please hug someone you love today

i was going to unfold the inception further today, but instead, in light of today's rather shocking and rather unfathomable news, i'll just post this picture instead found on neatorama. and please hug a kid, or someone you love, today.

Bike Fair!

If you want to know what a healthy city looks like, look to see how many kids and families are out on bicycles.  If kids are getting around on 2 wheels, chances are things in that city are pretty good.  For myself, I will never live anywhere where children can not ride a bicycle.

To that end, the elementary school in my neighborhood, Sunnyside Elementary School,  is having a Bicycle Fair, this Saturday!  This school already has an incentive based program to get kids and families to do anything other than drive to school.  This program is beginning to be copied at other schools in the area. 

The families and staff at the school all recognize that things must change for these kids to have a good future.  We have annual Bike Rodeos to teach the kids how to ride. We sponsor Bike To School Day (30% of our kids participated this year!)

So, if you are in San Francisco on Saturday from 11-2 and looking for something to do with your kids come one by!  If you have a old bicycle, any size, any shape, any style, you just do not want, bring it to us!  San Francisco Yellow Bike Project will be there to help turn that old clunker into something shiny and new for someone who needs it!  They will be ready to swap out old for new-to-you and will have a free repair station going for those nagging little things that are just keeping you off your bike! 

The San Francisco YMCA will be out with their fantastic rodeo and training wheels classes.  The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition will be giving its amazing Family Bike Class to get you and your kids out on the streets together!

And to top it off, bicycle based MamakSF and The Localist will be there slinging their wonderful food and showing us all you don't always need a delivery van to bring food to the people!

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.

Sleepy Time

If you took my advice yesterday, then you should be following Declan's example below, today.

And yes, it is true, Declan can sleep through a parade.  Or a Bike Party.

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!

Educating The Future

I am sure many of you have read about the Walker, Michigan high school Seniors who were suspended from the last day of school and then told they would not be allowed to walk the stage at the graduation because they rode their bicycles to school (with the Mayor!).  What a stupid situation that was.  My favorite quote from it so far has been School District Superintendent Gerald Hopkins-

"Superintendent Gerald Hopkins told the meeting that the district would have supported the bike ride if students had alerted officials ahead of time."

Who calls a school superintendent to ask if it is OK to ride a bicycle to school? What kind of power do they think they have?  A lot of those kids are 18 and are no longer required to ask anyone's permission to do anything.

Cameron in danger? He is a high school Senior.

Anyway, just when that whole idiocy starts to work its self out we get this next beautiful example of education and reasoned response to the needs of children and families in Gilbert, Arizona.

The Board of the charter Edu-Prize School in Gilbert has banned children from biking or walking to school!!!!! I am sorry, but who the hell gave a charter school board the power to  say anything about anything that happens outside their school, outside of school hours when kids are with their parents?!!!  The school's chief operating officer (just that title should let you know this is coporate, not education) Barbara Duncan is quoted as saying-

"All have put children at considerable risk, and our board has acted to keep children safe before there is a predictable event," Duncan said in an e-mail. "The streets are marked with bike paths but are not wide enough for children or parents to safely use them."

So all of the parents have had to sign an agreement that they will drive their kids to school- mistake number one.  I am a parent in a school that tried to prevent me from letting my daughter walk 3 blocks home by herself after school.  After pointing out that they had no problem with her walking to school alone everyday and then providing them the name of my attorney should they feel the need to push this further, Úna was never again prevented from walking home on her own.  Parents can and must fight this kind of idiocracy.

Mistake number two?  If the Charter Board of Edu-Prize School wishes to throw their power around, do something to make your streets safer!!!  That is what we are doing here at many schools in San Francisco.  We are returning the streets around 181 of our schools to the 15 MPH spaces they are supposed to be, we are expanding our bicycle lane network and working for even more (and with this and other changes our elementary school had 31% of our student body participate in Bike To School Day even though it was raining), we are using our Safe Routes To Schools money to make needed changes, and most importantly, we are not letting the world just keep on trudging along running over our children.

Children in imminent danger?

