Baby, It’s Cold Outside…So Get on that Bike!

Reminders to Self + Suggestions Regarding the Joys of Riding in the Chill and Darkness

When the weather takes a turn and it’s tempting to barricade oneself indoors and become ensconced in all things flannel, I sometimes need to remind myself that riding in the fall and winter can often be glorious, not just bearable.

I know that it can be an exercise in self-recrimination, ruminating whether or not to exercise.  When the gales are blowing or the rain is falling or it’s simply…just…cold, the pragmatism of saying, “I’ll live to bike another day–preferably a warmer day,” often trumps our gung-ho nature (well, at least for me).  But, if you’re like me, you know that your body just doesn’t feel right when you’re not physically active…and that you believe in cycling and the benefits inherent in chugging down the road, clearing the mind and churning the legs.

Being in a good bike city helps my better nature win out, though, a good percentage of the time.  Even though the cold winds whip off them, I like being flanked by two rivers.  And, despite the vehicular and pedestrian concerns that are part and parcel with riding in a busy downtown corridor, I really enjoy urban biking.  I feel I know my city so much better since I started seeing it more often on two wheels.  And Sacramento in the Fall and Winter looks considerably different than the Capital in Spring.

Being someone who enjoys a melancholy song, craves at almost all hours a good cup of coffee, and likes bundling up, I feel drawn to the cold.  However, before I fell for biking a few years ago, this preference was relegated to being just quaint and a little quirky (being a native Southern California beach person), as my interactions with the colder seasons here in the north were usually framed in context of driving to and fro and enjoying the wind and rain purely aesthetically, through the window of a car, an office, a coffeehouse, a living room.

So now I try to bike just as often in the months of wind, rain and early onset darkness as I do when the birds are singing their songs and the bees and butterflies are pollinating everything in sight.  Sometimes it’s a philosophical battle, where I cajole and exhort myself to not just do what I believe in when it is convenient.  Thankfully, though, it is evolving more and more into something I truly enjoy on its own merits, contextually removed from the easy riding of the warmer months.  The bracing gulps of autumnal air are exhilarating (like Kelly McGillis in “Top Gun,” they literally take my breath away).  The city at night has a totally different feeling than the daylit one, and I like that I can ride in darkness during the Fall and Winter without having to ride late at night.  There’s less revelry and more reverence in the cold…and I’m also a sucker for holiday lights and the trappings that evoke a coming snow or frost.  I like riding with a coffee or hot cider in my cupholder, and stopping now and then when there’s something good to gaze at while taking a sip.

Well, I’ll close out this–well, wistful and a bit self-indulgent–entry with a suggestion for making those cold rides more comfortable.  I know most people have their preferences for weather-related riding clothes pretty much locked down, but I’d like to share about this product I got a year ago–primarily for snowboarding–that’s turned out to be an awesome bike accessory.

The KLOUD face mask/headscarf/gator is really effective.  If you like layering and having options, this is like having a super versatile jacket…for your face.  You can fold and tie it into many different shapes, and the elastic nature of it will conform to your body…yet it breathes well and manages moisture well.  It can be folded into itself a number of times to be extra thick, or stretched to provide light support when it’s not too cold.  It can be a balaclava, beanie, neckwarmer, headband, do-rag, headscarf, armband, crunchy, you name it.  I’ve attached two diagrams below to show some of its uses.  I share it with you, here, because I’ve gotten compliments and questions about it before, and–seriously–it makes riding a lot easier, especially since you can easily reconfigure it as you go and as your own body temperature changes.  Long story short, it’s versatile and takes up virtually no space or weight.

Car-Free, Carefree Culinary Futbol Field-Trip to San Jose!

Riding the Rails, Canadian Cuisine, Earthquakes, Mexican Ice Cream Robots, Hopping the Bus, Getting Close to a Shark Tank, Tacos and Goals and Riding my Bike to Jail…oh, and 6-foot Muppets with Hometown Pride…

At the crack of way before dawn, I put my couple-decades-old Worksman Cycles folding bike to work. (I just picked this up off Craigslist a few months back on the cheap–it was covered in tree sap and grime and the previous owner was looking to clear space). It’s a single-hinge folder that I outfitted with a homemade tin cup coffee-holder/phone-speaker amplifier. It feels strange riding a small-wheeled bike with raised seats and handlebars after years of rolling on my hybrid Trek and–especially–our beast of a Yuba Mundo, but I like the change of pace!

