Biking – Page 12 – Her Green Life

Biking begets biking

Given the frequency of snow-pack and ice on the roads, combined with some very cold temps, I spent a significant portion of the winter hibernating, bicycle-wise (and in general — I don’t like driving a car on snowy, icy roads much more than I like biking on said roads, so, when possible, I just avoided going out, unless I could walk to my destination).

I’ve been making up for lost time these past few weeks, logging quite a number of bike trips and racking up the miles. Instead of having a hard time remembering when I last rode, I know have to think I minute to recall a day when I didn’t ride!

Friday: “Bike to Work Day”
Bike to Work Day is kind-of odd when biking to work is your default, but it’s fun to have a day to officially celebrate our transportation method of choice. Even though I work from home, we all got in the spirit, and Gabriel and I accompanied Matthew most of the way to work, stopping at one of the official “refueling stations,” before heading to La Patisserie Chouquette for a bakery treat . . .

. . . only to find that their hours had changed, and they didn’t open until nine. Boo, hiss!

We salvaged the outing by biking to Rise Coffee instead, where we were offered a free shot of espresso (for all cyclists on BtW Day). We’re not coffee drinkers, but the barista was undaunted, and he made us each a honey piccolo (basically a milky, honey-sweetened espresso shot), to accompany our baked goods, which included a delicious rhubarb muffin and a cheddar chive scone, as well as a thumbprint cookie.

We had our snacks, and then I biked home to work.

Saturday: Velo in the City
Last fall, I met a wonderful CyclingSavvy grad who was starting Velo in the City, a group for like-minded bikey people to meet up and enjoy social rides to various destinations in StL. The first event-to-be was scheduled for December, but cancelled due to weather, and then we just had months and months of winter weather.

Six months later, Velo in the City had it’s inaugural event, a bike ride to Forest Park, complete with a potluck-style picnic in the park.

It was a perfect spring day, starting off cool, and warming up, but not getting hot, and the company was great, as was the food. We also had a birthday to celebrate, and a couldn’t resist a bikey cake!

I felt very content as we chatted and shared food, a nice, comfortable “these are my kind-of people” feeling. I’m looking forward to future events!

Sunday: Family Day
After Saturday’s lovely ride, I just couldn’t stop thinking about being on the bike. We had plans for lunch at my FIL’s, which, at four miles away, is a relatively easy ride (both in terms of effort/energy expended and time required), but Matthew wanted to sneak in a couple more hours at the garden (at my MILs, which is 10+ miles).

In the end, I managed both. Sir and I biked to my FILs first-thing in the morning, left Roadrunner there, and continued on to my MILs by car with Matthew.

This was probably my longest ride on Roadrunner with a passenger, and it included two tough hills — the first one just steep and challenging, and the second, immediately after the first, tough because I’m still recovering from the first hill (this is not unlike the hill situation that either Matthew and I will be tackling regularly in the fall, on the way home from Sir’s preschool). I made it up both hills, slowly but surely, with my passenger chanting, “Go, Mama, go!”

And more bike
I started the work week with a ride to the community college this morning (part of my circuitous route to possibly applying for SLU’s physician assistant (PA) program), for more tests to prove that I am, in fact, “college ready” (in case my undergraduate degree and my master’s, both from rather good schools, didn’t make that clear), and we’re going by bike to look at a couple of houses this afternoon. Pedals up and bike on!

Biking with baby: Trailer vs. front seat vs. rear seat

This is probably the last “Biking with baby” post that I’ll write. Sir is certainly no longer a baby — he’s well into toddler-hood, and, in a few short months, he’ll be a [young] preschooler — but I started writing this post over a year ago, when he was about 19-months-old.

With the addition of our longtail with a rear child seat, we’ve now tried three out of the four main methods I can think of for transporting a baby or toddler by bicycle: trailer, front-mounted seat, and rear-mounted seat. That just leaves some type box bike on our “yet to try” list (maybe that will happen in Portland this summer!). So, let’s start at the very beginning, shall we?

Trailer
Oh, the trailer. Going into this whole biking with a baby thing, the trailer was really the only option I knew of for riding with a little one, short of buying a box bike. (A trailer or a box bike really are the only options, short of carrying the infant on one’s body, for safely biking with a baby who is too young to support his/her own head, which usually happens around the 12-month mark.)

So, we did our research, decided that the Chariot Cougar trailers, with their built-in suspension systems, were the best-of-the-best, and finally found a good deal on a very good condition, 2-child model. We added the baby supporter accessory and were good to go. Kind-0f.

