Category Archives: sustainability

Neighborhood Cargo Bike Share?

Posted on January 25, 2008 by Anne | 3 comments

Our neighbors stopped by the other day to test ride one of our Xtracycles. They took it for a little spin with their daughter on the back. We love (and even enourage) impromptu Xtracycle test rides. We can’t wait until someone we know takes the plunge. Come on – you know who you are – just go for it!

Continue reading →

3 Comments

Posted in bikes, neighborhoods, sustainability

Tagged bakfietsen, bikes, cargo bike, neighborhood

Yearly Budget

Posted on January 7, 2008 by Anne | 2 comments

I’m doing the dreaded beginning of the year stuff – cleaning out the closets, getting rid of stuff and reviewing our budget. In the process, I ran across our 2007 budget – it was pretty amusing to read it. The budget contained a line item for gas – $200 a month. According to my girlfriend that’s nothing – she pays $200 a week. We’ve only put 2 tanks of gas into our car since the end of August. That’s a lot of walking around money!

In the wake of gas price increases, have you seen your gas expenditures go up or down?

– Anne

2 Comments

Posted in alternative transportation, gas, Human Powered Politics, neighborhoods, sustainability, traffic

Tagged alternative transportation, bicycle, budget, cycling, gas, walking

New Year’s Day ride update

Posted on January 1, 2008 by Anne | 4 comments

We had a great time riding to Golden Gardens today. The weather was great – (it didn’t rain), the pace was slow and the company enjoyable. We even witnessed some Christmas tree burning in the fire pits on the beach (yes, they really do burst into flames) as well as some hardy folks doing New Year’s Day polar bear swims in Puget Sound – Brrrrrrrrr.

Great way to start the New Year.

More photos here

– Anne

4 Comments

Posted in alternative transportation, BIG Loads, bikes, extravehicular activities, longbikes, seattle, sustainability, xtracycle

Tagged bicycle, bikes, cargo bikes, seattle, xtracycle

Happy New Year and Ride Reminder (today!)

Posted on January 1, 2008 by Tim K | 1 comment

We’ve been a little lax about posting in the past week. You know how it goes — holiday time with the family and all that. I know riding more is going is a goal of mine for the new year (I try to stay away from actual resolutions because I suck at them) so maybe I should add “posting more” to the mix, too!

Our first opportunity is the New Year’s Day cargo bike ride, noon at Greenlake. If you are local, come on by. Folks will be meeting near the basketball/court baseball diamond. This is the side of the lake where you’ll find the big hole (formerly Albertsons) and kind of close to Gregg’s Greenlake Cycle.

If you can’t make this one, try start the year off with a ride, no matter how short. I’m sure lots of folks have resolved to exercise more in 2008. If you are one of them, remember that utility bike trips count as exercise and reduce car trips. So, instead of driving to the park, saddle up the kids and ride over for your swing and climbing structure session. Do you have some vices you want to hold onto for just another day? Then hop on the bike and cruise on over to 7-11 for that pack of smokes and a ~~2nd~~ 3rd bottle of champagne. It won’t seem so bad that way. And, if you are set on using the gym for your “workout” resolution, try riding there.

We’re going to try to step up the bike power in 2008. How about you?

Happy New Year from Car Free Days!

-Tim and Anne

1 Comment

Posted in alternative transportation, bigger than here, extravehicular activities, seattle, sustainability

Tagged bikes, cargobikes, exercise, food, Greenlake, kids, picnic, resolutions, seattle

Tree Haulin’

Posted on December 17, 2007 by Tim King | 4 comments

You’ve probably seen about a zillion Christmas-Trees-on-Xtracycle photos already this year. I mean, everybody is doin’ it.

Said photos are usually cute and harmless and kind of fun to look at. For our sake, let’s hope that’s true because the CarFreeDay team is making it a zillion and two right here. Continue reading →

4 Comments

Posted in alternative transportation, BIG Loads, extravehicular activities, kids, seattle, shopping, sustainability, weather

Tagged , bigload, bike, Christmas 2007, Christmas Tree, Christmas Tree Ride, kids, seattle, xtracycle

The Year of Living Car-lessly

Posted on November 15, 2007 by Anne | 1 comment

I discovered Alan Durning’s series last year. It was my inspiration for trying to be less car dependent. When I first started reading it, I told myself, ” I could never do that.” (Insert all excuses here). But I was truly inspired. If their family of five can live without a car, I can certainly live with driving less.

