Car Free Days

I recently requested some bike racks for a fairly new commercial strip in the Ravenna neighborhood of Seattle. Over the past several years some “mixed use” apartment buildings have been built on NE 65th street. In addition to the two large apartment buildings, there are now four restaurants on the two-block stretch. And not a single bike rack. (more…)

Richard Truax, YMCA Earth Service Corps adviser and social studies teacher at Garfield High School wrote an interesting opinion piece in the Seattle PI about what he says is a pathetic lack of bike parking at the Central District school and what he contends is complete indifference on the matter from both the mayor’s office and school district. Give the piece a read yourself, peruse the comments (the one from Beth2000, posted at 3:00 AM, is particularly entertaining - we love the middle-of-the-night-angry-ranting), and form your own opinion. (more…)

Who would have thought—rain, sleet, and snow—all on the same ride? Well, maybe in January, but not on March 26th!

Sheesh, it was a wet, cold, and lonely night out there. Not a bit like last week when I enjoyed a lovely spring ride in the company of a backpack-clad fellow commuter all kitted out in Broadmark Capital gear.

As he spun along on his unencumbered rain bike he couldn’t help but comment on me and my Clampett-size load of crap:

“You sure ride with a lot of stuff.”

(more…)

Garrish on Bikes, Mostly wrote a Kona-Ute post about a photo I took at the NAHBS last month. My photo showed a wooden snapdeck and sideloader-like bag combo on a Ute. Garrish and readers wondered a) if it was homemade—it was. Props to the owner/builder if you are out there; and b) Why the heck wasn’t Kona sticking with the Xtracycle accessories, snapdeck, and the like.

For weeks now, I’ve been wondering about that too, and mulling over the lame choices Kona made when rolling their “own” long bike design. But before I open my can of whoop-ass, I’d first like to applaud Kona for their work with the Africa Bike, Bike Town Africa and the adopt an Africa bike program.

Way to go guys. Nice work there.

(more…)

The four-year-old and I journeyed over the University Bridge to pick up some ski helmets we scored on Craigslist. We pulled into the Red Robin parking lot a few minutes early and waited for our helmet connection to show. While we were waiting, the little guy noticed the Bryce Lewis ghost bike memorial on the corner of Fuhrman and Eastlake. (more…)

Val and Aaron have informed us that the Spring Cargo Bike ride will take place on Sunday, March 23rd. Details here.

We won’t be able to make this one - we will be spending Easter with family.

We’ll look forward to the next ride.

Cheers

 - Anne and Tim

Tim and I are taking the One Less Car Challenge sponsored by the City of Seattle. We originally applied back in November when we sold our Saab but had some trouble with our contract being received.  It’s all good now and we’re set up with the program. We agree not to replace the car for a year. I really doubt we’ll ever replace it so it’s not super challenging for us. But we’ll take it anyway. (more…)

There’s no good way to tell you to take this test without giving it away, but trust me. You should follow this link and take the test. And tell your bio-diesel Suburban-driving neighbors to give it a whirl, too.

By the way, it’s OK to skip the intro, but unlike my spoilsport wife, you should really try to count. Thanks to my pal Kathleen for the link.

-Tim

We had a wonderful time at the Dutch Bike Co. Grand Opening on Saturday evening. Riding cool Dutch and Danish city bikes, drinking beer and eating brats while enjoying good people—what more could you ask for? How about Danish bikes and high heels, Maritime brews, and Val-conducted rides on the Conference Bike. (more…)

Thought I’d do a quartlerly winter wrap up (December through January) of our biking and car driving stats. The last time I did this was in November.

(more…)