I couldn’t find reliable information about bike racks at the Amtrak Station, so I looked nearby to see what was available. The best close option? The county jail. It was a block away, well-lit, and maybe–ironically enough–the safest outdoor parking spot downtown. (I can’t imagine too many people leaving jail feeling brazen enough to steal a bike five feet from the guarded front door.)

Our train trip from Sacramento to San Jose on the Capitol Corridor was easy as pie. During the week this is a pretty packed commuter train, but at 7:40am on a Saturday it was a ghost town on rails. As Russell and I lamented numerous times, we wished that it was more cost- and time-effective to take the train more often, because it SURE IS more pleasant than driving (understatement of the day).

Again, the train provides a scenic view and smooth ride that is just…so…pleasant. (if I was stuffed in a 3-piece suit with a briefcase, checking emails in a packed compartment on the way to a business meeting in another county on a Wednesday, I suppose, I’d take a less wistful view of things.) That being said, leisurely cruising with my buddy to partake in a day of fun, food, and fútbol in a new city we were eager to explore afforded me a rose-colored view. Yay, train travel!

Upon entering downtown San Jose, one of the first things that caught my eye was a bike rental terminal for Bay Area Bike Share.  I am so excited for Sacramento to finally get a similar program (which is currently in the works).  New York, Chicago and other cities with far less-hospitable climates, topographies and cycling cultures than Sacramento already have these ingenious systems in place.  Someday, they will be the norm, and I hope that day comes soon.

Our “SCHOOL BUS” v2.0

With the new school year, new growth spurts, and increased ability to bike for the long haul, it was time for a major overhaul of our Yuba Mundo.

Gone are the twin Peanut Shell seats taking up the whole rear deck (where the girls sat) and the large Yepp seat for our now-not-so-little boy that dominated the handlebar area up front.  He now sits in one of the Peanut Shells in the back while the girls sit on the deck and hold onto the new Yuba Monkey Bars.

The girls like the bigger-kid feel of being less strapped in (as we’ve already seen demonstrated by our other Mundo-riding friends whose kids sit on the back without Peanut Shells), and Big Boy has a bigger seat now that doesn’t swivel.

So far, so good…everybody is enjoying the ride (including Dad, who doesn’t have to work as hard at the pedals!)

                              Our newly reconfigured “Bus” has less weight and wind-drag, and the steering is easier now that big boy is sitting in a peanut shell in the back (instead of on the stem up front)

Both girls fit on the front half of the rear deck and are pretty secure, thanks to our new Yuba Monkey Bars.  This lightweight trapezoidal frame spans the entire deck and has additional interior bars that can be adjusted to various widths.  If the back peanut shell seat wasn’t there, we’d use the longer interior bars and move the middle bar to the rear.  In that configuration, you could get 4 kids on the back!  (instead of buying a pricier seat like Yuba’s Soft Spot–which is a nice product, no doubt–I used two $3 IKEA seat cushions I had in the basement…voila!)

Since Big Boy and I are riding around a lot, I figured it was necessary to pack a diaper-changing kit.  However, I didn’t want it to take up room in the panniers, so I used a Band-Aid multi-bandage pack from Costco and bolted it onto the downtube using the braze-ons that used to attach to the water bottle cage.  Thankfully, we haven’t yet had a diaper blow-out, but I figure that day will likely come!

Big Boy now sits in one of the awesome Peanut Shell seats that his big sisters had.  Since their size and weight are greater, they’re closer to the middle of the bike, while he sits in back.  He’s still within arm’s reach for me, and I can see him clearly in my side mirror.  I attached a RayShade UV Protective Stroller Cover ($5 each) over top, and used one of our umbrella stroller shades as a collapsible windshield and snack/toy protector, (which clipped onto the Monkey Bars)

Of course, cup holders are a must for drinks and snacks.  I put four up front: two water bottle cages down low where the cross bar and downtube meet, one water bottle cage on the handlebar, and a coffee cup holder I made for about $1.50 out of a plastic c-clamp and a mostly-used-up roll of packing tape (much cheaper and less attractive to thieves than the fancy chrome or brass coffee cup holders)

I wanted a lightweight storage solution up front that would create minimal drag and would be large enough to hold the girls’ full-sized backpacks.  I put a front rack above the wheel and attached some standard panniers to it.  On top of the rack I put an old black rubber coated wire basket I had in the basement, and attached to them 4 shelves from a black rubber coated wire shelf system (like you’d find at an office store) with some zip ties.

