Category Archives: sustainability

One Day at a Time (an Alternative to 30 Days of Biking)

Posted on April 1, 2015 by Anne | 12 comments

#30daysofbiking

April 1st is not only April Fools Day, centered around pranks and jokes and various forms of tomfoolery, it’s also the beginning of 30 Days Of Biking. According to their site, 30 Days of Biking started in 2010 as a way to encourage people to ride their bike. “We ride our bikes every day in April, no matter the weather, no matter the distance. We started in 2010, and thousands of people from around the world have joined in.” At this count 6997 people have signed up. Have you? Continue reading →

12 Comments

Posted in bigger than here, bikes, Everyday Biking, sustainability

Tagged #30daysofbiking, 30 days of biking, everyday biking, introspection, joy, pledge, thoughts on motivation, why I ride

Confessions of a Bike to School Advocate

Posted on December 10, 2014 by Anne | 2 comments

I think I’ve mentioned one or two (or a hundred) times over the past seven years that I’m a bike to school advocate. If you’ve been reading Car Free Days for any amount of time, you’ve most likely surmised that I’m a tiny bit passionate about encouraging kids and families to bike and walk to school.

One message I’ve repeated over the years is how easy it is to bike and walk to school. Since my first kid started pre-school in 2004, I’ve talked about the simplicity and the joy and the fun of biking to school with kids.

But lately, I’ve started to wonder about the ease of this whole bike-to-school thing. Continue reading →

2 Comments

Posted in alternative transportation, bigger than here, bikes, Everyday Biking, extravehicular activities, family cycling, neighborhoods, School, sustainability

Tagged bigger than here, bike advocate, bike to school mom, bike-to-school, looking back, mom, reflection

Why We Ride: Thoughts on Motivation

Posted on January 31, 2013 by Anne | 37 comments

Let’s talk about motivation. What drives you to ride your bike or walk? Why on earth — especially during these sodden, cold winter days — do you commute via bike or feet over a warm, dry car?

A little housekeeping first: when used in the same sentence as bikes, commute has many definitions. Most people associate commute with work. But work isn’t the only destination for a commute. What about school? or play, activities, errands, appointments, or even to run kids here and there? Maddie, for example, is a bike commuter in our eyes. And for the purpose of this article, if you use a bike to “get around” (say, any use not strictly for sport), then you are a bike commuter too. This article mostly refers to “bikes.” But if your needs are better met by mentally substituting “walk” or “scoot” or “multi-modal” instead of “bike” as you read this post, you have our blessing.

This discussion is not new, our bike tribe has been talking about this topic for years. Back in 2008, Kent Peterson did some posts: why do you bike commute? / Why don’t you bike commute?”

You’ve heard of first world problems, right? Most people who live in the world’s wealthiest nations have abundant choices. One of those is the option to choose our mode of transportation. To get from point A to B, we can drive or walk or take the bus or use a bike, a scooter or a unicycle, or even hire a town car. Us first-worlders are blessed (cursed?) with commute options. Continue reading →

37 Comments

Posted in alternative transportation, bigger than here, bikes, Commute, Everyday Biking, sustainability

Tagged biking, Commute, motivation, walking, why commute by bike?, why?

Cargo Bike Old Farts

Posted on November 9, 2012 by Anne | 1 comment

I really enjoyed reading Todd’s latest post. Especially the retrospective and the Clever Cycles back story.

Todd and Martina have been riding Xtracycles since 2001. I knew they were cargo bike early adopters, but I hadn’t thought about the chronology or the details until I read the post. Continue reading →

1 Comment

Posted in alternative transportation, bigger than here, bikes, cargo bikes, family cycling, longbikes, sustainability, xtracycle

Tagged bikes, cargo bikes, Clever Cycles, early adopters, old, xtracycle

Bike to School Day

Posted on May 18, 2012 by Anne | 2 comments

7222292360_0bdf0728cb 128 kid bikes, add some parent bikes, 8 dozen doughnuts, much-needed coffee for the parents who don’t like to get up earlier than necessary, police escorts riding with the kids and blocking intersections with patrol cars = successful Bike to School Day.

