Category Archives: bikes

Pacific Coast Bike Tour Days 14 and 15: Big Sur to San Simeon

Posted on July 6, 2013 by Anne | 5 comments

Pacific Coast Bike Tour previous post: Santa Cruz to Big Sur

Day 14: Big Sur to Plasket Creek

After a day of R&R at Big Sur campground, everyone was ready to tackle the day. Our daughter was feeling better, Tim thought his knee could handle a short day and we were ready to get back on the road. Our Big Sur hiker/biker campsite campmate, Jay Dancing Bear, gave us the scoop on the next stretch of the coast. Jay reported that the sparsely populated and rugged coastal area would be the best part of our tour. He’d been traveling this area for more than 20 years and had some strong opinions about the set of campgrounds, beaches and services.

Jay Dancing Bear suggested we take the next section of the tour slow and to relish the tranquility of the remaining section of Big Sur. He scouted our Adventure Cycling maps and told us where he would camp if he was us. We appreciated the inside tips and settled on Plasket Creek campground, a forest service campground 33 miles south. Our friends, whom we traveled with last summer on the northern portion of the Pacific Coast stayed at Kirk Creek campground when they passed though Big Sur last year. They reported it was beautiful but had no potable water. They left the campsite thirsty and dehydrated and suggested we aim for Plasket Creek instead.

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A little tip about grocery stores in the Big Sur area: they are scarce and expensive along this stretch of coastline! We stocked up on groceries at the small store three miles from the Big Sur campground, still more expensive than a splurge at Whole Foods, but still cheaper than grocery options further down the road. Continue reading →

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Posted in bikes, Pacific Coast Bike Tour

Pacific Coast Bike Tour Days 10 to 13: Santa Cruz to Big Sur

Posted on July 5, 2013 by Anne | 1 comment

Previous post: Oakland to Santa Cruz

Day 10: Santa Cruz to Monterey

Santa Cruz to Monterey/Pacific Grove should be a lovely day on the bike. That is, unless there’s a raging headwind and your normal power pedaler is hitting day 10 with puffy, sore knees.

When mapping a daily route via Google Maps, it generally figures 10mph average pace to allow for stops, traffic and the like. We’re normally right on that. However today was closer to 10mph *moving* with actual average speed for the day more like 7.

Speedy.

If you can get past the wind, speed, and pain, it really was a lovely day. The sun was out, the views, view-worthy, and the animals (otters, seals and a pelican or two) in abundance. It was just that damn wind and the sore knees that pushed us close to a family breakdown. But the kids’ spirit and desire to get to San Diego kept us moving forward. Continue reading →

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Posted in bikes, Pacific Coast Bike Tour

Tagged "family bike tour", bikes, CA, kids, Pacific Coast Bike Tour, tandem

Pacific Coast Bike Tour Days 8 and 9: Oakland to Santa Cruz

Posted on June 19, 2013 by Anne | 4 comments

previous post: A Drive to Oakland and Rest days in the Bay Area

Day 8: Oakland to Half Moon Bay

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Destination of the day: Half Moon Bay. We started with a Bart ride from Rock Ridge to Daly City. Although bikes are allowed on Bart, two giant bikes take up a lot of space and we didn’t want to be rude. We waited until commute hours had passed, to avoid loading two giant tandems on trains crowded with commuters. Good plan! Bart was mostly empty mid-day and the trip ended up being stress-free and uneventful. Continue reading →

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Posted in bike touring, bikes, Pacific Coast Bike Tour

Tagged "family bike tour", CA, carfreedays, Pacific Coast Bike Tour, tandem bike tour

2013 Pacific Coast Bike Tour: Seattle to Portland

Posted on June 15, 2013 by Anne | 1 comment

Read our latest installment of our 2013 Pacific Coast Bike tour. Seattle to Portland

– Anne

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Posted in bike touring, bikes, Pacific Coast Bike Tour

Tagged bike touring, family bike touring, kids, Pacific Coast Bike Tour, tandems

Two Tandem Pacific Coast Family Bike Tour Continues

Posted on June 8, 2013 by Anne | 3 comments

We’re taking off again! With a goal of finishing the Pacific Coast bike route, we are picking up where we left off last summer in San Francisco and riding to the Mexican border.

Continue reading →

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Posted in bikes

Hungry? 21 Go-To Family Bike Touring Foods

Posted on March 21, 2013 by Anne | 10 comments

Disclaimer: In general, food is a polarizing subject. Add bike touring, small town grocery options and it can get even more divisive.

I’m an omnivore. And so is my family. For those of you who don’t eat meat or processed food, just know I’m not trying to offend your food sensibilities. Same goes for those of you who can’t imagine bike touring without energy drinks, freeze-dried food and power bars. Sometimes we eat some pretty gross stuff on tours that we wouldn’t consider at home (gas station deviled eggs, 7-11 hot dogs and mystery meat burritos). If the mere idea of any of that makes you ill, you may just want to skip this post!

Kids and food

For all the parents out there: Do you agree that feeding the family is one of the most high maintenance tasks on your daily list? I like to cook but feeding a family day after day quickly turns into a chore.

