International Walk to School Day 2011 (and Local Press!)

Today is International Walk to School Day in the United States. We all biked to school this morning. We hadn't walked, bused or biked to school since the first week and it was a tremendous joy to go together. Following a four day weekend I set my alarm for 6AM to give us ample time for groggy children and preparations. Yet at 25 after 7 we were still searching for lights and gloves and stuffing lunches in backpacks. By 7:30 we were on our way up hill, in the 50 degree fog. We were all please to arrive before the bell.

The crew of bikes and 5 of 6 of us, all bundled and lit up.

Brent got the priviledge of the cargo bike this morning, and the company of two little boys. Notice our new cargo bags.

It looks worse than it was. We crossed on to Washington Blvd without incident.

Brent stayed to hear Elliot read the liturgy at Mass and I took Oliver home for a Birth to Three session.

Speaking of pleasing matters, Bryan Chambers wrote a wonderful piece in our local Herald-Dispatch from the interview we attended last week. The e-paper is subscription based, so we hope they don't mind us scanning and pasting it here. It's not a great scan (obvious?), as my techno-savvy husband is at the office, but he tells me if you click on it, you ought to be able to read it in full size, bur probably not on a smart-phone. If you are local, go grab a copy if you wish.



In closing for now, I know the blog has had some issues with comments, sorry. Please don't give up on me, I love hearing from you. Brent said to me last night that he's never seen me so excited about anything, after I got a comment from a regular reader on last night's post "Get on the sidewalk!!" If you are on Facebook, I opened A Simple Six page for us to stay connected and for me to speak my mind on short remarks and links that may not require a full post. We are in the process of moving the blog to it's own domain and getting fancy with CSS. In the mean time, I might have messed up the RSS feed, to which I am also sorry, but should have it all straightened out by the weekend. Hope you all hang in there with me.

Weekend of Gs

Saint George's Greek Orthodox Church, the host of the Greek Festival this past weekend. We checked it out on Saturday, our fifth year attending in some capacity.

We arrived early to beat the crowds. Parked the bikes at the pole on the far right and wondered around for place to change a diaper, get some baklava, Turkish coffee and listen to the music. When we were leaving, the place was filling up.

London coveted those coin wraps other girls were wearing, but the priced tag of $25 was not something she was ready to pay. Of her own accord (and money) she opted for the $5 bracelet and left a happy girl. The hat she is wearing, she knit herself this past week during recess at school and when ever she could find the time. It's her first finished fiber project.

Brent waited in a very slow line for a $3 Turkish Coffee. This is all he came for.

View Larger Map

Our Saturday route above. From home to the Greek Festival, to Goodwill, to game shop, to bike store, to grocery, to home. 10.2 miles.

More light post lock ups. Goodwill at 11th street and Virginia Avenue.

Since we took just three bikes, we played music saddles all day. The big kids took turns on the Yuba Mundo and Junior Viper. Brent had to adjust the height on the children's bike at every stop. He is going to install a quick release soon.

Brent opts for sidewalks, but I really feel safer and more comfortable on the road, in the lane. Here he is taking Avery in the trailer down 4th. I just needed a load break on the Yuba. I was extremely exhausted all day and was breaking down often, mentally and physically.

I had no reason to go to the bike shop, but I just like going. Here, one of the owners came out to check out the child seat and discuss my transition to riding it with the children. They also said my last three parts should arrive this week sometime.

We planned to go for a full grocery run, but I just couldn't do it. We stopped at our mom and pop shop, Julian's Market, for milk and bananas and headed home. Brent took over the Yuba so I didn't collapse and I took back the MTB with the mostly empty trailer.

The evening was spent playing in the yard, napping upright on the couch for 20 minutes and reading stories.

We had played with bags of beans a couple of weeks ago and London planted them all over the yard, they were coming up everywhere.

I caught Elliot reading to the little boys.

It was a pretty jammed pack Saturday. I think my exhaustion was from not riding or walking much while in AZ. I got to bike Friday and my legs were so sore my children couldn't sit on my lap. Come Saturday and we had this long multiple-stop ride planned and I was a mess. We had to stop many times because I was stressed about balancing the bike with the children and carrying so much weight on the bike. I am usually much more relaxed but I couldn't shake the anxiety that day.

Sunday was much better. I didn't get much rest that night, but I was feeling more healed and calm. London and I took two bikes and the trailer to the grocery for a "big trip." Brent had spent part of Saturday fashioning all sorts of contraptions to the Yuba for hauling groceries in lieu of proper bags. Here's what we decided on:

Brent strap clamped two totes to the sides and loaded them with the heaviest things he could find.

He took the bike out for a quick test ride to make sure it wasn't too heavy and the totes wouldn't fall off.

Empties attached and ready for groceries. This set up allowed us to keep the child seat in the rear position, which we won't be able to do when our bags arrive. More on that in another post.

