Dashing Young Cyclists

Look who got some new cycling caps.

Originally the plan was to roll them up and put them in the boys' stockings. Whoops. Looks like I couldn't help myself.

Kidical Mass New Haven Takes Off

We had planned and publicized October's Ride for weeks.  We were excited to wear our costumes while riding and two of the boys' costumes actually involved bike helmets (even though they were not bicycled-themed).

Praying Mantis-- C was pleased when he realized that its head was shaped a bit like a bike helmet. Good thing we are a nutty family who happens to have uh... an extra bike helmet in the garage to spay paint and affix large eyes.

S was an android. That's a salad bowl on his head but to keep it up, we cut out a circular piece of foam and then taped a Nutcase helmet inside of it.  

And then came the snow. And the power outages throughout the state. We had been holding out hope that somehow the freak early storm would not dampen our Kidical Mass dreams, but at 8am that morning, we had to call it. While we usually are always willing to go for a bike ride, snow or no snow, we recognized that for our area, Kidical Mass is about trying to attract all different families to ride together, even those who are less zealous about it than we. We thought it best for the kick-off ride to be on a non-snow day (shout-out, of course, to Chicago's Kidical Mass that rides year round).  We still rode over to the Farmer's Market and hang out just in case folks did not get the news about the KMNH October ride cancellation.

We were lucky that we only lost phone and internet for a couple of days.  Some people in the state were without power for 11 days. 

This looks like an ad for Bogs boots to me. Yup, we each have a pair.

  On  the up side, we did still get to participate in the Giant Puppet Parade a few hours later.

Recognizing the importance of getting a group ride in before the real winter started, we sent a quick poll to some committed local family bicyclists and it seemed that November 13 suited most. Without weeks and weeks to publicize the new event, we got word out best we could.  With little idea just how well it would be attended, I was feeling a bit stressed and tried to squash the "I forgot to study for the exam" dreams that kept awakening me for numerous nights. We took advantage of a day off from school to ride and time the route ourselves.  Come Sunday morning, while the sky appeared clear, might I admit to some less-than-stellar parenting moments as I tried to get the boys dressed and out for the ride early?  Thankfully, my husband was still speaking to me as we saddled up and pedaled off to the meeting place.

We rode up to find one dad and toddler waiting. My boys greeted them enthusiastically and introductions were made.  Over the next 20 minutes or so, 50 more participants arrived.  That's right! Much to my extreme gratitude, we had over 50 riders for our hastily-rearranged inaugural KMNH ride.  We had bicyclists, bikes, and wheels of all sizes.  There was a nice array of kid-carrying velos from kid seats, cargo bikes, and trailers. We enjoyed the route that had us ride on a paved park path, a few urban streets, and one lovely residential one.  We ended up back in Edgewood Park, many of us indulging in the most incredible almond croissants from SoNo sold at the Farmer's Market, and looking forward to our next KMNH Ride.

Our friends just purchased this Madsen from our local bike shop but are waiting on their bucket.  Isn't it great that they ordered Madsen Cargo Bike Love t-shirts???

Here we are waiting for the next group to get through the green light.

Thanks to V. Balbarin for these last two snaps.

No, we do not make our kids wear helmets when climbing trees. It just happened to be a favored activity after the ride before helmets were shed.

kidical mass new haven november ride

CARGO BIKE LOVE models

I could not be more thrilled with the quality of Spreadshirt's printing of our Cargo Bike Love t-shirts.  The shirts came just days after we ordered them and the printing is clean and bold.

Each fellow chose his own design. You can see that my older guys have custom designs with printing colors they picked out (not currently offered as choices in my shops).  If you would want a shirt with custom printed colors, let me know and we can do that for you.

The teal printing on the royal blue shirt doesn't pop, but the orange really is brilliant.

Visit Cargo Bike Love at www.cargobikelove.spreadshirt.com.

introducing CARGO BIKE LOVE t-shirts

Folks who know me or who have been visiting this blog know that one of the things I like best outside of bikes is making t-shirts.  I started simply with freezer paper stencils and moved on to a low-tech, at-home screening system.  Some years ago, I used Zazzle.com for a series of t-shirts called Boys Like Pink, Too that still manage to sell a shirt here and there.


I enjoy my professional life, however, there are times when I would love to stay home and just make shirts.  I have never had any training in the graphic arts but love lettering by hand and messing around on the computer.  Recently, some of my favorite bike bloggers, Laura and Russ, from The Path Less Pedaled started posting their own shirts on a site I had not previously known.


This got me inspired.  With a bit of direction from Russ, I downloaded a free trial of Adobe Illustrator and started messing around with cargo bike designs.  Today, thanks to snow, yes SNOW in October, we had to cancel Kidical Mass New Haven's October Ride.  While we still got out by bikes to the Farmers Market and the Giant Puppet Parade (another post on that this week), the afternoon was spent at home.   I took advantage of the time and opened my very own Spreadshirt Store Front.


