Cargo Bikes Haul 420lbs of Food & Clothing Donations!

Sacramento Kidical Mass Annual Food & Clothing Drive Recap

Our November Food & Clothing Donation Drive & Ride was a success, even with Mother Nature throwing some inclement weather our way.

We had about 20 riders and delivered 420lbs of food and warm clothing to Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services (some of which was donated during the month at the three Sacramento Old Soul Co. coffee cafes, some of which was brought the day of the ride by our intrepid cyclists).  We gathered at Grant Park in upper Midtown, meandered down the (mostly) quiet streets to pick up donation barrels at the Old Soul locations, then cruised over to Oak Park for the final pick-up and drop off.

I’m guessing there were more than a few passersby and motorists who didn’t quite know what to make of us.  I’ll say it again: when we parade down the road, we just may be the world’s least intimidating biker gang.

I’m proud of everyone who participated, and we’re looking forward to doing it again next year!

We had 6 large blue donation barrels hoisted upon and delivered via cargo bikes. Who says you need a truck or SUV to haul a big load?

Our multi-generational crew in front of the Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services, after unloading the goods

The little ones especially enjoyed getting to go inside the warehouse (and, yes, they all showed restraint–as did their parents–in refraining from climbing up on the forklift and attempting to take it for a spin).

Pretty cute, huh? She, of course, wanted to travel this way for the rest of the ride. Mom said no.

Elle’s sweet Bullitt, gettin’ the job done.

My Yuba Mundo: like if Evel Knievel’s Rocket Bike was painted by a Smurf.

Russ’s nice Orange Mundo and my Blue Mundo make quite a pair…albeit one that would take up a whole municipal bike rack.

Ellle making the Haul-A-Day adjustable cargo bike even MORE adaptable

 

 

DIY: Retractable Shade Canopy for Cargo/Longtail/Box-Bikes!

My Little Guy can travel in comfort and shade now without the umbrella I used to have attached to the middle of the rear deck. This shade folds up easily to be stored behind his seat, plus I can one-handedly raise one side up in seconds to more easily slide him in and out of the Peanut Shell seat.

Tinkering on our Yuba Mundo commences… As the kids get bigger and bigger, I find that space on the back of the bike comes at a higher and higher premium.  I’ve removed both the inner and cross bars of the Monkey Bars rack so that the girls have more space (both side-to-side and front-to-back) and I’ve also done away with the PVC pipe umbrella holder that used to stick up in the middle of the rear deck in front the Peanut Shell seat.

A few months back, I found a pair of awesome and lightweight folding shade canopies made for those folding camping chairs that were all the rage about a decade ago (and still ubiquitous at drug stores, grocers and big box stores whenever the summer months approach).  I bought these for $3 each (they retail for $15-$20), and they’ve turned out to be pretty useful. I simply bungeed the shade to secure it to the rear of the Peanut Shell seat and the Monkey Bars (and, really, you could attach it just about any bike), then pulled it forward and used the sturdy velcro wraps on the end of each adjustable pullstring to secure it to the front of the Monkey Bars.  It took about 2 minutes.

Check out how nicely this folds up, fitting completely and snugly behind the Peanut Shell seat. It’s nice not having the residual drag when the canopy’s not needed (obviously).

Here, here, and here are some sites I found for similar shades (since stalking your local thrift store in hopes of finding them is probably not very practical)

 

Another look at the shade as a stand-alone product. The thin black ropes expand and retract quite easily, making the canopy pretty flexible to fit your needs. Plus, you can use it for its actual intended use, as well, for any chairs you have in need of shading.

A week of Thanks, yet a bad week for biking (ending on a good note, though!)

One of the many things I found myself thankful for this past week (yes, far behind family, friends, community, health, grace, and the other building blocks of life) is cycling, especially since I was without it for seven days.  The old saw about absence making the heart grow fonder, in this instance, held true.  I missed my bike, riding with my children, and hitting the road on just two wheels.  I certainly saw enough of it on four…

This is a view I was very thankful for tonight (swirling winds, sharp cold and all), after a week downstate, away from our bikes, followed by a couple days of injury-related bed rest. 

