blocks was just fine.
– Anne
Posted in alternative transportation, bikes, xtracycle
Tagged alternative transportation, bikes, xtracycle
We kicked off Bike to School Month in style this morning with a fantastic family-focused bike event at our elementary school. Judging from the turnout – easily more than 100 people – it seems there’s no better way to get families excited about biking to school than getting them biking at school. Of course a rare sunny (this spring in Seattle, anyway) Saturday didn’t hurt numbers. Continue reading
Posted in alternative transportation, bikes, kids, neighborhoods, seattle
Tagged Bike to School Month, bikes, conference bike, cycling, Families, Family Cycling, kids
According to the Sightline institute, gas consumption is down in the Pacific Northwest (Oregon, Washington and Idaho. For more stats and details, read the full report.) In terms of weekly gasoline consumption per person, Oregon and Washington are in the top 10 least consuming states (Washington D.C. actually leads the pack.)
This is good news–way to go northwesterners, but don’t go celebrating just yet.
Our total consumption, keeping pace with population growth, has not dropped. Per-captia we still consume more gas than a handful of states including New York, Hawaii, Rhode Island, Alaska, Utah, Illinois and Pennsylvania. And compared against the world, the report reminds us we still have a long way to go:
Despite recent reductions, northwesterners still consume prodigious amounts of gasoline. Daily consumption in the Northwest states remains nearly twice as high as the global average for high-income countries.
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