Happy Father's Day!

It has been a long time since I have been around.  May be a bit before I return. Who can say?  In the meantime, after 8 weeks off his bicycle after a highway accident on his scooter, Hubby The Bikeman made a brief, first post-crushed foot ride.  Fittingly, it was on the Grandma.





Happy Father's Day to all you Daddy-types out there, but mostly to HTB!  We are all happy to see you riding again!

critical points of view...

i meant to put this up last week, but i had to attend to some family matters.

i wanted to share some pics i took of critical mass from a couple of fridays ago. you can be en masse with your bikey posse one second, and the next second lose all of them completely as the slow moving molasses mass moves around you like lava, hot and with determination.

also, critical mass was not just one day of celebration, but a week long event with something new each day. the last day was on sunday, a bittersweet day for me, which ended with a lovely bike ride to the beach to hear some music from musicians using the rock the bike sound system.

ade already spelled out a few reasons why she hopes not to need critical mass in a few years, and i happen to agree with her. so this will just be a picture post.

enjoy.



kiddical mass showed up!







what do you call a bikey marching band.



you've got mail, chevron.





sunday's closing event took place at ocean beach.









sunset. and life continuing on.

Me and You

Pass It On

Because it is summer, it is time for the annual Passing Down Of The Bicycle.  Úna and Declan have both grown to the next bicycle level (although, Declan was forced ahead a bit prematurely).  We were fortunate to be able to provide new rides from our own stable!

Declan is temporarily riding Úna's old Specialized, now that it is no longer on loan to other kids.

The frame is a great size and the bike is solid and well geared for our rides but the hand brake problem is not resolved.  The muscles of a child's hands are just not large enough to provide the strength for repeated braking in city traffic.  When we got the bike back we discovered we had incorrectly remembered horizontal drop outs on it.  We had thought we could put a hub with a coaster brake on it.  Nope.  He also gets very frustrated with not being able to shift when stopped.  He is not old enough to anticipate gearing needs after stopping or just before hill climbing.  So, even though the bicycle is a great fit otherwise it is not a long term solution (that is being put together over this week!).

Úna has grown a whole bunch, too.  It is quite... disquieting (example below).

Much to her dismay, she has grown out of her beeeeautiful Araya mixte.

After several years of expressing hopeful love of my old mixte, the two have been joined in bikey matrimony,

As S.A.M. is the largest mixte frame Raleigh ever produced I think this will be the last time I have to relinquish one of my bicycles to my kids.  She loves everything about her new bicycle, she even got my Brooks saddle and Acorn bag.  I hesitate to say she is spoiled, but sheesh!

Thus, the torch has been passed.  Another year of family bicycles has been provided!

scenes from the bikey lane: grandfather edition

this morning on my way to work, i passed through the panhandle, which has a path where walkers/runners and bikers can all use. it gets hairy at times, but generally is pleasant to use.

today on my ride i saw what appeared to be a grandfather and his two grandchildren. the grandfather was in an electric wheelchair and had one boy in his lap. the older boy, about 6 or 7 years old, was on a bicycle riding behind them. it was a touching moment for me to see & thought it was good to share with all of you.

have a great monday!

Family Riding

In San Francisco there are three things you can find in magnitudes of hugeness- taco trucks, bicycles that are poorly locked and have unlubed chains, and dogs. They are usually in some combination.

Here is a bicycle/dog combo completed by my friend Deep and his little sweetie, Baozi. It was their first bicycle outing (Deep was in severe cookie withdrawal so the dog needed to learn how to be a passenger. Now.)

I am accustomed to seeing Deep like this, with rickshaw and fiancee in full swing.

Now, we will all have to get used to this view. Personally, I am waiting for the fiancee/dog/music system combo to be truly impressed.

Deep rides with many other SF dog families.

This guy wins!!

Further Adventures Of Declan

It has been a bit since we had an update in the bicycle adventures of Declan. San Francisco is evolving daily when it comes to getting around by bicycle. We have a long way to go, but the streets have become so much better, especially in the areas of town with the highest concentration of bicycle riders, that I am comfortable taking Declan just about anywhere his two legs can get him to.