Obviously these kids will be killed any moment.  Yeah.

Schools are supposed to be places that teach kids how to think.  Schools are not there to police a parent's transportation decisions.  Forget the "my kids get great exercise" argument.  How about the "I am out of work and the car isn't working so we will be using those bicycles we all got for Christmas" argument?  Or the "We live three blocks from school so we are walking"  argument?  Or my personal favorite "My kid is still having trouble reading because you are too worried about her using her scooter" argument.

If this we Gilbert we would be rebel outlaws!

Kids have to take classes in critical thinking to graduate and go to college.  I think some "educators" could do with some brushing up in that area, don't you?

Thug Life

The bicycle gangs of San Francisco don't care about colour and they are recruiting young.

All you need to hang at the corner is a bicycle.

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!!

Bike By Dads

From back in June

From this afternoon

Lookin' good San Francisco!

2 Wheels > 4

Getting kids on bicycles is a lot of fun. They get to explore the world under their own power, simple tasks turn into little adventures, they get stronger and more confident... As anyone who reads this blog regularly knows, my kids spend a lot of time on their bicycles, especially my youngest, Declan.

Declan is quite the monkey.

Not long ago, I posted about Declan's first real foray into the bike lane on his own bicycle.

Even with all of the benefits that I see that come from my kids riding everyday, sometimes I am surprised by something new I hadn't thought of. The first thing on two wheels that ever changed my life was my motorcycle. I haven't been on my Honda in 11 years, mostly because the kids were too young to ride on it. Now that all of the kids are older, and everyone is either self sufficient in the transportation arena or is big enough to ride whatever I show up on, I have been able to start riding my motorcycle again.

Declan asked me if he could ride with me over the weekend. He had never been on a motorcycle before, so I had to give him a lesson in how to be a good passenger- don't wiggle, don't stand on the pegs, don't grab my shoulders, don't panic when the bike leans into a turn... "you mean like when I am on the back of the xtracycle?". Exactly!

So there he is! I was worried about putting him back there thinking he would be frightened or do something silly. I thought I would have to start him out in a parking lot or something like that, until he got used to it. As it turns out, we have been teaching him how to ride a motorcycle for a long time already. He was a perfect passenger, and now we have a way to get to his doctor's appointments without taking a 90 minute long (one way) bicycle ride or having to spend 30 minutes finding a parking space when we get there.

One more step toward car freedom, all because I put my kids on bicycles. Pretty cool.

"don't ride on handlebars...exexexcuse me"

what's the most important rule of all?

oh man, i found this in my RSS reader on friday afternoon. i couldn't help but to share!! heh.



via jezebel

of bikes and babes

fresh off the tribute to val, here's where we get to pass along the love of bikes to the newest generation.

the last time we talked of this little one, he was in his mama's belly, shopping for bikey onesies in the mission.

now? he's got his first birthday behind him and more than a couple of teeth in those gums.

we went to nomnom. while waiting in line, look at what his mom said that she got for him, but really for me. heh. ;)

they are sold out of the shirt, fyi....at least it appears so by going to their site.

he can barely walk, but he can stand really well!

oh haiiiiii! look at that smile. melts the toughest of cold hearts. (mine is not of those.)

mama here is wanting to take him around their neighborhood in LA on a bike. maybe next time he's on the blog, he'll be on a skuuuuuuuuuuuut it up! ;) well, maybe first he'll be on the back of a bike. he's certainly dressed for it.

other than bikes, looks like we have something in common. a love of hats.

ok, and he loves dogs too. he make friends easily :)

love my favorite baby b-boy! besos con mocos simpre! babas por vida!<3<3

skuut it up!

a couple of months back we went on a S240 (more on that later), and we were refueling on "sports drinks," when this lil bikey badarse came riding near us with his dad. check out how personalized his skuut is!

believe you me, this kid is gonna be incredible in whatever bikey sport he chooses.

there's way more of this lil one on the net, and this is just a preview of what there is to come. here's also a teeny tiny video i took of him.

again, this is just a preview. more on this once and future king to come.