British Parents for Pedal Power

I found this great story on ecovelo , about mums in schools who organised a bike sharing program. They got three Cargobikes which are kept at the schools and can be loaned or borrowed by participating parents. 

The great thing about this scheme is that it was in the UK. In Richmond, London. A superb example of people in the UK getting it together and fighting for themselves and their kids to have a bit of freedom from the car. Its such a positive story.

The scheme apparently is so successful that it won Tfls prize for Cycling Communities. I've heard nothing else about it at all. I picked it up on a US blog which includes coverage from a TV network! The UK getting international recognition for cycling schemes! What is the world coming to......

PS Read the link on ecovelo. Don't read the comments as the first comment on this really positive story is immediately negative. US commenter note.

Long Bikes

I've mentioned before how stable my bike is with the rear child seat. A lot of people will find that a rear child seat makes a bike much less stable. The reason it works so well (as a nice poster explained to me) on my bike is because it has a long wheel base and the rear rack is closer to the centre of the bike , due to the battery.

Theres a few bikes on the market that take this to the extreme. These bikes are also solutions to the famous qaundry of how to carry two kids on a bike. All these bikes are long wheel base bikes.

• The current hip favourite is the Xtracycle and all its derivatives
• Another fave is the Yuba , a project for africa that became popular in Europe
• New on the market in 2008 from a big brand the Kona UTE
• And from Holland the filiduo or tweelingsfiet (the same bike seems to be branded several ways, so a bit confusing)

Apparently there are waiting lists on most of these bikes. Must be a gap in the market for a bike that can do a little more. Still havent seen one yet but it must only be a matter of time. Its funny how bikes that are really useful have big waiting lists. Bromptons, my own Agattu, these Long Bikes, some of the new cargobikes. Do mainstream bike companies just not understand that people are using their bikes for everyday tasks and not just sport?

Another Trip to Cambridge

Mike and i had another trip to Cambridge last weekend. My wife was away for shopping and clubbing , so we had a free Saturday.

We went to Cambridge for a few reasons: I needed some bits and pieces; a bit of casual tourism; just for the ride ; but mostly to go and see a carpark. "A Carpark?" i hear you cry! Yup, but not just any carpark, we went to Park Street Cycle Park

We rode in, parked the bike, picked up our pushchair, walked into town and had a lovely day.

Lets just say the middle bit of that sentence again, as the simplicity and perfection of it need repeating.......

'picked up our pushchair'

I can't possibly overstate how great this was. The one thing that makes it hard to shop and travel by bike with a little one is not being able to take a pram. Yet in Cambridge they have the perfect solution. Loan pushchairs. They were nothing special, yet did the job and Mike could have his little sleep while i could enjoy a restful lunch with a good book and a nice glass of wine.
It had the added benefit of making me appreciate all the money we spent on his luxury top branded pushchair.

Town planners please take note of this small piece of genius. The people who spend Bristol's recent windfall should really consider this.

Hamax Plus System Follow up

A few notes on the hamax plus system, following a few months of use. 

First the seat. Its still going great, still no problems with it. A few tips though:

• For extra support when you know that your little one is going to fall asleep, take an inflatable neck pillow. It gives total support of the head.
  
• If your planning to leave the seat on the bike when you lock the bike up. You should secure the seat.  I have a thin lock for securing panniers and seat in one go, but i know someone who's just attached a little jangly padlock to the rack.
• Mikes got new waterproofs from Muddy Puddles. Still not had to use them though.

Second the panniers:

• I use these all the time now (my other panniers have been retired)
• They stand upright when you put them down, which makes them better than a normal pannier and better than a laptop bag. It also means you can put them in the bottom of a shopping trolley and load your shopping straight in.
• Its really easy to find things. Partly because the shape means the bottom is not very far away and partly because they have an almost luminous orangey yellow lining which makes it easy to see and find things.
• After a lot of practice i can take them on and off quite quickly now. Not as quick as my ortliebs but acceptably so.
• One of them is a good size for my laptop , a book, lunch, water, tools, and odds and ends. Theres just room to spare if i pick up a bottle of wine on my way home :-)

This Bike is a miracle!

When i got the electric bike i wanted somthing that:

1. Would be a good baby transporter.
2. Would let me do our hilly local journeys of 4.5 miles to the station and 6 miles to either of our nearest market towns, without sweating.
3. Would let me cycle when poorly.
4. Would let me cycle when injured.

Well now my knee is playing up and i cant get to work on my Dawes Sardar or Birdy , so i'm using the Kalkhoff to get to the station. So thats point4 answered. My knee still hurts a bit by Saturday but its not getting any worse.

The thing is while taking it easy to rest my knee i'm equalling my best journey times on the Sardar! Now its very rolling hilly, so i go slow up, but on the sardar, with the drop handlbars and lycra i'm like a rocket on the downs and one long flat stretch, so i was shocked to see the Agattu match these speeds while taking it easy and wearing office clothes.

When my knees better will i get back on the Dawes?

Family Ride

The whole family went out for a small ride at the weekend. We rode to a duck pond which is 6 miles away. Its quite flat but has a couple of ups and downs. This was our first 'true' family ride (as opposed to few test runs). It was a lovely day and Mike wore his Sunglasses for the whole journey which was a first (normally he always pulls them off). Unfortunately in training for this I'd been letting him wear 'Daddys' shades. This worked only too well, now if i pick him up and I'm wearing shades he grabs them of my face. I have little baby scars on my nose!

A few notes on from my wife's perspective. It was my wife's 3rd ride since she'd had Michael and it was also her first ride on the Agattu. She's lost the 'habit' (in the drug dependency meaning of the word) of cycling.Her first challenge was what to wear (I'll refrain from the obvious comments here as a) I'm just as vain and image conscious and b) she'll hit me). When i pointed out that the bike had power, rubber pedals and a skirt guard and that she wasn't going to get sweaty and that she could wear what she liked, she instantly thought great! and went off to change. Of course she was back 5 minutes later moaning her nice summer skirt was in the wash.....

The other things she liked were:

• She instantly liked the smooth ride which was reminiscent of an old dutch style bike she used to have.
• She loved the power when we hit our first hill. I told her to wait for me at the top:-)
• She loved the way having Michael on the back had no effect on the ride.
• She liked the new basket on the front. Great for throwing stuff into

All in all a convertee. I just need her to use it more now so that she can get her own!

Found a Good Family Forum

I've normally used the CTC forum for cycling advice and ideas. Its great , but when i became a parent i found there wasn't a specific place for parents to talk about kids and bikes.

I recently found Bike Radar which has a specific Family and Kids forum. Its not quite as intimate as the CTC forum, but its great to have a dedicated place to go for family cycling discussions.