View Larger Map

London with the trailer and I on the Yuba. We set off down the PATH for Kroger.

I am happy fall has arrived, but this makes parking at Kroger more difficult.

We didn't want to be so close to the door and ramp, but they left us little to choose from.

I didn't want to buy too much so I bagged all my groceries as we shopped. Portion control?

All of this fit in/on two bikes, and I feel pretty confident I could have taken the trailer on the Yuba and gotten it all myself, but I love London's company and she was fantastic about hauling it all home.

I put all the lighter things in her trailer. I tried to keep most of the weight over the axle area. Her rolled up pants were so the flair bottom wouldn't get caught on her gears while peddling.

Loaded up. Totes were full so I bungee strapped my large soft cooler with milk and ice cream straight to the deck.

I had my doubts about my 9 yo being able to carry home groceries. When she started out she said it felt like she wasn't carrying anything. When we got to the via-duct she had to walk up the hill because we got behind a pedestrian on the sidewalk and couldn't get started on the upside once we stopped.

There she goes! A wonderful start to fall on PATH and my eldest doing hard work to feed the family.

We carried home 144lbs of groceries. I really didn't notice the weight on the flat surfaces and when I shift successfully into a low enough gear, I was able to take the hills slow and steady and without wearing myself out.

 Sunday also included a birthday party. We could have walked, but biking is so much fun for us. We put the eldest two on their own bikes and I rode Oliver and Avery on the back of the Yuba. I was finding on Saturday that the iBert was not a comfortable fit for me on the cargo bike. I haven't figured out quite why, but for now I am going to ride the littles on the back.

Oliver claimed a bike at the party and rode inches by himself and got a lot of help from Elliot. Of all the children, Oliver loves biking the most and he can't even peddle.

Our bike train before leaving the party. Is everyone picking at an orifice?

Avery and Oliver on the back of the cargo bike. Happy boys.

We tried several configurations of seating on the Yuba Mundo Saturday but we didn't move the child seat like we intended. I might play around with it this week during school pick ups. I am getting more comfortable riding it and figuring out the quirks and nuances.

I rarely allow Brent to have a go. Which means I am doing all the heavy hauling, but I don't mind a bit. It is a pretty sweet bike. If you see me out and about, stop me and I will let you have a spin. I was so happy to be stopped by a reader on Saturday at the park and give him a moment to check it out. Huntington Cycle and Sport can even get in touch with me for test rides, but soon they will have one assembled of their own for you to try.

Miles Walked: 0	Biked: 6.2	Bused: 0	Drove: 0	This week
53.7	379.2	12.6	547.2	Since August 14, 2011

My First Yuba Mundo Ride with Our Children

Our bikes at school.

When I got off the plane on Tuesday I was reading Bike Snob and thinking about the new bike in my garage. Brent managed to pick up the Yuba Mundo from Huntington Cycle and Sport on Friday. I contemplated having him wait until I got back, but I also wanted him to show it off at Critical Mass that night, which he did. No modesty here.

In case you missed the clip from another post, here's the video of Brent's ride with the three boys during Critical Mass. London rode my bike along side. I believe Brent's brother Aaron shot the video for him.


Yuba Mundo Inaugural Ride from delano on Vimeo.


I knew this bike was amazing because I rode it in Columbus last month, but I had never ridden it with any weight or even up a hill. You can't pay for hills in central Ohio. Test riding cargo bikes along our section of the Ohio river is near impossible, but I did make a few attempts to track some down, to no avail. Brent gave me his opinion from his ride on how to stop and handle the balance load and turning radius. I had been reading dozens and dozens of blog entries and watching videos for a couple of months. 

When I got home, I took the Yuba out first thing. I didn't even bring in my bag. I went straight to the garage and road it around the block. It was too dark to see the shifters and I wasn't even sure of the street conditions. I was a bit wobbly and uncertain, but elated. Yesterday I spent time thinking about riding and finishing Bike Snob. Today I set my mind to pick up the children from school with the Yuba Mundo. Brent left one bike at the school for a child to ride home and I set up the new bike with the iBert and stared at it from end to end. There were several parts missing that I had ordered; disc brakes, wheel skirt, and double kick stand, and noted to myself to call the shop to get an ETA.

First attempt with three boys at school.

I loaded Oliver into the rear seat, as that was his preference and I practiced going around the block several times getting used to the weight and handling. I really do not like rear weight. It feels like the front tire is going to lift off the road on every hill. The height of my saddle was suitable, the space between the iBert and my knees was far better than the other bike and the rear child seat looks more comfortable than the front. I planned to ride Avery in the rear seat, Elliot on the deck and Oliver in the iBert, but I knew that London would beg to ride on the deck often.

Circling the parking lot.

