Author Archives: Anne

I Joined the 2 Mile Challenge. How about you?

Posted on May 12, 2011 | 6 comments

Clif Bar is once again sponsoring the 2 mile challenge.

To highlight a commitment to bike advocacy and the fight against climate change, CLIF BAR will award $100,000 in grants to support nonprofit organizations helping to lead the way. We’ve assigned each organization to a 2 Mile Challenge team: Red, Gold and Blue. All you have to do is register, pick your team and start pedaling your bike to earn points and help decide where the grants go.

Join a team today and start logging miles! I’m cfdanne and I joined the Red Team benefiting Safe Routes to Schools. Do you have a challenge for me?

– Anne

6 Comments

Posted in alternative transportation, bikes, Human Powered Politics

Tagged 2mile challenge, advocacy, bikes, non-profit

Biking to School in the Rain (don’t be a wimp, mom)

Posted on May 2, 2011 | 5 comments

We woke this morning to the sound of raindrops pounding the roof and splashing the windows. So hard to accept after the lovely sunny and warm weekend. Yesterday we were at the beach and there were kids in their skivvys playing in the sand and dipping their tiny toes in the Sound. We slathered on sunscreen and sat in the sand eating pizza and drinking beer out of plastic cups (and talked about how summer had arrived).

And today we woke to rain. Really? On day one of Bike to School Month? Can’t we catch a break?

I was ready to ditch the bike-to-school-plan and walk instead. (We only live 5 blocks from school, it’s easier to walk). But we _are_ the organizers and during Bike to School month, we ride. Continue reading →

5 Comments

Posted in alternative transportation, bikes, kids, School, weather

Tagged 2011, bike-to-school, kids, May, rain, School, seattle, weather

Bike to School Month 2011

Posted on April 27, 2011 | 1 comment

Here at Car Free Days HQ, we’re busy with preparations for the fourth-annual Bike to School Month kickoff (this Friday on the school playground).

Bike to School Month Family Bike Extravaganza

look how little...and cute

Four years already? Seems like just yesterday, we were planning our first event.

Tim and I love planning Bike to School month: it’s become a much-anticipated spring tradition at our kids’ elementary school. We share the planning and execution with our friends and fellow family riders, Clint and Leslie. Each of us brings the perfect mix of enthusiasm, mellowness, last-minute surprises and creativity that makes the event a super fun spring tradition at our school. And this year we’ve recruited some new bike riding parents who will hopefully carry on the Bike to School month tradition long after our kids “graduate” from elementary school. Continue reading →

1 Comment

Posted in alternative transportation, bikes, family cycling, kids, neighborhoods, School, seattle

Tagged "bike to school" kids families school Seattle 2011 May

Sharing is Nice

Posted on March 12, 2011 | 6 comments

Tim and I are both officially Zipsters. I’m glad being hip is not a requirement, apparently all we need is a membership card to earn the title. I’ve been a Zipster for a few years and Tim recently joined when we sold our final car last month. (can you believe we used to have four cars?) Since we started using it more, we have managed to slip “zip” into our vernacular: Zip skiing, Zip Brompton, Zip trip, the Zip possibilities are annoyingly endless. Continue reading →

6 Comments

Posted in alternative transportation, bigger than here, bikes, sustainability

Tagged alternative transportation, bikes, Brompton, Car Sharing, zipcar

Bike Radio: Families on Bikes

Posted on January 5, 2011 | 3 comments

A couple of weeks ago the ten-year-old and I had the immense pleasure of riding with and being interviewed by Benji Perrin for the Bike Commute (part of KBCS One World Report).

The Bike Commute:

brings us interviews on wheels…bike wheels. Producer Benji Perrin discovers what inspires and drives interesting people to do what they do both on and off their bikes. It tells their stories and ideas amongst the sounds of the streets while cycling throughout the Puget Sound. Continue reading →

3 Comments

Posted in alternative transportation, bigger than here, bikes, family cycling, kids, seattle, xtracycle

Tagged 91.3, Benji Perrin, Bike Radio, bikes, Families, KBCS, One World Report, radio, the Bike Commute

Fourth-Annual Xtracycle Tree Haulin (plus retrospective)

Posted on December 13, 2010 | 24 comments

We used to make a huge production out of the annual-tree claiming event. We’d load up the VW camper, grab a $5 (bargain!) Forest Service tree-cutting permit, drive up toward the snow for a while, and tromp around in the (snowy, wet, muddy,etc) woods, until we found a tree we could all agree on. Of course, said tree was always double the size we needed (they look smaller in the forest), so fresh we couldn’t bear to take it down until Valentine’s day, and that five-dollar permit usually involved an oil change, a swap to the snow tires, and at least a tank of gas. So really, $5 plus another eighty or so & change.

Bargain?

So when we seriously started doing the long-bike thing, we thought we’d give our auto-induced tree haulin’ a break for a year so we could support our local, neighborhood tree lot and find out if was really possible to haul (it seems so obvious now) our family tree via bike. I mean, it’s just a year, right? Then we’ll go back to fun way up in the snow.

Except, all of sudden it’s our fourth, haul-by-bike Christmas. It turns out we didn’t miss the old that much at all. In fact, we’d argue the new way is much, much better. Here’s why: Continue reading →

24 Comments

Posted in bikes

Tagged "orange helmet", 2010, Bicycle Christmas, Christmas Tree, tree haulin, tree-by-bike, wet, xtracycle, Xtracycle tree haulin

Kidical Mass Canceled Today

Posted on October 30, 2010 | Leave a comment

Rain cancels.

And there’s no doubt about it, rain is falling from the sky.

We plan to drink hot cider and eat all of the cupcakes our 9-year-old made for the ride.

Next time!

Details at Totcycle

– Anne

Kidical Mass, Halloween edition

Posted on October 28, 2010 | 2 comments

We don’t have a great track record for Kidical Mass. We attempted a Kidical Mass ride in the Spring. But we never made it to the actual ride because we got completely utterly and totally rained out (literally).

We’re ready to put that experience behind us and do it all over again in one of the rainiest months in these parts.

Why, you ask?

Because riding with other families en masse is a life experience not to be missed.

Continue reading →

2 Comments

Posted in bikes, Events, extravehicular activities, family cycling

Tagged halloween, Kidical Mass, Oct 30, seattle

Reason #6789 For Riding Bikes

Posted on October 19, 2010 | 20 comments

The other day, Josh Cohen ( aka Publicola Bike Nerd) did a post with a link to a Jay Jansheski piece Some Things I’ve Seen While Riding a Bicycle in Seattle.

A harmless fluff piece wouldn’t you think? No lectures, no stats and nary an environmental or health reason sited. He merely highlighted some positive reasons for riding a bike: because it’s just plain fun.

And before I read the comments, I too was enveloped in a blissful bike loving fog. There are so many reasons I love to ride a bike. And I daydreamed about all of them for at least 5 minutes.

This weekend we experienced reason #6789: because little detours sometimes change everything.

When you’re on bikes, you may go a bit out of your way to check out the mysterious blue glow. And when you get there, you discover it’s a giant grim reaper ( The Greenwood Reaper no less). Continue reading →