What do you think of that bicycle James put together for him? It is a light weight steel BMX frame with a Sturmey-Archer 3-speed coaster hub. We had to look for 2 months to find the right frame within 200 miles of us (it had to be steel so we could bend the rear forks to accommodate the S-A hub) but it finally appeared. One day I will put together a little piece on just how very cool this machine is.

Now that Declan is older (almost 7!) and has a bicycle that helps him keep up (he is so much faster than I am up hill!!!) we are able to have him ride his own bicycle when we run errands around town. If you were to see him riding you would be amazed. He chats away to us the whole time while watching for doors, keeping an eye out for glass and doing the left-right-left look at intersections. He rides way better than half of the adults I see riding around.

We have to borrow the Xtracycle from Cameron when we do this. That way, if the traffic is bad or Declan just poops out we can tow his bicycle and him home. It also works to make sure we have taco truck seating mid-ride.

James usually takes the rear because Declan is so used to riding next to me (I need a photographer to ride with us so I have pictures of it). I no longer have to give him many verbal directions . Today, I took the rear and let the boys have some fun. Declan likes to chat while he rides. I love it, I figured James might enjoy it, too. They talked about the difference between catapults and trebuchets, how to build a more destructive arctic ice breaker and their plans for the next homemade air powered rocket launcher.

a different day but I had to put this picture in somewhere

He is really growing up! It just amazes me (silly as he is the youngest and I have lived through this stage many times before!). My City is growing up, too. It takes a lot of trust and a deep breath from time to time, but the fact is my little boy rode his bicycle through 4 neighborhoods (a total of about 7 miles altogether) almost entirely in bicycle lanes. He was just another rider. OK, he was way cuter than any of the other riders and people kept pointing at him and smiling, but you get the point. Now we just need to get more kids out there!!

Then & Now

We like to think we are creating something new here in the bicycle world.

But to to be honest, my Mom in 1954 looks an awful lot like my Mom in 2012.

Maybe we need to stop thinking about this so much and just get back to what we used to do.

Educated On The Streets

One of the things you have to teach your kids when you are teaching them how to ride a bicycle is how to get where they are going. It is the part that frequently gets overlooked after the training wheels come off. There are many reasons for this, but I suspect that a lot of it has to do with fear of the unknown. What will your kids do when it comes time to ride somewhere other than to the end of the cul-de-sac and back?

Cameron is sixteen and old enough to get anywhere on his own. If he can't figure out how to get there, he is old enough to get lost and work it out for himself. Úna is used to following in the pack. Other than a few places she goes to at least once a week, she is used to just following whoever leads. She is skilled enough to ride almost any place in the City- her ability to glide through even the craziest situations with total ease is amazing! Her mental map is not very detailed, though.

We have started to let Úna lead when we ride places. If she tells me she does not know how to get somewhere we have been before, I now put her up front and have her figure it out as we go. She knows where we are going better than she thinks she does, really all she needs is a push to take the lead.

Úns surprises herself, sometimes. The routes she thinks she does not know are very well known to her. She knows their twists and where the hill is and if she should enter the bike box or not. This day there was a prize at the end of adventure-

a Sunday Streets with no cars and nothing but open views of the ocean. And no helmet which feels like total freedom to her.

It won't be much longer before she is really out in the world on her own. As more and more activities crowd her time, she will have more places to get to. Without me to take her.

They grow up quick! You gotta make sure they are ready for it! How do you get your kids ready for a street of their own?

I Kick Back On The Weekends

I let the boys take the cargo on the weekends.

That is what husbands and teenaged sons are for. An enlightened, 21st century view, I know.

Bike Your Daughter To Lunch Day

Happy Weekend!!

My Father The Gardener

A while back, I asked a lovely gentleman (and he is a True Gentleman), that I am getting to know to write the story behind a wonderful picture that he shared on Flickr. His name is Dave (he goes by ColdIron on Flickr) and he works at Cycle City in Alameda, CA. Today, I found this in my in-box. All of us here at the blog would like to thank Dave from the bottom of our hearts for sending us such a wonderful and heartfelt story at a time when we really need it! I am quite sure you will enjoy it as much as we do.

