Category Archives: bikes

Everybody talks about the weather but no one…

Posted on October 15, 2009 by Tim K | 11 comments

It was raining so hard when I got up Wed. morning I didn’t ride my bike to work.

Don’t worry, I still got there on the Xtracycle, but like most days, I found it made more sense to take my time getting underway.

My morning (many mornings, in truth) went something like this: I got up. It was raining. Had my Grapenuts and coffee with the kids. Raining. Helped them get ready. Raining. Said goodbye to the kids. Still raining. Shower? Yep, still raining.

Yet 10 minutes later I was on my way to work dressed in my normal (non-bike) clothes, rain gear safely stowed in the Xtracycle Freeloader. Rain-gear optional is a a pretty usual way for me to roll (and maybe the reason I can still justify owning my hideously ugly purple/pink/black, 18 (!) year-old REI Turismo jacket/pants

I’m not saying all this to sound like a total time-challenged-douche-bag-schedule-slouching-weather-rock-star or something—though if you got soaked yesterday you might think I sound like one of those. Nah, I just want to share my two simple tools (well, three if you count the merino wool and four if you count fenders, but everyone knows that one, right?) for staying dry this winter. Continue reading →

11 Comments

Posted in bikes, Commute, seattle, weather

Tagged bikes, Commute, radar, rain, seattle, tips, weather

Walking or riding or skipping to school

Posted on October 5, 2009 by Anne | 10 comments

Walk&Wheel-brown-crop

October is International Walk to School Month. At our local elementary, we don’t discriminate. Walk, bike, hike, skip or even take the bus. Just don’t drive to school in October!

Our elementary school received a Seattle Department of Transportation Safe Routes to School grant last year. We’re using some of the funds from the grant to host a Walktober celebration this month. Kids keep track of their “active” trips to school and earn prizes if they make a minimum number of trips by foot, bike or scooter (any way other than a personal automobile).

Basically we’re bribing them.

We should really give prizes to the parents. What do you think would work? massages? coffee? gift certificates to the pub?

Cause it’s really up to the parents to make it happen.

– Anne

10 Comments

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

Tagged bike, ride, Safe Routes to School, School, walk

Most American everyday cyclists are men. Why?

Posted on September 28, 2009 by Anne | 34 comments

I just read this article about women and everyday cycling that Xtracycle posted on their Facebook page. It’s a subject we love to talk about and one we’ve covered before.

The article (and some of the commenters) point to a lack of cycling infrastructure in most American cities as a reason women feel unsafe on the road. They also mention that household and child rearing responsibilities make it more difficult for women to go by bike.

What do you think? We’d love a lively discussion in the comments. Are safety concerns keeping women off bikes? Lack of showers at work? Too many kid juggling duties?

Tim and I talk about this a lot in our household. Unfortunately we don’t have any major new insights. All we can think to do about it is to keep encouraging people to ride and to raise our own kids who we hope will grow up thinking going by bike is normal.

What about you? Any thoughts on the not-enough-chicks-on-bikes issue? We’re all ears.

– Anne and Tim

34 Comments

Posted in bigger than here, bikes

Tagged cycling, cycling gender gap, everyday cycling, women

World Carfree Day is September 22

Posted on September 20, 2009 by Anne | 7 comments

Get ready to leave your car at home on Tuesday, September 22 in honor of World Carfree Day:

World Carfree Day is an annual celebration of cities and public life, free from the noise, stress and pollution of cars. Every September 22, people from around the world get together in the streets and neighbourhoods to celebrate World Carfree Day and to remind the world that we don’t have to accept our car-dominated societies.

Come on, it’s just one day, give it a try. Take your bike or the bus or your feet instead of your car.

I took a peek at the events page and it looks as if (for most of the country) World Carfree Day doesn’t have many organized events. If you live in Santa Cruz or San Francisco, Broomfield, Boulder, Louisville, Ashland, Galveston or Roanoke, by all means get out and celebrate.

Otherwise, just leave your car at home on Tuesday and go about your daily business.

– Anne

7 Comments

Posted in alternative transportation, bigger than here, bikes, Human Powered Politics

Tagged 2009, carfree, World Carfree Day

PARK(ing) Day 2009

Posted on September 19, 2009 by Anne | 3 comments

Among many other things lately, Parking Day completely snuck up on us this year.

Originally created by Rebar, San Francisco art and design collective, PARK(ing) Day is an annual, one-day, global event where artists, activists, and citizens independently but simultaneously temporarily transform metered parking spots into “PARK(ing)” spaces: temporary public parks.

We at carfreedays think subsidized on-street parking is a waste of public space. That makes it easy for us to get excited about PARK(ing) Day. Green space where a stinky car would have been waiting between trips? We’re all for it.

I had a few free hours yesterday, a lovely Seattle end-of-summer kind of day, so I took some time to ride around and check out some of the impromptu “parks” in South Lake Union and downtown Seattle. I enjoyed a mini-South Lake Union complete with picnic area, sailboat and kayak, tried my hand at a putting green, albeit badly, and enjoyed a delicious Michou sandwich at Pike Place Market (not a PARK(ing) day site but a prime location for car- freeness).

I intended to ride up to Capitol Hill where the bulk of Seattle’s “parks” were set up but I ran out of time.

What was your favorite PARK(ing) Day site?

How was PARK(ing) Day in your city?

more photos here

– Anne

3 Comments

Posted in bikes, Human Powered Politics, neighborhoods, seattle

Tagged open space, PARK(ing) Day, parks, seattle

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?