We started small – eliminating un-necessary trips here and there, declaring carfree days once or twice a week, doing all errands on one day to eliminate daily short trips etc.

Then we got the Xtracycles. What a truly revolutionary invention. They have changed everything for us. All kid-and-stuff-hauling related excuses evaporated when they were up and running. Now – we barely drive. Maybe once every 2 weeks. Probably less. We’re hooked – wouldn’t go back. It’s so easy and fun.

Give Alan Durning’s series a read when you have a chance.

– Anne

1 Comment

Posted in alternative transportation, bikes, extravehicular activities, kids, longbikes, neighborhoods, seattle, sustainability, traffic

Tagged alternative transportation, bikes, carless living, walking

NY Times ♥’s Portland Bikes

Posted on November 5, 2007 by Tim K | 3 comments

I opened my Gray Lady this morning to find I wasn’t the only one smitten by the bike. This time, it’s the Times with an early November Valentine for our neighbors to the South. It is a good read and don’t have a lot to add, other than:

I’m Jealous: Why can’t my city do better? Why can’t we live in Portland?
My friends know how to get to me — four of them sent me this article.
The article is pretty shallow. The article emphasizes high-end frame builders and how Nike and Columbia sell cycling products, but lacks info about the large number of cool shops, amazing resources like BikePortland.org, and the other businesses who cater to regular cycling folk.
It’s the Times’ most-emailed article. Hey, you crazy politicians take that. The nation is indeed interested in bikes as modern transportation alternatives.
The PDX buzz is nearing an unsustainable level and I’m concerned about a hype fallout. I remember when all the college kids were moving to Seattle in the early 90s because of the music (and later, the dot.com scene). I got so sick and tired of meeting people from Virginia whom had moved to Seattle because they heard it was cool. And then they decided it wasn’t, but hadn’t got around to moving to the new IT town.

At least we had jobs here, back in the day. I think the reality of BYOE (Bring Your Own Employment) in Portland might not be so kind to this generation of hype gypsies.

If you think I’m dead wrong on #5, keep in mind #1. Envy isn’t always fair or rational or …

-Tim

3 Comments

Posted in alternative transportation, Human Powered Politics, PDX, sustainability

Tagged bikes, economy, envy, jealousy, love, lust, news, PDX, politics, portland, sustainability, transportation

Seattle Mayor Nichols Wants to Show You His Rack(s)

Posted on October 26, 2007 by Tim K | 6 comments

SDOT Photo

As we ride more (and more and more) around our fair city, I’m struck by how little the city does to accommodate the parking of our two-wheeled steeds. Racks are few and far between, but cars are welcomed on nearly every curb. It used to be, back in the day, this didn’t matter much because you could count on a nearby, sturdy, parking meter…

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6 Comments

Posted in alternative transportation, bikes, neighborhoods, Rack that Bike, seattle, sustainability, xtracycle

Tagged bikeracks, bikes, governement, local, racks, seattle, transportation, xtracycle

Do You Want Fries with That?

Posted on October 23, 2007 by Tim K | 7 comments

Nothing says cycling like a big fat burger, right? (uh, yeah…right, Tim)

So it follows that nothing says riding in the rain like a big Costco-sized bottle of ketchup-turned buddy flap (mud flap)!

I had big plans to make some fancy Rivendell-style tweed/leather mudflaps, but I went back to my reuse roots. Once I saw the flap-goodness embodied in that giant old ketchup bottle, I don’t know, I just couldn’t sit idly as it was sentenced to the big recycling tub.

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7 Comments

Posted in bikes, sustainability, weather, wrenchin'

Tagged bikes, buddyflaps, commuting, fenders, gear, rain, tips

Woody with the Xtracycle

Posted on September 16, 2007 by Tim K | 1 comment

Lest everyone think all Xtracycle owners are hipsters, earth muffins, or born-again yuppies, allow me to introduce Woody. We met Woody last week on one of our car-free errand days. I pedaled past his massively loaded rig on our way from downtown and just had to go back to talk to him.

His xtracycle is mated to a Giant electric-assist bike. He said he loves the Xtracycle because it carries everything he needs and gets him where he needs to go. He had 1507 miles on it since moving to Seattle. To me, Woody seemed happy, healthy, and suitably mobile. Evidence of the power of two wheels (combined with lots of cargo space).

Keep ridin’, Woody!

-Tim