Category Archives: alternative transportation

Walk and Wheel Month

Posted on October 14, 2008 by Anne | Leave a comment

Walk and Wheel Month is off to a great start. 108 kids from our local school have officially signed up. That’s a lot of walking and biking. Even if every kid doesn’t walk or bike every day, at least we’re getting some cars off the road on a regular basis.

Last week we walked to school with some neighbors who normally drive the five-uphill-blocks. The mom admitted that shame kept her from driving that day—she didn’t want us to see her driving to school.

I say, whatever motivates you to get out of your car, roll with it!

– Anne

Grocery Getters in the Mainstream Media

Posted on September 26, 2008 by Anne | 3 comments

The Seattle Times reports that people are changing their shopping habits. It seems people are abandoning their cars in favor of—and this is really wacky—bikes and feet.

The article mentions Xtracyles and Bakfietsen as good grocery hauling machines. It’s great to see bikes in the mainstream media. Little by little people are realizing how simple it is to use bikes as transportation.

(btw The Times photo editor may need to be enlightened—the bike on the front page of the article is not an Xtracycle, it’s a bike with a rear rack and paniers.)

Have a good weekend!

-Anne and Tim

3 Comments

Posted in alternative transportation, bikes, extravehicular activities, news, seattle, xtracycle

Tagged bikes, msm, seattle, transportation

October is International Walk to School Month

Posted on September 25, 2008 by Anne | 5 comments

Lots of Bikes at School - Bike to School Day 2008

October is International Walk to School Month. Walk and Wheel Month is part of an international movement to encourage active transportation to school. Kids are encouraged to use any type of human–powered mode of transport (feet, scooters, bikes) to get to school.

My friend, Leslie and I are leading the effort at our local elementary school. We were so inspired by the success of Bike to School Month last spring, we thought we’d encourage more kids to join us this fall. Cascade Bicycle Club sponsors the program locally, giving prizes to kids who make at least seven car-less trips to school in October.

Is any one out there leading a walk, bike or scooter–to–school effort this October? It’s not too late to get something organized.

I’d love to hear what you’re doing to promote it.

– Anne

5 Comments

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

Tagged alternative transportation, bike, bike-to-school, kids, scooter, walk

World Carfree Day is Monday, September 22

Posted on September 20, 2008 by Anne | Leave a comment

Leave your car at home on Monday in honor of World Carfree Day. Tell your friends, family, neighbors, and co–workers to do the same.

World Carfree Day is an annual celebration of cities and public life, free from the noise, stress and pollution of cars. Each year on September 22, people around the world organize events of all sizes to showcase alternatives to the automobile.

Check out the World Carfree Day events page to find a gathering in your part of the world.

Seattle has an event in Ballard: Get your Undriver License in honor of World Carfree Day. Just pedal, walk or bus it over to the Ballard Neighborhood Service Center, NW 56th St and 22nd Ave NW on Monday, September 22, 2008 from 1-4pm to get your undriver license.

We got Undriver licenses last year at the Sustainable Ballard Festival – hopefully they aren’t expired yet.

Have a good weekend.

– Anne

Dexter Darkness brings Danger

Posted on September 17, 2008 by Tim K | 18 comments

Anne's Oma with generator hub is always ready for dark

I’m not sure exactly when it happened, but my evening commute has quickly slipped into darkness. My inherent laziness means I never took the lights off my Xtracycle but unfortunately it’s looking like few of the city’s bike commuters are on the same legacy lighting program. Continue reading →

18 Comments

Posted in alternative transportation, bikes, Commute, safety gear

Tagged bikes, dexter, lights, night, riding, seattle

Back to School (on Bikes)

Posted on September 9, 2008 by Anne | 5 comments

School started in Seattle last week. Hurray. Yippee. Yahoo. I’m not even going to try to contain my excitement as I now have two kids in school full time. After seven years of kids-all-the-time, it’s nice to have some time to myself to do whatever I want.

And I want to ride my bike. Alone. (I’d also ride with a friend if the opportunity presented itself as long as they promised not to whine or bicker or proclaim, “it’s not fair” if I pedaled a little faster than them.) Continue reading →

5 Comments

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

Tagged bike-to-school, bikes, bikes as transportation, seattle

Labor Day Ride Update

Posted on September 2, 2008 by Anne | 3 comments

The Labor Day ride was a huge success. We didn’t get an official count but we’d guess the ride drew at least 50 bikes pedaling down Broadway, over the University Bridge and up University Ave to Cowan Park. All kinds of bikes were represented–road bikes, mountain bikes, kids on bmx bikes, Xtracycles, Bakfiets and trailers to name a few. It was great to see so many folks out riding on an early fall Seattle day.

More photos here

Traditionally the next ride is the day after Thanksgiving(or buy nothing day). Mark your calendars and we’ll see you out there.

– Anne and Tim

3 Comments

Posted in alternative transportation, bikes, seattle, xtracycle

Tagged bikes, Cargo bike ride, cycling, Labor Day Cargo Bike Ride

Has it been a year already? (our year of Car Free Days)

Posted on August 19, 2008 by Anne | 12 comments

Life and summer and perfect weather and kids going to bed late and too much work for Tim have gotten in the way of bike blogging these past few weeks. We figure it’s summer and the kids are out of school and we’re free and easy to go where we want, when we want and we’d much rather be outside riding than sitting in front of the computer prattling on about riding. A long winded explanation excuse for why we’ve been lame bloggers these past few weeks.

We have a lot of experiences stacked up to share with you–they will most likely trickle in this fall when the weather turns and we’re hunkered down inside. There you go, all the excuses we could muster for now. Continue reading →

12 Comments

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

Tagged alternative transportation, bikes, xtracycle

Sailboats, Sea Planes and Cool Breezes: You get it all at the South Lake Union Park

Posted on August 4, 2008 by Anne | 5 comments

Tim and I highly recommend a visit to the new South Lake Union Park. Situated on the south tip of Lake Union, next to the Center for Wooden Boats, it’s a surprisingly serene locale to have a picnic and enjoy the hubub that Lake Union has to offer. While we lament the short-sighted Seattle voters each time we go there, it’s still a great spot even if it’s NOT as good as it could have been. Continue reading →

5 Comments

Posted in alternative transportation, bikes, extravehicular activities, seattle

Tagged bikes, carfreedates, dates, Family Cycling, kids, seattle, South Lake Union Park

Check out the New Walk Score Site

Posted on July 18, 2008 by Anne | 1 comment

http://www.walkscore.com/rankings/Seattle

I first talked about Walk Score back in September. I’m a big fan of the site and think it’s a great tool for motivating people to get out of their cars and walk (or ride) more. When you see all of those businesses within walking distance of your home, how could you not walk to some of them?

The new version has already been covered by Eric de La Place at Siteline. and Aaron at Streetsblog. I don’t have anything new to add to their insightful posts. Just go check it out for yourself. I will say – it’s much improved over the last version.

Have a great weekend.

– Anne