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ra The snow is melting so I’ve stowed the mountain bike. Poor bike–last time it came out of hibernation was three and a half years ago when I got horribly lost in the Cottonwood Valley Trail System in Las Vegas and had to call home for a rescue. I think its previous ride was at least three years before that when I got lost from my group on Mammoth Mountain. I didn’t get lost yesterday or the day before so I guess the curse is broken. Should be safe to venture to the I-5 Colonnade with it and not get lost there, but maybe something as big as Duthie Hill should wait.
Our little street was very slushy this morning, but the forecast called for rain all day long so I set out on the Big Dummy with the expectation that I’d be able to get home easily after playing at REI for a few hours. The two blocks downhill to 40th were hard–I dragged a foot most of the way. I think I was more uncomfortable with the center-of-gravity shift than the less knobby tires. I didn’t wobble once. This is huge since I’ve nearly dropped the bike on its side several times in dry weather. This isn’t the fault of the bike, mind you, I keep trying to manipulate it like my old bike and it doesn’t work that way. It’s simple to treat a bakfiets like the cargo beast that it is, but the Big Dummy is so agile I forget it’s a lot heavier than my old bike with double the kid weight on the back.
I normally don’t like Eastlake since it’s so busy, but that made it perfect for today. The relatively heavy car traffic had melted two strips into the road. One of the strips was even the bike lane…not that the cars cared. The ride didn’t feel dangerous and the few cars that caught up to us passed safely on the left using the center turn lane. I pulled over once at a clear side street to let cars pass. A man standing outside near his pickup truck offered us a lift and asked if we were just out for the sake of taking a ride. I assured him we were doing fine and he offered one more time before traffic cleared and we waved and carried on.
REI was packed, but the bike rack was all mine. I wanted to get a sled–not because I like sledding, but because I wanted to transport something big and bulky. I have yet to do any really exciting cargo transporting. Fortunately for my wallet, REI was out of sleds, but we found some clearance snow boots and replaced the four-year old’s stolen gloves. The new gloves aren’t as long as the previous pair, but the Swix Fun Split Mittens make me chuckle.
We hung out at the play area for a long time, watching the rain wash the snow out of the trees and headed home just as the deluge let up. Eastlake was slightly better on the way home, though it was still an on-foot negotiation getting from the sidewalk down to the street. My street was better, too, but I hit it from above in case the slush hadn’t washed away. I think uphill may have been easier in terms of riding in a straight line. I had to put a foot down several times as I veered into slush. I hadn’t previously realized it’s hard to hold a straight line on the Big Dummy. Seems I have a lot of adapting to do with the new bike still.
In very exciting news, the little guy was warm enough today. I don’t think it was much warmer than our last non-trailer ride so maybe the sunglasses add that little bit of shielding he needs.
The snow is still here and today we took and even shorter trip to the closest grocery store. I lost momentum with half a block of snow to go and had to walk to 45th for the cleared road. I’m not sure if studded tires would have made much difference with the trailer pulling me backwards.
There were more cars out than I’d expected, including a snow plow. It wasn’t plowing when we saw it and it looked like a privately-owned truck. The grocery store was more crowded than I’d expected, too. I didn’t take note of the parking lot yesterday, but I think today was probably the day people finally ventured out for supplies.
When we arrived there was just a dog at the bike rack and a pair of skis leaning against the building, most shoppers having come by car or foot. But upon our exit there were two bikes, two dogs, one kid, and one sled.
The trailer seems to be working well for the kids. They aren’t bickering in such close quarters and it’s warm enough to leave their hands bare so they can snack. I can’t hear a thing they’re saying back there, but for short trips that’s not a bad thing ;)
Several inches of snow fell and stuck and while I didn’t want to do a lot of riding, I had two overdue library books nagging at me. I didn’t feel comfortable taking the Big Dummy with its awesome-in-normal-conditions Panaracer T-Serv 26 x 1.75 inch tires so we hooked the double trailer to my mountain bike, a 2004 GT i-drive 2.0. Mr. Family Ride was worried about the trailer slipping back and bumping the disc brake, causing the bike to come to a sudden stop, but it stayed in place. It slips often when I have it attached to my road bike, but either the width of the tube or the freezing temperature kept it well attached today.
I made it a block and a half uphill OK, but had to walk three blocks up 44th to the top of the hill. As I trudged up the road, I realized I should have opted for 45th where the car traffic had melted most of the snow, but I didn’t want to slow the one lane of traffic with my snail’s pace ascent. I was tempted by a block of beautifully shoveled sidewalk, but by then I was at the top of the hill and could handle riding on the road again.
It was hard dragging the trailer over curbs so I asked passing pedestrians for a couple favors–pushing the walk button to get across Sunnyside and join the traffic of 45th and then to put my library books into the return bin.
We took a break from our mile-and-a-half round trip journey to visit the train table at the Wallingford Center. I’d read about the train theft on Wallyhood so we brought a few train cars from our B-team to donate. Turns out someone had already donated some much nicer Thomas trains. I wanted to take our trains back home, but the boys insisted on sticking with the plan to leave them to share. Aw.
The kids stayed warm in the trailer, and this was actually my original idea for winter commuting, before getting the Big Dummy. I wasn’t envisioning this kind of snow, mind you, but I thought it’d be good for heavy rain and cold air. This was the first time I used the removable waist strap on my Seattle-made Tom Bihn Imago messenger bag. I wasn’t sure how dry the cargo compartment of the trailer, plus I wanted the library books at the ready for returning.
I’m still trying to find a way to keep the little guy warm enough. The snow has mostly melted away, but it’s still in the 30′s. Yesterday his hands felt very cold, even under his snow mittens so today I bundled him up in snowsuit (though we compromised on no ski mask or ski goggles) plus Slanket. I think the short ride to drop his brother off at preschool and home may have been OK, but the threat of snow (what snow?) resulted in a two-hour delay for the start of school so we rode to the Ballard Fred Meyer first.
There was even another cargo bike at the rack–an electric-assisted trike. I was a little nervous that the guy left stuff in his basket, considering my bad experience, but we beat him out and his cargo was still there.
The other parents were impressed that we rode today, but today was a breeze compared to Sunday. And I made sure to stress we were ten minutes late because I went by the store, not because of the weather. I know by the end of the school year I won’t be the only biking parent, but I’m not setting a very good example by running late so often.
The little guy said he was still cold so I took the small bike in the afternoon so he could hide from the wind behind his fairing. And I tied my snowboard jacket around him as an extra layer. I’m not going to want to take this bike if there’s any chance of ice on the road, but today was just wet and cold. It’s only been a year since our crash so I want my longtail and disc brakes if we’re anywhere near ice.
Our afternoon took us to Pike Place Market which was emptier than I’ve ever seen it–even the balloon clown was absent. We had the fish throwers all to ourselves and picked up some salmon and watched them throw a fish around for us. The sun came out as we headed towards home, making for a terrific day. But once we were back home, the little guy said he had still been cold. Back to the drawing board.