Three Generations On A Big Dummy!

If I asked you, Dear Cyclist, to talk about your fondest childhood memories, you would probably get all nostalgic and smile. You would definitely start talking about the important role bikes played in your youth.

You might talk about a special Christmas morning, when Santa left a shiny new bike under the tree for you. Your father cut his knuckles, and was up until 1 AM assembling it the night before, but he didn't ruin the surprise. You were on the good list, so as far as you knew, Kris Kringle delivered it while you slept. You might not remember anything else Santa brought for you that Christmas, but you'll never forget your first bike.

You might talk about the day your training wheels were removed. A two-wheeler never looked so intimidating. Dad (or mom!) chased you down the sidewalk, as you tentatively weaved back and forth, gradually building confidence and speed. You might show me the scar on your knee from one of the many spills you took that day. You were a little more grown-up when you went to bed that night. Your two-wheeler wasn't so intimidating anymore.

If you're under the age of thirty, you might tell me about the the trailer your Mom (or Dad!) would buckle you in to, and how trips to the park, grocery store, or preschool were bumpy and fun. There were toys and books and a little plastic container of Cheerios, and maybe even a sibling back there with you. Getting around in the trailer was better than being strapped in the back seat of the family car. You felt loved and safe in your little nylon cocoon, and your chauffeur always seemed to be in a good mood when you got to where you were going.

There are many more stories out there. They are all worth telling, and worth hearing. I encourage you, Dear Cyclist, to think back, and remember the highlights of your personal velo-history. Write them down, and share them with friends...especially the friends who don't ride. Take time to thank those who took time to make bikes part of your life.

I would like to share one, or some, of my fondest memories with you. I'll start by saying I never got a bike for Christmas. I learned to ride without the benefit of training wheels. I am too old to have ever been in a child trailer. My memories do, however, involve a bike. They also involve my father, Jim. He has always been 'Papa' to me.

Papa was ahead of his time. He was a stay-at-home dad back in the mid 70's. When International Harvester closed its San Leandro plant in the early 70's, Papa got laid off. He didn't fret, though. My mom had a job that paid well, so Papa didn't go back to work right away. He stayed home and took care of my older brother and me. My parents have always been frugal people, and my father streamlined the budget by keeping the '67 Chevy Impala parked, and chauffeuring my brother and me around on his '69 Schwinn Heavy-Duti. My brother straddled the paper-boy rated rear rack, and I sat side-saddle on the top tube. Before BMX was part of the American vocabulary, before you could buy a plaid top tube pad for your fixie, Papa fashioned a cushion for me from a carefully folded towel, and secured it with a length of rope. My perch was comfortable, and I could see the road ahead. Franklin, Lincoln, Washington, and Little John Parks were all a few minutes away. Papa would play basketball, and my brother and I would work up an appetite on the playground. Countless Summer days found the three of us getting around Alameda in this manner. I felt special and loved, sitting on that top tube, between my father's strong arms.

The school year was different. My brother went to a nearby school, and walked. Lum Elementary was almost 3 miles away, and I straddled the Heavy-Duti's rear rack while my father pedaled me to school for most of the 2nd and 3rd grades. I remember many foggy and cold mornings. The smell of the beach, the singing of birds. Crab Cove didn't yet exist, and the trail through that part of the beach was bumpy and unpaved. The bouncing and jostling I was subjected to appealed to my developing sense of adventure. No cars could be heard; the loudest sound was the bike's rubber rolling over the sand and gravel path. My memories of the paved streets between home and school are strangely absent.

I was unaware at the time, but I was getting an education in resourcefulness, innovation, and appropriate transportation. I don't think Papa was aware, at the time, but he was teaching me valuable life-skills. He had planted a seed in me.

I switched to Longfellow Elementary for the 4th grade. It was a 5 minute walk from my front door, so...I walked. Papa needed to go back to work, so my brother and I took to pedaling ourselves around. Papa's trusty old Schwinn was relegated to the balcony, and he rode it less and less. For very practical, unavoidable reasons, my days of being chauffeured by bike came to an end.