After contemplating various names, I decided not to name the storefront "Full Hands" and went with a name that specifically 'calls it like it is,' (and hopefully allows folks on search engines to stumble upon it).


Drumroll, please.


Introducing CARGO BIKE LOVE.

We have longtail designs, bakfietsen, Madsens, and cargo trikes.

  

Some of the great points about this website is that you can choose your own color and size shirt.  I also think the pricing is quite good, especially for a print-on-demand service.

Do contact me if you want any of these designs printed on anything else: baby onesies, hoodies, etc.  Also, if you there is some design you want tweaked a certain way (two kiddos in the bakfiets, perhaps or a different tagline), I would be open to that discussion as well.

Finally, if you like them and would be willing, please help spread the CARGO BIKE LOVE by posting the storefront on your Facebook page, Twitter account, or blog.  Many thanks.

pilgrimage to adeline adeline

Two weekends ago, my wonderful sis-in-law flew up to our place to hang with the boys so P and I could make an overnight trip to NYC to celebrate P's birthday.  We had a great 24 hours, visiting friends in Brooklyn and walking the High Line.  On Sunday morning, P asked what I wanted to do and I explained that I really, really wanted to head downtown to visit Adeline Adeline.


Those of you who obsessively follow bike blogs like I do, know that Adeline Adeline is:

... a bicycle boutique for the person who wants to rediscover the style, fun and romance of cycling. The shop is a friendly, welcoming environment that focuses on the beautifully designed city bikes and accessories made famous on the streets of Copenhagen, Amsterdam and now, New York.

Adeline Adeline founder, Julie Hirschfeld started her career far away from bikes, first as a graphic designer for the television channel, VH1, and then as partner in the New York design firm, Stiletto NYC, where she worked on fashion branding and motion graphics projects with such diverse clients as New York Magazine, Conde Nast, MTV and Nike.

Julie’s career took a turn after seeing her sister riding around the city on a vintage Schwinn. It was the design of these classic bikes that attracted her, combined with the comfortable upright ride that led her on a search for her perfect bicycle. After resigning herself to the fact that most of the city’s bike stores cater to either serious performance bikers or the enthusiast fixed-gear scene, she realized there was an opportunity for a new type of bike store that focuses on comfortable, relaxed riding for pleasure with an emphasis on the beautiful European city bikes that women ride in Copenhagen and other bike-centric cities.

Translating her aesthetic and design expertise into the world of bicycles, Julie brings a well-edited selection of beautiful, functional bicycles paired with lines of unique accessories in a stylish, welcoming environment.     http://www.adelineadeline.com/about-us

                                                                    

It was particularly cool that next to our family's profile in Momentum Mag, Adeline Adeline owner Hirschfield was profiled.  I was particularly excited to learn that she, too, is a mama of twins.

We could easily spot the storefront from down the street when we spied the bakfietsen parked out front.  Because I am not a clever blogger, I, of course, did not have a camera with me so had to rely on my very unsophisticated camera phone (P and I still have 'dumb phones' as we like to say!)

It was great fun to enter this bright shop with incredible bikes and beautiful accessories, including a green Brooks saddle and Yakkay helmets.  I was excited to try out the Yakkays as I have been eyeing them online for over a year.  Much to my wallet's relief, it turned out that I didn't like how the Yakkay looked on me so will be sticking with my Bern helmets for a little while longer.

One particularly sweet moment we had the privilege of witnessing-- a family walked into the shop with a toddler and the father was talking to his wife excitedly about the bikes inside.  While they were standing right inside the shop's door, a clerk went down the stairs and up came a bike, a Linus, I think, with a BoBike Jr. mounted on the back.  Surprise! It turns out that the wife had already been to the shop and BOUGHT this bike for her husband as a surprise. It was lovely. I asked if I could take a photo as they tested out the BoBike with their little guy. Unfortunately, I managed to blur the moment:

We left the shop after lots of oogling, but I did walk away with a wonderful new find-- a gorgeous bike magazine from the UK, called Boneshaker (not to be confused with the U.S.'s  Boneshaker: A Bicycling Almanac which is fun, too!)

I enjoyed the train trip home looking at its incredible graphics and reading about cool bikey people.  I was excited to find the magazine on Facebook and now I am trying to convince my local bike shop to carry it as well. 

It was so fun to be in The City (as we like to say) sans kids, watching all the bikes on the streets.  We could not help but be very attracted to these-- a clever mix of subway grate, bike racks, and benches.

Next time, I'll have to remember my camera....

new facebook status update

Sara 

Wondering what the bicycling equivalent of a Clown Car is-- a Buffoon Bike? Arrived at school today and unpacked one six-year-old wearing ski googles, a backpack with lunch box, a tote bag with laptop computer and lunch box, a bag of soccer gear for two nine-year-olds, and one guitar. Gotta love cargo bikes!

 ·  · 7 minutes ago


p.s. Great suggestion from "We Likes Cargo Bikes" -- Bozo Bike!