Brent came home from work to ride to school with me just in case anything would happen. He's a worrier, but I was happy to have time with him. He decided to hook up the trailer to his bike so we could load the children's back packs, as I still haven't ordered saddle/pannier bags for the Yuba. Every time we ride to the school we argue. We just have a different opinion about which route to take and where to ride on the road. The first tiff took place before the first block was behind us. I like to turn up the first road, he likes to take the second. Because he was behind me and saying "go here" and I didn't know where "here" was, I stopped on a steep uphill and tipped the bike to the right, with Oliver in the back, just about to the ground. Hmmm, this was going to be difficult.

Having learned my first lesson, to put both feet on the ground and hold both brakes when stopping, I took the second turn with Brent, which was indeed less of a climb and easier to ride. It was also slightly more difficult to make the next left at the intersection but not impossible or dangerous. I climbed up Wiltshire without much trouble and we disagreed about which direction on Woodland to ride and whether it was safer to take the lane on Norway or to use the side walk. We compromised with going to the right on Woodland, looping back down Fairfax and taking the lane on Norway.

I was sailing well until the climb on the one way portion of Norway. Brent has been telling me to take the pressure off the chain when I shift gears and I have been practicing, but I am not very good at this task. If I take the pressure off, then I slow down and have to apply more pressure. While climbing Norway I was moving into a lower gear and the chain came off the front chain wheel completely. I wasn't going anywhere. This is why I was glad Brent was there. I was able to hold the bike while he realigned the chain. Had I to do this alone I would have had to remove Oliver on a busy street and figure it out. I couldn't even walk the bike up the hill, the chain was locked up. Lesson two, take pressure off the chain before shifting gears.

Once at the school with all the children retrieved I was feeling really anxious. I didn't do so well getting there and now I was adding two extra children to a bike I was still very uncomfortable on and unfamiliar with. We loaded everyone up and I practiced starting and turning and stopping in the parking lot. I think I did about six loops in different directions to figure it all out. I lectured the boys about moving and tipping, as this would injure us all. With Brent hauling the trailer full of back packs, London on her Junior Viper and me carrying three children on the Yuba, we set off down the hill toward the Bookworm's Attic. It was still Thursday, our bookstore day, and we were not going to get sidelined from our agenda.

Heading down the one way portion of Norway on the sidewalk.

Stopped to return books.

Parked out front of the Bookworm's Attic

Books and candy purchases, bodies cooled, we strode out again for home. During our ride I observed many things about the differences in riding this long tail verses the old mountain bike. The first was the balance. The second was braking and foot position. Third, chain pressure and shifting. Fourth was the impact of the rear passengers over bumps. They took a huge jolt even over minor surface features. There jostling around had me swerving the front end to keep my balance. I do think I was truly bothered by the terrible roads and sidewalk conditions for the first time since riding. Before they were just annoying, now they were dangerous. The fifth thing of notice was the need for smooth transitions between surfaces. This goes beyond jacked up sidewalks and potholes. This bike really needs those ramps at crosswalks. I couldn't take the curb and just bounce down them like with the other bike, I would loose control. Unfortunately a few spots on our route don't offer these ramps at convenient places, but I found ways around them. In some situations I used drive ways and others I went an extra half block back to use a ramp. While I realize my place should be on the road, if you were a driver on Norway, you would not be expecting a cyclist, especially a slow one with three children. The sidewalk is safer, but not by much. (Sixth) The Yuba also didn't like going through thick gravel where the side walk was covered in some portions. Wobbly conditions at best. I believe this is because all the weight was in the rear and if there were more on the front, it could have been a better scenario. Yet I don't have front racks or bread baskets at this time and this is the best I can do.

Panting up Norway.

Pushing up Fairfax.

This is deceiving, we were actually flying down Wiltshire.

This looks like a long list of complaints. Almost like buyers remorse. I am a complainer but these are just kinks I am working out. I have confidence in this bike and know that with more practice things will be easier. I can't do much about the route conditions (although I am considering filling out one of these forms) but I can keep trying and be patient.

To give the Yuba Mundo the praise it deserves, it was easier to ride up hills than my other bike. It was great to be able to carry three children at once. It was wonderful to sit more upright and my back is appreciative too. The shifting was smooth, except when I managed to thwart it's natural talent. It is certainly a show piece, and a fabulously functional one. I was going to have the children give the bike a name, as they have named our cars and it seems appropriate and a bit ridiculous. Suggestions for names? I will run it by the panel judges and let you know what they decide.

All these miles below are approximate because we haven't keep very accurate records since my departure last week. I hope to get my act together and record them better next week. The two miles on the bus was from Brent taking his entire class on the free downtown bus to get coffee at River and Rail yesterday. I would have loved a professor like this when I was a freshman, but it might have creeped me out as well....

Miles Walked: 0	Biked: 46	Bused: 2	Drove: 44	This week
53.7	358.8	12.6	539.2	Since August 14, 2011