We drove down to Southern California to visit my mom and had a wonderful time.  This entailed, though, driving roughly 600 miles there and 600 miles back.  My surgically repaired spine, residual nerve damage and overall back & neck stiffness made themselves heard loud and clear upon our return to Sacramento Saturday, as I woke up in the middle of the night with some severely pinched nerves, unable to lift my head or contort my back or turn my neck or shoulders without shrieking pain and/or spasms.  Since falling for cycling, few have been the occasions when any of these issues have been present in my life, let alone all of them at once.  So, with the consummate love, aid, and support of my ever-lovely and tireless wife, I was able to take a pair of days to recuperate so that, come today, I could resume the stay-at-home-parent duties (and–not insignificantly–get out of bed and have the bodily stability and flexibility to pick up my children).

[The last two times I felt similarly incapacitated, I was recovering from surgery.  Each one necessitated a month of bed rest with doctor’s orders to not leave the house…at all.  In light of this, these last two days went by quickly.  However, I did not have three children under age 7 when I was last laid up, so I felt quite antsy and powerless as my wife–with typical aplomb and grace–did everything for everyone, all the while dealing with her own fatigue from our whirlwind trip and all that comes with traveling across the state with little ones].

Back to our trip…so, there was no biking during our four days down south, which felt strange.  My Mom lives in an area that’s not terribly conducive for cycling, except maybe for hardcore distance road racers.  I had notions of trying to haul the girls’ bikes (and my own), but our car would not have borne them well.  (Our bike carrier is pretty rinky-dink, and the car is maxed out with the five of us and the baby stuff and the girls belongings.  Even though we travel light and, subsequently, make frequent use of my mom’s washing machine when we visit, our car’s interior still resembles a Tetris game on road trips).  I have dreams of someday stumbling upon a pot of gold to enable us to get some Brompton folding bikes for our travels, but that day has not yet come!

Someday…someday…we’ll all have Bromptons upon which we can cruise…after which we will collapse them in seconds and carry them like briefcases wherever needed.  I’ll grant you, this isn’t exactly utopia on grand scale, but it seems like a pretty good way to travel.  Ahh, someday…

We spent some nice time with my mom, and with my uncle, aunt and cousins, as well as with some dear old friends who make our twice-yearly visits extra sweet.  We indulged in Mom’s ridiculously delicious cooking, watched the sun set over the coast, and had some beautiful and refreshing trips to the beach, which always makes us come alive.

Everything beautiful and poetic and lyrical about the ocean has been written and said a million times over…so instead I will just say that my daughters’ joy and giddiness at the water’s edge takes my breath away. Their gleeful shouts and arm-waving and splashing and running makes even the longest of car rides worth it, every time.

So, back to tonight…(sorry for the disjointed narrative here, folks)…After a day of feeling largely better, a bit of the stiffness and nerve pain returned in the evening, so I took a ride to get my body moving and my muscles loose.  It felt sooooooo good.  Being without a bike for a week is not a hardship or a travesty, but I didn’t realize how much I missed riding, nor how much I need it as a physical and mental release.  It’s one of the main things that have kept me healthy and out of the hospital these last few years, and it has given me innumerable new experiences  and perspectives, especially with my family.  I am thankful for cycling, and for the opportunity to ride and live closer to the ground.

It’s hard not to like a good night ride, especially when the skies are clear and there’s a nip in the air. And, yes, I do realize that I look like a strange plaid dystopian shock-troop soldier behind a black screen. I swear, though, that it’s me just riding in the dark.

Cargo Bike Cavalcade!

Some shots of the CARGO BIKES on display from

our November Sacramento Kidical Mass ride:

(click to enlarge)

   

Big Turnout for Nov. Kidical Mass ride

Our Sacramento Kidical Mass ride this last Saturday was quite an enjoyable success.  About 70 folks, representing all age groups and almost every kind of pedaled conveyance, converged outside of Practical Cycle in Old Sac with donations for Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services in tow.

