Tag Archives: alternative transportation

Sharing the Love for Bike Transportation

Posted on December 6, 2007 by Anne | 2 comments

We gave a talk tonight at a company holiday party. One of the principals was really intrigued by our bike lifestyle and asked us to speak. We have both done our share of presentations for work, but never on a topic we are so passionate about. We really enjoyed pulling the presentation together, not to mention our fifteen minutes. We weren’t sure how we’d be received – It went well and we met some great people who were supportive of our ideas. And we might have inspired a few folks too!

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Posted in alternative transportation, bikes, Human Powered Politics, kids

Tagged alternative transportation, bikes, kids, presentations, seattle

November Stats

Posted on December 1, 2007 by Anne | 4 comments

I’m into stats. So I thought I’d do a wrap up of our family transportation stats for the month of November:

Total Number of Car Trips – 5

Number of Miles Driven – 25.5

Number of car-free days – 25

Longest car-free streak for November – 12 days

Family Record (set in September) – 22 days

Number of trips to the gas station – 0

Rainy Days in Seattle (According to the National Weather Service) – 25

Longest Ride with kids – Riding to the Pike Place Market and back the day after Thanksgiving – 12.8 miles

Most memorable ride – To the Arboretum via the center for Urban Horticulture with the kids. Good times. Lots of bird nests spotted.

Ride with the worst weather – Picking up the 4 year old at preschool in a torrential downpour. I couldn’t wait out the rain in my warm, dry house; it was time to get him so I had to go.

Last gas purchase – 8/31/2007

– Anne

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Posted in alternative transportation, bikes, extravehicular activities, seattle, weather

Tagged , , alternative transportation, bikes, seattle, stats

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

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

Tagged alternative transportation, bikes, carless living, walking

BYOH: Bring Your Own Helmet

Posted on October 24, 2007 by Anne | 1 comment

My son had a friend over to play the other day. Usually when a parent drops their kid off to play, they leave a car seat so you can take the kid home in your car. This time, the mom brought a helmet. I didn’t ask her to. I didn’t even tell her I was going to bring her son home on the bike (in fact, I was planning to walk since we hadn’t talked about it in advance). She just assumed we would ride. And that is a beautiful thing. Maybe our bike lifestyle is catching on….

(BTW – the little boy loved it. I had a hard time getting him off the back of the Xtracycle. He wanted more. I bet he can’t stop talking about it at home – he’s probably begging his parents to get one right now…. A girl can dream.)

– Anne