I used a pair of IKEA Vairera plastic bag dispensers ($1.99/each) for super lightweight “umbrella/clothing/random junk” holders.  They’re the perfect width and height to sit at the back of the running boards, just under the Peanut Shell.  These are especially handy for stowing sweatshirts, scarves, and other clothes for when the weather changes mid-ride.

So, that’s our new and improved “Bus.” We think it will be as reliable as it’s namesake, if not more fun and environmentally friendly.  Oh, and it hasn’t been accumulating unidentifiable grime and smells since the Reagan Administration.

Sacramento Kidical Mass Halloween Ride!

Please feel free to share this poster, made by the very talented Jennifer Morgano Dossetti, with your school chums, parents’ groups, friends and family.

Saturday, October 26, 2013, 4:30pm – 6:30pm

We’re excited to share about this month’s special Halloween Edition of Sacramento Kidical Mass! We’ll have bike decorating, fun activities for the kids (young and old), treats, and maybe even a trick or two. Please come and join us! It’s free and you don’t have to register beforehand or anything–just show up with your crew and your bike(s) for a pre-Halloween bike-tastic event!

From the Sacramento Kidical Mass Facebook page:
We’ll be starting at the playground at Sierra II Center (2791 24th St. but possibly around the corner from this address). As we gather around 4:30pm, we’ll have some bike decorating time, costume fun, and goodies to hand out. Around sunset, we’ll be heading off for a 3 mile ride around the quiet Curtis Park neighborhood and ending at a Halloween-y house.

**Make sure to bring night-riding gear. Dress up yourselves and your bikes!**

It’s free and you don’t have to register beforehand or anything–just show up with your crew and your bike(s) for a pre-Halloween bike-tastic event!

If you’d like to see the 3-mile route in Curtis Park, click here.

Wall Street Journal article re: Cargo Bikes

Cargo Bikes: The New Station Wagon

Cargo bikes are winning over casual and avid cyclists alike with one supersize feature: the ability to haul it all—from the groceries to the family that eats them

By Tom Vanderbilt

Updated July 5, 2013 11:41 p.m. ET

ON A RECENT SUNDAY, Brandon Jones, a 44-year-old fund manager at 9W Capital Management, traveled from his home in downtown Manhattan with his wife and two children to meet friends for brunch in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. They were heading to Reynard, the popular restaurant in the neighborhood’s fashionable Wythe Hotel, where Manhattan-bound Town Cars regularly idle on the street outside.

But Mr. Jones did not drive. Nor did he take the subway. Instead, he piloted his two children via the deck of his Yuba Mundo, a so-called “longtail” cargo bike. (His wife rode her own bike.) Picture a mountain bike, but with a stouter frame and smaller wheels, stretched out and lowered in the back. “We actually beat our friends who drove back to TriBeCa,” Mr. Jones said. While Mr. Jones does garage a BMW X5 SUV, his car rarely sees daylight within the city limits. Rather, for daily trips like the mile-and-a-half commute from TriBeCa to his children’s school in Greenwich Village, he simply hops on another kind of SUV—one that actually includes a bit of sport.

Mr. Jones’s choice is becoming an increasingly popular one in the U.S. The country’s biggest seller of the Yuba Mundo is Joe Bike, a Portland, Ore., store specializing in “high-performance urban, utility and touring bikes.” The owner, Joe Doebele, said that when he began carrying cargo bikes—a catchall term covering a variety of bike styles built for functional hauling—five years ago, he thought they would be for just that, cargo. “But parents, mostly moms, were the ones who were buying them,” he said. “It quickly became a family bike.”

Mr. Doebele attributes the interest to Portland’s “mini baby boom” and the fact that many young families are choosing to stay in cities like Portland instead of moving to the suburbs—not to mention higher gas prices.