A few years ago, I was trying to figure out what to make for dinner one night when I remembered this site a friend had recommended (if you’re swear-averse, don’t click.) They said it was funny and that it would cure my dinner making blues. I ended up procrastinating for quite some time one afternoon clicking links and laughing. F-bombs and dinner resonated with me at that time in my life. It just didn’t get old.

In all seriousness, kids can be such a pain in the ass when it comes to food. They don’t {ahem} like that, or they say they like it but won’t eat it when the time comes. Or they won’t eat vegetables. Or they’ll eat only raw vegetables. Or they’ll only eat white food. The worst is when they tell you that the meal you just slaved over is gross. Ack! Help!

Add bike touring and meal planning gets more difficult

You think feeding two adults and two kids is hard at home? Try feeding them on a bike tour! Three times a day, for 22 days. After pedaling 50-60 miles a day, we all get hungry. And since we’re far from our favorite local organic grocery stores, we have to make do with small town stores that sometimes offend our high-brow-gourmet-food sensibilities. We might even sink so low that we’ll {gasp} scrounge for anything remotely edible in nasty gas stations! But everyone must eat, so we roll with it.

If you’re interested in family bike touring and food, read on! Continue reading →

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Posted in bike touring, bikes, family cycling, Pacific Coast Bike Tour

Tagged bike touring, bike touring food, diet, eat, family bike touring, food

Get Kids to Talk: The Modern Equivalent of Trapping Them in the Car

Posted on March 15, 2013 by Anne | Leave a comment

Parenting fact: one-on-one time with kids is where all of the good dialogue happens.

When I was in high school, my dad was well aware of this fact. I think that’s why he’d bribe me with rides to school in his 1978 Cadillac DeVille (or “the boat” as we called it in the family). Even today I can still hear the “thunk” of the automatic door locks engaging as dad backed this giant, baby-blue, swank sedan out of the driveway.

That “thunk” nearly always triggered teenage-cheek-flush and upper-lip-sweat as I realized I was trapped in the car with dad. On the surface it was a luxury ride, but in reality I was merely being held for uninterrupted questioning.

My 15-year-old brain swirled with thoughts of outsmarting him:

“Crap, it’s just dad and me, no one else to distract him or run interference, he can talk about anything he wants. I can’t escape, I have to answer his questions. Maybe if I just look out the window and feign boredom, he won’t try to talk to me.”

But my sweaty, flushed flight response of my lizard brain knew better.

He always asked questions. So many questions. And I eventually had to answer. Continue reading →

Navigating the Maze of Kid Activities (on bikes)

Posted on March 1, 2013 by Anne | 8 comments

Have you listened to the latest NPR health story? In Many Families Exercise Is By Appointment only? The story highlights two very different approaches to kids and activities and how their parents ensure they get exercise. Some families choose organized sports, driving kids to various practices and games. Some choose walking and biking and playing outside.

Which is better? To schedule or not to schedule? And if you schedule, how do you transport kids to all of their various activities? By car? Or by bike?

I sometimes take this issue up a notch and start to worry about over-scheduled kids. What about them? Do they really enjoy having that much going on? Don’t they just want to hang out at home on occasion?

If you were blissfully unaware of this problem, don’t fret, you can find books and articles on the subject. You too can read about how to avoid over-scheduling your kids. Then you can sit down and watch a documentary and learn about the perils you will certainly face if you don’t get this problem resolved now. After you have yourself in a tizzy about your kids future, you can go back to news and articles regarding childhood obesity. The grim stats will certainly depress you: 18 percent of kids are obese in the United States. “Childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and tripled in adolescents in the past 30 years”

Feeling crazy, confused and on-edge yet? I know I am.

What’s a parent to do? To schedule or not? To relax or worry? Continue reading →

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Posted in bigger than here, bikes, kids, neighborhoods

Tagged activities, exercise, family, kids, schedule, sports

Streets are for People! Kids at Play in the UK

Posted on February 25, 2013 by Anne | 8 comments

I love this video from Playing Out! (Thanks to Sarah Goodyear for sharing it along with her insightful post). Continue reading →

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Posted in bikes, extravehicular activities, Human Powered Politics, In other Cities, kids, neighborhoods

Tagged kids, play, Playing Out, street, UK

Habits: On Starting Walking and Biking

Posted on February 22, 2013 by Anne | 16 comments

The tree came down weeks ago and 2013 is already in full swing. I know I’m a bit late, but I forgot to wish you all a Happy New Year. Happy New Year, everyone! (just trying to keep the party going a little bit longer) Whoo-hoo!!!

Did you make any resolutions? Sticking to them? This is about the time of year that most resolutions fizzle out. I don’t know about you, but I’m with the 30 percent of people who break their resolutions by the end of January.

Two of mine are totally busted and the third is merely hanging on by threads:

Learn and practice Spanish for 30 minutes every day. Oops, it’s been weeks since I logged on to my Livemocha account
Do the Primal Workout every day. Yeah, I ran like Grok once, and did a few wall squats. But daily workouts? Busted!
Write every day. I’ve been better about that, but I can’t say I do it every single day.

There’s a reason habits and resolutions are such a hot topic every year: we really, really, really want to change, but our pesky bad behaviors are difficult to break, and new routines are hard to stick to! Continue reading →