We hope you enjoyed Bike to School Day and Bike to Work Day!

more photos here

– Anne and Tim

2 Comments

Posted in bigger than here, bikes, extravehicular activities, family cycling, neighborhoods, School, seattle, sustainability

Tagged Bike to School Month, family, Family Cycling, kids, School

Bike Touring with Kids (building character one pedal stroke at a time)

Posted on February 8, 2012 by Anne | 2 comments

Too many months have passed since we returned from our family bike tour last summer to justify a trip report. But I think just enough time has passed to allow me to reflect on the experience and look forward to the next one.

Last summer we loaded up Tim’s Big Dummy (with most of our gear), the tandem (equipped with 3 Ortliebs and a bucket pannier) piloted by Anne and the 8-year-old and the 10-year-old’s bike (toting her clothes, sleeping bag and thermarest) and pedaled away from our house on a sunny Saturday afternoon in August.

We ended up in the San Juan Islands 5 days later.

The family spent 5 more days camping, relaxing, reading, playing on the beach and enjoying the tranquility of Lopez and San Juan Islands. We then hopped on the Victoria Clipper and motored back to downtown Seattle (covering the same distance on the passenger ferry in a few hours that took 5 days on the bike).

The trip came to an end after a 5 mile ride back to our house in North Seattle on a quintessential Seattle summer evening.

Sounds nice, huh?

Recounting the trip in that manner makes it seem like a piece of cake. We pedaled, arrived 5 days later, hung out on the Islands for 5 days and took a ferry back to Seattle.

Truth be told, there was plenty of suffering mixed in as well. And some grit and definitely some character building.

This NYT education piece about education, failure, building character and ultimately success reminded me of bike touring.

(stay with me for a bit). Continue reading →

2 Comments

Posted in bigger than here, bike touring, bikes, kids, San Juan 2011, sustainability

Tagged bike touring, character building, family bike touring, grit, kids

(R)evolutions per Minute (a cargo bike documentary)

Posted on October 12, 2011 by Anne | 13 comments

Grab a cup of coffee and take 8 minutes and 33 seconds to watch this trailer for a new documentary being created about cargo bikes.

Brompton: It’s a Utility Bike

Posted on October 4, 2011 by Anne | 20 comments

It’s been a year since we bought our matching yellow Bromptons.

Of all the bikes in our fleet, our Bromptons garner the most notice. Why? Obviously because of the tiny fold. And because they’re matching. And lemon-yellow. And we’re both quite tall and we look a little ridiculous riding them. And so on… basically they are not bikes for the shy.

Quite honestly, at the time of purchase Anne doubted our families’ need for Bromptons: we don’t travel much, we don’t have a shortage of bike storage space at home, and we aren’t big bus riders.

Tim’s purchase pitch smelled like bike lust to her: more of a want than a need.

But his negotiating skills (with Anne not the seller) prevailed and he eventually convinced her. He even pulled out the habitual-bike-purchaser’s classic line: “At this price, if we don’t ride them, we can easily sell them for more than we bought them!”

Anyone heard that one from a spouse before?

And we’re both glad he won the negotiation because in the past year, we’ve discovered so many uses for our Bromptons. Continue reading →

20 Comments

Posted in alternative transportation, BIG Loads, bikes, cargo bikes, kids, kids' bikes, sustainability

Tagged Bike on Bike, Brompton, carfreedays, Utility Bikes

RIP: Val Kleitz helped us all stay “rubber side down”

Posted on August 12, 2011 by Tim K | 16 comments

We got the sad news tonight that Val Kleitz (ie, Bike Pilot, the Instigator, Rolling Jackass, Dreadnought, former owner of Bike Smith, and all around amazing spirit), died Wednesday at age 51.