In reality, biking with a small infant in a trailer is tricky. The baby supporter seemed necessary to keep him from just tipping over (even strapped in), and the optional neck/head support is not optional with a 6-month-old. However, it didn’t really work to use the head support piece AND a helmet (and at 6-months old, even with a big head, the smallest helmets were too big anyway). Even though I don’t [usually] preach about it, I’m a helmet girl myself, and riding around with a helmet on my head, but NOT on my baby’s head, always felt wrong.

Also, even with the baby supporter, Sir always slumped to one side or the other in the trailer, and, understandably, he was not happy about it. This continued to be an issue with the Chariot trailer even after he outgrew the baby supporter.

In hindsight, we would have been better served by a 1-child bicycle trailer. I’ve heard about people securing a standard infant car seat directly in a 1-child trailer. Using a car seat would have allowed us to start biking with Sir at an even earlier age, and it would have been easier to prop him up and eliminate the slumping/tipping problem we encountered.

In June 2012, just shy of Sir’s first birthday, my biking with babies world changed dramatically when I acquired an IBert front-seat. We kept the trailer for back-up, rain, cold, etc., but the Chariot rarely saw the light of day after that.*

Front seat
Best. Thing. Ever. Our IBert front-seat was a total game changer in terms of biking with an infant/toddler! I cannot recommend a front seat enough, for all of the reasons that S covers so succinctly over at Simply Bike.**

Riding with a front seat was easy from the get-go, and, now that I can compare, I can report that overall bike handling and balance was better with a front seat than with a rear seat.

But the real selling point of the front seat is the constant parent-child interaction and priceless bike-bonding time. You just don’t get that with a rear child seat (more on that in the next section).

My only complaint with the IBert is the strap system. The shoulder straps are widely spaced, and it was difficult to keep them from slipping off of Sir’s shoulders. Once he got bigger, the straps were also not long enough to really fit. Fortunately, there is a lap bar that also clicks into place, so even with the wonky shoulder straps, I always felt he was fairly secure.

At least on our older model, the strap also had to go over the head, which meant the helmet had to go on after clipping him in and come off before removing him from the seat — this was annoying in instances where we were making a very short stop, say, running into a store to grab one thing, and it would have been convenient to just leave the helmet on his head.

While there are a variety of options, I would say either the IBert or the Yepp Mini are the way to go here. While I really liked the IBert overall, given the issues with the straps, I would certainly look into the Yepp Mini, were I to do it all over again. But I also would not hesitate to buy the IBert.

The IBert is rated for children up to 38 pounds. Sir is just shy of that number, but, although the seat doesn’t officially have a height limit, at 39 inches tall, his legs have been pretty cramped in the IBert since last fall, and I’m now bumping my chin on his helmet. Time for something new.

Rear seat
After a lot of research and pondering, we settled on a longtail bicycle with a rear child seat (Yepp Maxi) as the best option for biking with an older toddler. You can put a rear seat on almost any bicycle, but most set-ups come at the expense of cargo room, which we weren’t willing to give up, hence the longtail.

The longtail also provides a very stable base for the seat (especially with the heavy duty center kickstand), and, once he outgrows the Yepp seat (48 pound weight limit), we can add either the Hooptie accessory or just a standard handlebar, mounted to our seat post, along with a cushion, and continue to carry our growing passenger for many years.

Our longtail is great, but I do miss having my little guy right up front with me, between my arms. With him in back of me, I can usually hear what he’s saying perfectly well, but I don’t think he catches much of what I say unless I turn around, which is unsafe and unpractical to do all that much.

There are a few options that might get Gabriel in front of me again, and, ideally, we would have a second kid-hauling bike set-up anyway (say, if Matthew used the Roadrunner to drop Sir off at school in the morning on his way to work, but I needed to pick Sir up in the afternoon), but that’s for another post!

*We ultimately decided to part with the trailer this spring. It was tempting to keep it as a back-up and for bad weather, but it really didn’t make sense — the money and garage space went to the Roadrunner. I almost felt guilty selling it because having the child on the bike is just SO superior to pulling a trailer!
**More from Simply Bike on trailer vs. front seat here

Super bikey weekend (the best kind)

I kicked the weekend off with a bike shop date on Friday night, followed by a full day of CyclingSavvy on Saturday. We wrapped things up with a Mother’s Day picnic by bike.

Bike shop date night
Matthew experienced significant knee pain during and after his first real ride on the Roadrunner. Turns out, we hadn’t really taken time to get fit when we picked her up from the bike shop, and the maximum height on the seat post we started with was a good two inches lower than Matthew needed it.

So on Friday night, we loaded Roadrunner on our trunk rack (drove it there rather than biking, for various logistical reasons). Getting it on there was definitely a two-person job, but it wasn’t too bad. As you can see, the bike is quite a bit longer than our car is wide, which made for some nervous driving, but we made it to The Hub and back with no problems. We spent quite awhile there, but it was a good use of time and a decent way to spend our weekly date night.

