Tag Archives: community

Transitions: What does your neighborhood say about your (kid’s) riding

Posted on July 15, 2010 by Anne | 4 comments

This is our second post in our transitions series. The other day we talked about parents preparing to let kids ride their own bikes in the road. If you haven’t read the comments from that post, do it. You all have so much great insight to share.

Based on your comments, it looks like we’re all in agreement: When we talk about riding in the road, we’re not talking about a couple of kids racing each other around the block to blow off steam (not that there’s anything wrong with that). No, we’re talking about real mobility, car-replacement stuff: riding to the library, the local lake or pool. Grocery shopping at the store with the good cheese aisle and more. It’s fairly easy for younger kids to ride to a neighborhood play-date with parents. The next step is incorporating normally car-centric errands into longer rides with traffic. For most kids, or maybe more accurately, their parents, it’s that jump up to the next level that’s the big deal. Continue reading →

4 Comments

Posted in bigger than here, bikes, family cycling, kids, neighborhoods, transitions

Tagged bikes, community, Family Cycling, riding with kids, transitions

Reports from the Field: Another Local Xtracycle

Posted on July 21, 2009 by Anne | 11 comments

James W and kids on the Green Moose (photo courtesy of James)

Tim and I blather on and on about bikes and our adventures on the blog and we love to hear from people who find some of the info useful.

James W emailed us this morning and passed along photos of his Xtracycle, the Green Moose, he built up with his son. It’s a beautiful build. We’re glad you contacted us, James, and look forward to seeing you out on the road! Continue reading →

11 Comments

Posted in bikes, longbikes, xtracycle

Tagged community, Green Moose, local, seattle, Xtracycle Build, xtracyle

Seattle Ride of Silence Deserves our Respect

Posted on May 22, 2009 by Tim K | 6 comments

Heading out with a small group on the 2009 Ride of Silence

As I mentioned, Wednesday was the 2009 Ride of Silence. Having been impressed by last year’s numbers and the diversity of participants, I was really looking forward to paying my respects by riding with an even larger group this year.

Upon arriving at Gas Works Park, it was quickly apparent that I was a bit optimistic. In fact, riders were so sparse, my first thought was that I missed the roll out and had showed up at a Cascade evening group ride. Last year’s rider count was in the mid-hundreds (Wednesday’s ride leader mentioned “600” in past years), this year I counted 43 or 44 riders TOTAL.

I’m just going to come right out and say I’m really disappointed by Seattle cyclists. While other cities had growing numbers of riders, Seattle fell flat (Portland drew about 75 for their 2009 ride). Continue reading →

6 Comments

Posted in bicycle neglect, bigger than here, bikes, Human Powered Politics, traffic

Tagged community, politics, ride of silence, rides, seattle

SXSW Adventures: Bike Hugger Mobile Social Ride

Posted on March 25, 2009 by Tim K | 2 comments

As I mentioned, I was in Austin last week at SXSW. While there, I had the good fortune to participate in the Bike Hugger Mobile Social Ride and BBQ. Anne and I are fairly regular participants in Seattle-area cargo rides and so I thought it would be fun to check out the dynamic of a mixed tech-texas hybrid event.

The day dawned like any other in Seattle. Wet, cold and dark. It wasn’t actually raining so I was raring to go. One problem: we weren’t in Seattle and the Austinites aren’t quite used to gray skies and wet roads. Though roads dried by the time morning SXSW sessions finished, it was only their 3rd day of rain since summer or something. I’m thinking this had to have an impact on the number of riders , yet the turnout was impressive (somewhere between 100 and 150) anyway. Continue reading →