It’s a good thing that Old Sacramento doesn’t begin to fill up with revelers and tourists until around lunchtime, because we turned most of J St. into two- (and three-) wheeled parking lot!

After a nice time of kibitzing, perusing, and trying out each other’s bikes, our motley crew got into formation and slowly trickled out of Old Sac to make our way through Downtown to our final destination in Midtown.

Old Sacramento’s Wild West-themed buildings and characters (heavy on old-timey gunslingers and “ladies of the evening”) were an odd backdrop for our pedal-powered wagon train. We passed a group of Harley riders on our way toward Midtown and–while they may be far more intimidating–we had them beat in the numbers department.

Past the beautiful Sacramento River, over the freeway and into Downtown we cruised, thankful that the week’s intense winds had taken a siesta.  (Earlier in the week, it was quite possible that gale-force winds, as well as rain, would be our cycling companions).  Not only was the weather not to be contended with, but traffic was non-existent, too, which is always nice.

Longtail bikes, bucket bikes, and road bikes, OH MY!

Either the denizens of Midtown were all asleep, or our dinging bells, penchant for fluorescent orange, and intimidating average speed of 9 MPH sent them scurrying indoors.

Me and my best gal, with donation bags in tow and an industrial carafe of coffee sitting in Little Brother’s seat.

We arrived–safe and sound with our peloton intact–at Edible Pedal in Midtown.  We transferred our clothing and food donations from the bikes to the big blue barrels from SFBFS, then enjoyed some more time to swap stories, ideas and advice (I picked up a few helpful tips for winter riding and more than a few ideas for future customizing projects).

Thankfully, Edible Pedal is located in an alley with a bare minimum of car traffic, as we claimed almost every square foot of asphalt for bike parking.

These, and other barrels, fit just right on one of Edible Pedal’s Cycletrucks.

Special thanks to Elle and everyone at Sac Kidical Mass, Practical Cycle, Edible Pedal, Old Soul Co., and Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services, and all the riders and helpers for a wonderful time benefiting a wonderful cause.

SFBFS Food & Clothing Donation Ride 11/23–Sac Kidical Mass

• Join our group ride for the young, old & in-between!
• Collect donations for Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services to benefit those in need!
• Enjoy goodies & treats to fuel you up!
• Check out & demo our crazy array of cargo bikes!
• Make some new friends & support a good cause!
• Lions, Tigers, & Bears, oh my! (not really)

For this month’s Sacramento Kidical Mass, we’re riding to collect donations for Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services Sat, Nov. 23rd. We will be gathering at Practical Cycle in Old Sacramento around 10am where we’ll have cargo bike demos and treats to start the ride. Around 11am, we’ll set off towards Edible Pedal, picking up donations along the way from special designated locations. Total ride distance will be approximately 3 miles.

Please bring a donation of food or warm clothing for the food bank.
All children under 18 need to wear a helmet and adults are greatly encouraged to wear one as well. We will be following the rules of the road as we ride.

A year of DIY projects with our Yuba Mundo

Here’s a timeline of most of my Mundo projects and tinkerings…

Spring-time capacity? 2 child seats, 1 daddy saddle, 1 toddler seat, 1 large basket

4 on the road.  There’s an umbrella stroller bungeed to the long left running board (It’s hard to see, but Baby Boy is riding shotgun, enjoying The Avett Brothers on the sound system.)

2 “Peanut Shell” seats, with 5-point harnesses, footrests, & padding sit just right on the Yuba’s rear bamboo deck (our tall girls fit perfectly well in them!)

The MUNDO is easily customized–I made this large rear basket attachment with vertical rack and large hooks quite easily with heavy-duty zip-ties, all the better for holding backpacks, helmets, and full grocery bags.

If you’re looking for a good baby/infant/toddler seat, the Yepp mini is pretty fantastic.  It has a durable but soft ventilated shell,  5-point padded harness, head protector and pillow, adjustable foot holders with straps, it can be quickly disengaged with one adult hand, and is easily locked and unlocked with the included key.