There was that awkward moment during the fitting when I realized that I was surrounded by men (the bike shop mechanics, who, I guess, are all road riders) with hairless legs. If nothing else, my decisions about body hair removal clearly mark me a non-roadie!

Anyhow, we now have an extra long seat post, with each of our positions etched into it, for easy swapping back and forth. We are probably going to do something different with the handlebars, probably more of a flat bar, perhaps with an adjustable stem so we can quickly and easily customize that aspect for either of us as well.

CyclingSavvy
Saturday morning I was up and on my bike by twenty after seven, headed for a full day of teaching CyclingSavvy. We had a small class (below our usual minimum of four students required to go ahead with the class), but it was completely worth it!

Two past CS grads joined us for the Road Tour portion as we trekked through U City, Clayton, and Brentwood. You can read Rebecca’s wonderful recap of the experience on her blog, Fiets of STyLe, and there are more photos here. This course is SO rewarding to teach!

By the time I reached home, I’d been out and about on the bike, in the sun and the heat for nine hours. Not long after G’s bedtime, I was on the couch and it was pass-out-o’clock.

Mother’s Day
I wanted something simple and low-key for Mother’s Day, and a picnic lunch at a local park fit that bill perfectly. We loaded up the Roadrunner and headed over early, to take advantage of cooler morning temps on what would be an almost 90-degree day.

Gabriel and I are clearly ready for careers as professional bike models, no?

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We wrapped things up by heading to Ted Drewes for some frozen custard, where the longtail got lots of attention. Gabriel wanted to eat his mini cone in his bike seat. After our frozen custard, we headed home to rest.

All-in-all, it was a very lovely weekend by bike!

Roadrunner specs and accessories

The folks at Xtracycle offer a few different build options for the Edgerunner, with different gearing and brakes, but once we decided we wanted an internal hub, it was cheapest to just buy the frame and build from there, rather than buy one of the stock bikes and swap parts.

First, a shout out to the Facebook group (R)Evolutions Per Minute: Cargo Bikes in the US. Cargo bike owners and enthusiasts graciously answered questions and provided input throughout the entire longtail selection and building process, and their help was invaluable. (R)Evolutions Per Minute is the Facebook group of the Less Car More Go cargo bike documentary project (learn more and check out the Kickstarter campaign).

Also, thanks again to The Hub (our LBS) for taking on this project (there are no official Xtracycle dealers in StL) and to the folks at Xtracycle, for taking time to answer our questions.

The Build

Edgerunner frameset w/ FSA Pig PRO headset
Alfine 11 Hub with parts kit and shifter
Alfine chain tensioner (needed on vertical dropout frame)
SRAM PC830 chains
45 tooth front ring and an 18 tooth or 20 tooth cog on the rear (we asked The Hub for this build per the recommendation from Splendid Cycles; I’d actually have to go out and count the teeth to see whether or not this happened)
Avid BB7 Brakes Front and Rear, with Shimano centerlock adapter in rear
Brake levers: a longer city/hybrid style
Upgraded Avid Slickwire Brake Cable and housing to improve brake modulation and power (especially in rear)
Wheels: Shimano Rhyno Lite Rims, Butted Spokes, Brass nipples, Shimano XT front hub
Schwalbe Big Apples in black, front and rear. 26 x 2.15 with k-guard for front, and 20 x 2.15 with raceguard for rear
FSA Metropolis Cranks with Shimano UN-55 Bottom Bracket
Handlebar: Stock bar from a Kona Dew Delux that we tried and liked in the shop, similar to Civia Humbolt Handlebar
Kalloy UNO seatpost (will be swapping for a longer one, to accommodate Matthew’s height)
Dimension (or similar) stem
Hobson Easyseat noseless saddle — an extra one we already had
Shimano SPD pedals with SPD on one side, platform on the other

Xtracycle Accessories

FlightDeck [Two] rear deck: the new version has ports for the Yepp Easyfit seat built into the deck — this is both good and bad . . .
KickBack center kickstand
X2 cargo bags: We opted for the more expensive, waterproof X2 bags, rather than the X1 bags. We were warned that they might not play nicely with the Yepp seat. That is true, although we may not have fared much better with the X1 bags (more on that in a minute)
Standard Xtracycle racks: we liked the idea of the heavy duty P-racks, which also have the benefit of rails to accommodate any pannier, but the P-racks are taller than the standard racks, which would have meant a higher center of gravity for the rear load, so we stuck with the standard
Stock Edgerunner fenders (metal): Fenders are a must, and, with the different wheel sizes, it was easiest to order the set from Xtracycle, which comes with a 26″ front and a 20″ rear — the fenders provide great coverage and are very sturdy

