Tag Archives: biking with baby

Weekends these days

So I was all prepared to write a post comparing recent weekends to past April weekends, complaining about how I don’t get to bike or do anything anymore but after last weekend, I can’t truthfully write such a post.

Matthew, in his infinite cleverness, discovered that we don’t actually have to disassemble the trailer to get it in and out of the basement.  If we partially flatten it and remove the hitch arm, we can then take it through the door sideways, with the wheels still in place.

While carrying a bicycle up the stairs, then hauling up the trailer, then attaching said trailer to my bike is not exactly easy while keeping tabs on a nine-month-old, this new discovery makes it a bit less of a production.

Last Friday morning, I loaded Sir into his chariot for our first solo bike outing.  On previous outings (here and here), Matthew pulled the trailer, so it was also my first time pulling the trailer with him in it.

(The hardest part was getting him into the darn baby supporter — there’s this piece that you have to pull over the baby’s head, and it’s very awkward.  They really need to tweak the design to make it more user-friendly.  I think I can modify it, but I haven’t had a chance to see if my idea will work yet.)

Anyway, we biked to the park for a short visit.  On the way home, while waiting to make our left turn onto Kingshighway, I got some kind of, “You’re not seriously going to [something unintelligible] on Kingshighway . . . ?”

Why, yes, I am going to operate my vehicle on this street, just like you’re going to operate your vehicle on this street, thank you very much.  I really need to remember to carry Cycling Savvy flyers with me and be ready to hand them out.

Later that day, we were back on the bike to check out some real estate.  I looped a cable through part of the frame of the trailer for locking up, and Sir grabbed it and seemed to be using it as an “oh shit handle” during our ride.  Sir, please, I’m not that crazy of a driver.

Our new Saturday routine involves sending Gabriel out to the garden with Matthew, which gives me some much-needed time to myself.  I spent last Saturday biking around gathering ingredients for Matthew’s birthday dinner.

Despite no baby on board, I hitched up the trailer, which allowed me to easily carry my final load of a 3+ liter tin of olive oil, a half gallon of soy milk, a half gallon of dairy milk, some bulk bin dry goods, a gallon of apple cider vinegar, and  few other odds and ends.  With just my milk crate, or even my milk crate and panniers, that load would have required some stops back at the apartment between stores.

After all the biking with the trailer, my Sunday morning ride, just me and Bub was a breeze.

While life IS very different these days, I reclaimed some of the joys of weekends past, and I hope to do more of it in the future.

Pastries in the park

I feared the rainy forecast for Sunday would derail my hopes for a family bike ride this weekend, but the rain held off long enough for us to have a nice outing.

We started with a trip to The Hill for sfogliatelle, a delicious Italian pastry with a ricotta filling.

Pastries in milk crate, we headed to the park to play.

We ducked into Local Harvest to grab a few bulk bin grains on our way home and made it back just barely damp, having ridden through some sprinkles for the last few blocks.

The rubber hits the road

When I looked at the forecast for New Year’s weekend and saw temperatures in the 60s, I knew it was time for Gabriel’s inaugural bicycle [trailer] ride.  My parents gave us the baby supporter accessory for Christmas, so we were ready for action.

Friday morning, after his first nap, we strapped The Dude into the trailer and rode our bikes to Tower Grove Park.

Ready to roll

I’d debated using the trip to run an errand but ultimately decided to keep it all pleasure, so we biked the outer loop road in the park, and then headed back home.  Apparently The Dude was pretty comfortable — he looked around for a bit at first, and, shortly after we entered the park, he fell asleep for the rest of the ride.

My biking boys

Suffice it to say that after a year of research and planning on how we would include a baby in our preferred form of transportation, actually taking a bike ride with him was wonderful!  That, combined with the fresh air, sunshine, and physical activity really lifted my spirits 🙂

Previous “Biking with Baby” posts:

Bike void

I’m pretty sure it’s been over a month since I last rode my bike.  I believe the actual date was October 15th, when I made a late evening gelato run to use a Groupon before it expired.  (I returned home with a quart of half pistachio, half cherry, in case you were wondering.)  So yeah, hard as I try, I can’t come up with a time since then, which makes it a month-and-a-half 😦

When I was a full-time bicycle commuter, I’d barely hesitate before heading out on cold, dark rides.  I’m afraid that I’ve gotten a bit soft after wo years of car commuting, plus the last few post-baby months of barely biking for non-work trips.  Though I long for the day I return to full-time bicycle commuting, the all-weather aspect will require some readjustment.

Knowing I’m not the only new bicycling mama in bicycle withdrawal does help a bit.  If we actually had the baby supporter, we might have given the trailer a real test drive (i.e., one with The Dude) last Friday, but alas, it only exists on our Christmas wish list right now.

I really doubt we’ll take him out in the trailer in the dead of winter, for fear of creating a Dude-sicle, and as goes baby, so goes mama.  That means we’re looking at the spring before any chance even semi-regular biking around here.  It just occurred to me that maybe I should get one of those trainer thingies for my bike, or I might not be fit to ride my bicycle around the block, much less take longer trips pulling a trailer, come spring!

The Dude’s new ride

Patience and persistence finally paid off in both our bike trailer and jogging stroller Craigslist searches.  (I’ll get to the stroller in a future post.)

We actually bought the bike trailer a few weeks ago, after many failed attempts where we either just missed the item, or offered a lower price that wasn’t accepted.  I had narrowed the search to something with suspension, which meant either a high-end Burley model or a Chariot — both retail in the $600-$700 range new.  I hoped to get a new-to-us version for $250 or less.

In the end, we came up a little from that, but we are now the proud owners of a double Chariot Cougar with the stroller conversion kit.  We will be spending a bit more to buy the baby supporter accessory.  Once we have that, I will be sorely tempted to get out on the bike with The Dude.

The product website says the baby supporter is for, “children approximately 6-18 months of age,” but most of the reviews mention using it starting at 2-3 months.  The Dude is 3 months now, and a big 3 months at that, so basically it comes down to a helmet dilemma.  We could most likely ride with him now, but, even if his head were big enough for a helmet, I don’t think it will work with the head support.

So . . . bike helmets.  Riding a safe bicycle, in a safe and confident manner, is a cyclist’s most important safety tool, and a helmet only  protects so much, but why not have it as a back-up?  I don’t get preachy about it, but I do always wear a helmet, and think non-helmeted bikers look rather stupid.

So is it hypocritical to consider my baby NOT wearing one?  Perhaps, but on the other hand, The Dude will be protected by the trailer and the baby supporter, not just sitting on a bicycle seat.  I would argue that this is not much different than riding in a car, and I don’t know of any parents who put a helmet on their baby in the car.

For now, we’ll take things one step at a time.  The next step is actually buying the baby supporter.  Then we can put The Dude into the trailer, with the supporter, and evaluate his security and stability.  If all systems are go, we can sneak in a few rides gorgeous fall rides before winter weather hits.