The side-view of the MUNDO when we’ve loaded it four-people-deep.  This pic was the inspiration for the name of our site.

This was the first shade-heavy configuration I tinkered with…You don’t need to be a mechanic or a tool whiz to customize your bike, trust me.  I am of little use when it comes to fixing complex things around the house, but a little creativity and willingness to experiment are well-rewarded with this bike.  You can accessorize it quite easily as seasons change, kids grow, your needs evolve, you name it.

Front view with the all-weather umbrella, tin-can-cupholder and toddler windshield (total outlay–about $15 after a quick trip to a hardware store.)

Here, I switched out the blue umbrella for a higher-visibility orange one, matching (coincidentally) the umbrella-stroller canopy shade I attached up front for Little Guy.  It’s swiveling joints made it useful as a both a shade canopy and windscreen for my little navigator up front.

Panniers attached to a front wheel rack and a collapsible basket attached to the rear deck make for extra backpack/grocery/whatever-needs-holding capacity

As the heat cranked up this summer, it was necessary to beef up the infant seat shade situation.  This may not be a pretty finished product, but it was effective.  A black mesh UV stroller shade up front and, up top, a flexible shade extension made from vinyl glued to a dog conical collar made the small orange shade clipped to the handlebars much larger without making it too bulky or inflexible.

Our latest configuration, with all three kids on the back!

The “Monkey Bars,” debuted by Yuba this year, are awesome.  This sturdy and light frame comes with adjustable/removable inner bars.  They can span the whole length of the rear deck or–as above–half the length of the deck.  On our bike, the back half of the deck holds one of the peanut shells for our little guy, complete with clip-on umbrella-stroller canopy for a windshield and UV stroller shade to battle the sun.  While Yuba makes a nice cushion for about $30, I used two $3 chair cushions, and they work great!

There’s always stuff that needs holding.  Two $2 IKEA plastic bag holders carry an umbrella and random clothes and small groceries in the rear while front panniers and black wire shelf frame pieces make a large and lightweight holder for tall backpacks and other items.

EMERGENCIES HAPPEN!  While I have bike repair supplies on hand, there are other–kid-related–emergencies that come our way, too.  The picture on the left is of a diaper-change kit (housed in an econo-sized Band-Aid plastic box) mounted with the brazons for a water bottle cage.  The one on the right is of a small travel bandage/first aid kit attatched with the brazons just behind the crankset.

Much like our four-wheeled vehicles, bicycles now have cupholders out the wazoo (well, ours do, at least!).  Two cages mounted just below the top tube hold water bottles/sippee cups and one cage on the handlebar holds a snack cup while a coffee cup holder I made from a mostly used-up packing tape roll screwed to a C-clamp keeps the java close at hand but nice and level to avoid spills.

The bike is lighter and easier to maneuver now than it was a year ago, which is a good thing considering that my kids keep getting bigger while I keep getting older.

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.

Kidical Mass — Park + Doughbot Ride! [Pt. 2]

Here are some more pictures from this past Saturday’s Kidical Mass ride from Grant Park in Midtown to Doughbot and Southside Park.  I thought I’d include some shots of the awesome bikes other people are making/riding…look for these rides and their happy owners as you cruise around town.

Elle’s Bullitt bike is very, very cool…and useful! It has to be, because she and her kids puts an amazing amount of miles on it!

Anna’s awesome Yuba Mundo! This was the very first Yuba I every saw, and Anna was very kind to tell me all about it and encourage me in getting one. Her custom basket liner and nicely appointed seat post handlebars are just two of it’s many nice touches.

Keith’s amazing box bike. Yes, he freaking built this thing! I aspire to be one-fifth as handy as he.

Seth’s Dutch Bike has long been one of my very favorites. I love that it’s classic and classy, but also that he’s built awesome additions like a sweet lightweight canopy and super useful kitty litter panniers for the back.

This sleek, eye-catching bike really does the job without being a behemoth like my Mundo. Check out the cool black downtube saddle for the little one–I didn’t even see it at first!