The seed that Papa planted sprouted and grew into a tree. That tree started to bear fruit. I continued to ride for fun and basic transportation. I got a mountain bike for my 12th birthday, and taught myself how to adjust my gears and brakes. I started commuting to work on my bike when I was 16. My first bike shop gig came when I was 20. I entered my first mountain bike race when I was 22 (crashed and bent my frame while in 2nd place...DNF!). I took a 6000 mile, 100 day solo cycle-tour of North America the Summer of my 28th year (that's a story for another time). I can't count the number and variety of characters I've met, and friends I've made, through cycling. That tree continues to bear fruit.

I hope you enjoyed my story, Dear Cyclist. It's my pleasure to share the fruit. If you enjoyed it, please don't thank me. Thank my father.

Papa, I am so very appreciative of your gardening skills. I am grateful beyond words for so many fond memories. Thank you.

High five

Late last year I got a new camera for my birthday (Lumix LX5). The adventures of a new camera have certainly begun, and I'm having tremendous fun. I'm patiently waiting for the point where it takes me a quick click+turn to get it to the right setting, 'til then, the learning process is curving. Luckily I am very patient.

I hadn't even bothered to look down at the camera to see the outcome because I was caught enjoying the moment.
And seeing this moment made me smile and feel very happy inside. I saw what I assumed was a young couple and more than likely the parents, biking with their son (in a kid-seat behind the dad) out on a fantastic 63°F January weather. Seconds after I had attempted to capture the photo, I saw the mom +dad high-fived each other.
It was a such a sweet sighting.

The future is looking good.
xxo♥m

Happy, Bikey Christmas!!

Eat a bunch of Christmas pudding, then go ride it off with the people you love!

From us to you, Happy Chriskwanzicha!!

Now, biking those pies off

Frenchie on MacAllister, Nov. 2010.

happy thanksgiving

hopefully you are with your family, friends or doing whatever it is you feel thankful for.

this past month i was very thankful to be given a present to be back in the city i love so much.

i'm also thankful for bikes. maybe it all begins with this:

bikey kids taken at adeline adeline in nyc

and always, thankful for you guys, our readers.

much love,
the crew here at cylrab.

Blackout.

What do you on black Friday?!
I am a big advocate of buy nothing day on black Friday.
As a matter of fact I didn't shop much at all this year. A compulsive purchase were some awesome I'm-in-my20s-and-4inch-platforms-are-awesome boots, and the other on the other hand was quite necessary, when my saddle was totally done while riding. I can honestly say I rode that thing until it fell apart. That is all I can think of.

However, I do still purchase coffee. I am looking forward to chill at a coffee shop Friday morning with mi mom and enjoy some quiet beautiful serenity in the City.
Also really looking forward to have some time off work and eating lots. Like a teenager.
Happy Thanksgiving week!

----
Our longtime reader Val, shares some info for ride to those gigantic boots and hat, this Friday in Seattle, now that is my kind of photo-op!! =)

"Yes, indeed, it’s time for the last Cargo Bike Picnic Ride of the illustrious year of 2010!  You all know the drill by now, or if not, look here:  
http://rideyourbike.com/bnd2010.shtml   

We don’t guarantee much, but we do guarantee to ride, eat drink and have fun!  See you there and then!" -Val

rain and rickshaws

the other week i went into exile after the giants won to new york city with the mama texican. we packed a lot into a short trip, maybe minus an afternoon tea date.

we had a SCHEDULE to follow one day. this day was to see carmen at the metropolitan opera. ok, so the only thing we really had to do was leave our hotel at 5pm in order to have dinner and get to the show. it was raining, and oh yah, 5pm is prime rush hour time during the week. maybe you've heard of this phenomenon. hotel was too far from lincoln center to walk and cabs were all full.

so what did we do? we looked at each other and hopped in a pedicab. dresses and fancy pants (literally) and all...

please excuse the quality of the pics. it was pretty bumpy back there.

here we go...


left side bike lane


van blocking bike lane. typical


aren't you cold?

would i recommend it again? depends on a few things. it was super fun though and an experience we both soon wont forget.

thanks for the birthday gift :) i will remember it always.