Tag Archives: bikes

Grocery Getters in the Mainstream Media

Posted on September 26, 2008 by Anne | 3 comments

The Seattle Times reports that people are changing their shopping habits. It seems people are abandoning their cars in favor of—and this is really wacky—bikes and feet.

The article mentions Xtracyles and Bakfietsen as good grocery hauling machines. It’s great to see bikes in the mainstream media. Little by little people are realizing how simple it is to use bikes as transportation.

(btw The Times photo editor may need to be enlightened—the bike on the front page of the article is not an Xtracycle, it’s a bike with a rear rack and paniers.)

Have a good weekend!

-Anne and Tim

3 Comments

Posted in alternative transportation, bikes, extravehicular activities, news, seattle, xtracycle

Tagged bikes, msm, seattle, transportation

Are Xtracycles taking over in your part of the country?

Posted on September 21, 2008 by Anne | 22 comments

photo by Beth Hamon via BikePortland

According to BikePortland, Xtracycles are taking over. Have you experienced the phenomenon in your part of the country? I love the shot of the gaggle of Xtracycles all lined up. Awesome.

Can’t wait to see a similar shot in Seattle. Seattle definitely has more Xtracycles cruising the mean streets than a year ago.

If the seven Xtracycles in the photo do in fact all belong to women, there’s something to be said for women being the key to a successful bike culture. What an excellent shot and powerful statement about the success of Portland’s bike culture.

– Anne

22 Comments

Posted in bigger than here, bikes, longbikes, sustainability, xtracycle

Tagged bike culture, bikes, women, xtracycle

Dexter Darkness brings Danger

Posted on September 17, 2008 by Tim K | 18 comments

Anne's Oma with generator hub is always ready for dark

I’m not sure exactly when it happened, but my evening commute has quickly slipped into darkness. My inherent laziness means I never took the lights off my Xtracycle but unfortunately it’s looking like few of the city’s bike commuters are on the same legacy lighting program. Continue reading →

18 Comments

Posted in alternative transportation, bikes, Commute, safety gear

Tagged bikes, dexter, lights, night, riding, seattle

Back to School (on Bikes)

Posted on September 9, 2008 by Anne | 5 comments

School started in Seattle last week. Hurray. Yippee. Yahoo. I’m not even going to try to contain my excitement as I now have two kids in school full time. After seven years of kids-all-the-time, it’s nice to have some time to myself to do whatever I want.

And I want to ride my bike. Alone. (I’d also ride with a friend if the opportunity presented itself as long as they promised not to whine or bicker or proclaim, “it’s not fair” if I pedaled a little faster than them.) Continue reading →

5 Comments

Posted in alternative transportation, bigger than here, bikes, kids, seattle, sustainability

Tagged bike-to-school, bikes, bikes as transportation, seattle

Labor Day Ride Update

Posted on September 2, 2008 by Anne | 3 comments

The Labor Day ride was a huge success. We didn’t get an official count but we’d guess the ride drew at least 50 bikes pedaling down Broadway, over the University Bridge and up University Ave to Cowan Park. All kinds of bikes were represented–road bikes, mountain bikes, kids on bmx bikes, Xtracycles, Bakfiets and trailers to name a few. It was great to see so many folks out riding on an early fall Seattle day.

More photos here

Traditionally the next ride is the day after Thanksgiving(or buy nothing day). Mark your calendars and we’ll see you out there.

– Anne and Tim

3 Comments

Posted in alternative transportation, bikes, seattle, xtracycle

Tagged bikes, Cargo bike ride, cycling, Labor Day Cargo Bike Ride

Has it been a year already? (our year of Car Free Days)

Posted on August 19, 2008 by Anne | 12 comments

Life and summer and perfect weather and kids going to bed late and too much work for Tim have gotten in the way of bike blogging these past few weeks. We figure it’s summer and the kids are out of school and we’re free and easy to go where we want, when we want and we’d much rather be outside riding than sitting in front of the computer prattling on about riding. A long winded explanation excuse for why we’ve been lame bloggers these past few weeks.

We have a lot of experiences stacked up to share with you–they will most likely trickle in this fall when the weather turns and we’re hunkered down inside. There you go, all the excuses we could muster for now. Continue reading →

12 Comments

Posted in alternative transportation, bigger than here, bikes, kids, sustainability, xtracycle

Tagged alternative transportation, bikes, xtracycle

Sailboats, Sea Planes and Cool Breezes: You get it all at the South Lake Union Park

Posted on August 4, 2008 by Anne | 5 comments

Tim and I highly recommend a visit to the new South Lake Union Park. Situated on the south tip of Lake Union, next to the Center for Wooden Boats, it’s a surprisingly serene locale to have a picnic and enjoy the hubub that Lake Union has to offer. While we lament the short-sighted Seattle voters each time we go there, it’s still a great spot even if it’s NOT as good as it could have been. Continue reading →

5 Comments

Posted in alternative transportation, bikes, extravehicular activities, seattle

Tagged bikes, carfreedates, dates, Family Cycling, kids, seattle, South Lake Union Park

Riding with Kids: The Recipe for a Happy Summer

Posted on July 30, 2008 by Anne | 4 comments

We’re having a great, virtually car-free summer. After a horrendous spring, with snow and cold rain way too far into June, the weather in Seattle has improved to a near perfect 70° and sunny on a daily basis.

Tim’s working his ass off for the the man this summer, but other than morning swim lessons, the kids and I have no set daily plans. From lunchtime on, we’re free to pursue classic summer activities: park visiting, swimming, gardening, reading in the hammock, beach combing, library visits, insect studying, berry picking, lake wading, and just about anything else that involves transport by bike. Continue reading →

4 Comments

Posted in bikes, kids, neighborhoods

Tagged bikes, cycling, kids, mobility

Lowrider Bakfiets: Aero with Style

Posted on July 25, 2008 by Tim K | 5 comments

I took this video of Stephan from Dutch Bike while riding with him a sunny Ballard evening earlier in the month. Continue reading →

5 Comments

Posted in bikes, cargo bikes, seattle, shops

Tagged ballard, bikes, seattle, summer, video

Val Kleitz interview

Posted on July 9, 2008 by Anne | 3 comments

Alan of ecovelo posted this wonderful Cargo Bike Pilot interview of Val Kleitz. The video, by the Cargo Bike blog, shows why Val’s a legend around here.

He’s been an inspiration and a huge support of our move toward (and efforts to blog about) family cargo-biking goodness. Since we love the Val and all of his infinite wisdom, we thought it was worth posting here as well.

The group cargo ride images make us lament our late start for the July 4th ride even more. Who would have thought they’d leave close to on time for once! For what it’s worth, the photos from our cargo ride of two+two are up.