Baby Jake on the left, Roadrunner on the right

Our Add-ons

Two brackets for use with our Planet Bike rear lights
One bracket for our Planet Bike “be seen” front headlight
This accessory mount for the handlebar
Mounting bracket for our Cygolite MityCross “see” headlights — for now, we moved the bracket from Matthew’s back-up bike, but at some point we may order an extra bracket
Water bottle cage (we had an extra sitting around)
Standard bike bell

IMG_4008_Edit — Front light mounts and bell

The FlightDeck doubled as a convenient tool stand while installing the rear light brackets

Child seat and bag compatibility issue

We were warned by Xtracycle that the Yepp Child Seat might not play nicely with the X2 cargo bags — specifically, that we would not be able to use the lids that are an integral part of making the X2 bags waterproof. Thinking long-term, we opted for the X2 bags anyway — in a couple of years, G will have outgrown the child seat, and we’ll have fully-functional bags — until then, we’ll just have to make sure cargo is protected from rain some other way.

Unfortunately, the compatibility issue seems to be exacerbated by the new FlightDeck design. The previous design required the use of the Yepp Easyfit adapter, which meant the Yepp seat was mounted a couple of inches above the cargo deck. While the new design, with the Yepp Easyfit ports built right into the cargo deck, is an improvement in terms of keeping the child’s weight lower and not having to buy the adapter, those extra vertical inches may have been key to the seat and the cargo bags playing nicely together.

The footrests on the Yepp seat, which straddle the cargo deck, do not fir over both the deck and the inside layer of the cargo bag when the seat is in the front port. For our initial test ride, we had to use the rear port for the Yepp seat, which put G’s weight further back on the bike, creating more balance issues.

The following morning, we came to the above compromise: we returned the Yepp seat to the front port and scrunched the bags toward the back of the rack, so the front of the cargo bag is behind the Yepp footrest. Not ideal, but seemingly our best option.

A note on the frame color

Though you can’t see much of the frame, what you can see in the pictures in this post actually come close to depicting the actual color. I did a little digging on the Crayola website, trying to find a way to describe our frame color, and found . . .

. . . robin’s egg blue! I think that is the closest color match I’ve seen.

21.6 + 15.0

Another Saturday, another bike ride. This Saturday’s ride put last week’s to shame, distance-wise.

Once again, I started at our commuter garden in Kirkwood. From there, I headed east to pick up a bike-blog friend, Rebecca. We rode together to Clayton, and then rode in circles in a fancy subdivision trying to find a well-hidden (and rather poorly designed) pedestrian crossing over Forest Park Parkway. After more than a bit of wandering, we prevailed!

I rather imagine the residents of that neighborhood like keeping it a secret. Unfortunately, the design on the north end of the cut through was so poor as to make it rather useless when headed north.

We stopped to rest, sip smoothies, and chat at Kaldi’s. Afterward, we biked a bit further together, then parted ways. Rebecca tackled her hilly route home, and I headed out to do some ground-truthing for Saturday’s CyclingSavvy “Tour of St. Louis.”

On the way home, I stopped by Mesa Cycles to pick up some replacement helmet pads that Matthew ordered. I also bought a rear-mount kickstand for Baby Jake — it only took me five years to get a kickstand for this bike!Due to the placement of the rear shifting cable, I can’t use what I would call a traditional, bottom-mounted plate kickstand on Baby Jake. I’d looked at Greenfield Rear Mount Kickstand before, but it didn’t play nicely with the trailer hitch. But no more trailer means this kickstand is now a go!

Finally, after 21.6 miles, I ended up back at home, a pooped pup!

‘Twas probably good practice for this coming Saturday, when I’ll be riding about the same distance teaching the on-bike portions of CyclingSavvy (that distance includes biking to/from the start point). Having that kickstand will be especially useful when teaching! (If you’re in the StL area, we still have a few open seats for both the Wednesday night classroom session and the Saturday on-bike sessions.)

Sunday didn’t bring much rest, as I first biked to church in the morning, and then to a fundraiser for G’s [soon-to-be] preschool in the evening, racking up 15 more miles.

The Sunday evening ride with Matthew was a great way to wrap up the weekend, and my first chance to trial both my new kickstand and the new front headlight that Matthew got me for Christmas (obviously haven’t done much night biking lately!).

Category Archives: Biking

Biking begets biking

Biking with baby: Trailer vs. front seat vs. rear seat

Super bikey weekend (the best kind)

Roadrunner specs and accessories

21.6 + 15.0

*Kickstand pic credit: http://www.vwvagabonds.com/images/BikeKickstand.JPG

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*Kickstand pic credit: http://www.vwvagabonds.com/images/BikeKickstand.JPG

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