Earth Day Festival

Last Saturday, we went on one of our little bike adventures. I love the time biking around together as a family. A triple, two kids' bikes, and a bakfiets elicit all kinds of happy waves and lots of conversation. I felt especially clowny-looking last Saturday. Since the whether was unseasonably warm, I attached a red wagon canopy to the bakfiets in an attempt as a sunshade.

Photo from another day, but you can see the sunshade...

Our first stop was Joshua's soccer game. Here is Joshua as we're getting ready to leave:

Our second stop was a new farmers' market. The market wins kudos for the water table set up for kids:

After this, we went to an Earth Day festival near the Cupertino library. We collected all kinds of goodies and snippets of information-- including red blinkie lights, water bottles, and T-shirts. There was also a booth with electric bicycles to try out. I've never ridden one before and it was kind of fun. On these, you just turned the throttle on the handlebars and sped off-- no pedaling needed. I don't see us buying or wanting one anytime soon, but it was fun to check them out anyway.

Tommy Bahama bike from ELV Motors

We ended up spending several hours at the festival and by the end of the day, we were pretty tired. The heat (I've always hated hot weather) plus lugging baby around seemed to have affected me the worst. I managed to make it home, but then promptly went to bed fighting a headache and extreme fatigue. It was a reminder to me that I need to be careful and stay hydrated and cool, especially while pedaling my monster bike around in warm weather.

Bike Conversation

Chatting with Daniella this evening, I had the following little exchange:

   Daniella: When I grow up, I am going to buy a bakfiets.

   Me: Why?

   Daniella: So I can put my [future] pet dog and all my camping gear in it and zoom off...

That sounds so wonderfully fun. I hope she gets to do it someday :)

Stolen bike

What's left of the bike...

Not my bike, but looked just about like this...

My Breezer bicycle was stolen two nights ago. Jeremy rode it to a local high school where he was taking a Chinese class through our school district's Adult Ed program. (He often borrows it in the evening because he likes the generator lights.) After class, he found the cheap cable lock cut and the bike gone. It hasn't shown up on Craigslist (yet?), but we filed a police report and who knows.... it could show up. The bike did need some costly repairs/replacements and so we were considering just buying a new bike anyway, but it's still unsettling. It's made us think about how/ what we use to lock our bikes. Jeremy's pulled out his stash of U-locks that we've used in the past on college campuses and other high-theft areas. We never thought we'd need them in our immediate neighborhood. SIGH.

A Road Trip and a Bike Trip

It's been a busy past few weeks. The week before last the children didn't have school and we decided on a whim to head toward Tahoe and play in the snow. There were some vehement complaints about not biking, but a few hundred miles, several thousand feet of elevation change, winter weather, lack of experience in long-distance touring, and just a few days to go a few hundred miles just didn't sound like a good combination. So we drove, spending time at Jeremy's parents' home near Sacramento on the way there and the way back. There really wasn't much snow, but the weather was quite warm (40s or so) and the kids (and adults!) had a blast sledding and playing:

Because this is a bike blog... In front of the South Lake Tahoe visitors' center.

First sledding hill we went to-- recommendation from the visitors' center. This one was a little scary--  big people coming down fast and no clear paths up or down.

We stayed at these cabins in Zephyr cove. It's mostly a summer resort right on Lake Tahoe, but they're great in the winter too-- such a beautiful setting. We did have to take what was available though-- a studio with a double bed and fold-out sofa.  The clerk said he didn't care if we slept 8 of us in there, so we went for it. Too squishy. If we return, we'll make reservations for something bigger. 

Lake Tahoe near the cabin. The snow ran right into the sand  which ran into the water. The lake doesn't freeze because  the currents are too strong.

Second sledding hill-- Adventure Mountain at Echo Summit. For a small per car entrance fee, you get nicely groomed paths and restrooms. 

We also did a lot of fun things with Grandma and Grandpa. Grandma took the girls to some local horse stables where they got to help groom the horses and chat with owner. The boys went to the Woodland Truck and Tractor Museum. One afternoon, all kids except for the baby went to Sacramento's Discovery Museum.

Truck and Tractor Museum. Kids can pedal little tractors through the museum-- so cool. Jeremy (who took the three "big" boys) decided they were done visiting, when they began intentionally crashing the tractors into each other.

Dinosaur Josh at the Discovery Museum

On the way to Sacramento we got off the highway several times and scouted out Google's suggested bike route. We especially wanted to look at freeway crossings, since (if they're not on a pedestrian/ bike only bridge) they can be quite unpleasant. Things looked pretty good and we're considering riding the 100 miles to my inlaws at some point.

After the road trip, everyone was itching for a bike ride, so the day after we returned we headed south about 10 miles to the downtown San Jose Psycho Donuts and to explore a pedestrian/bike trail in San Jose's Guadalupe River Park. I was less than enthused about the park-- so many ups and downs under roads, tight turns and dead-ends on the trail. I went looking for the carousel with some of the children and somehow missed it. Long story short, I like riding my bike, but am not especially fond of downtown San Jose. It's always struck me as an eerily empty wannabe city and our little trip there didn't change that.

Giant Monopoly Board

Eating Psycho Donuts (in front of Target-- where we ended up after the too many ups and downs/dead ends).

An urban farm-- donuts for snack, fresh salad for dinner. 

And that's just a bit of what we've been up to... I'd be blogging all night if I put up all the photos and details!

Off to Stanford...

The Saturday before last, we set out on a family bike ride to "somewhere". We ended up at Stanford University-- via our church building (we helped to clean it; everyone takes a turn), a donut shop, and a detour into some very mild hills (which I had to walk the bakfiets up-- sigh). We ate lunch at Stanford and went to the Cantor Museum and the football stadium (Joshua's request). On the way home, we stopped to visit donkeys at Bol Park at then rested at a cute little ice cream/candy shop tucked away in a residential area. Our last stop was at dusk at a playground. Pictures say more than words about our 30 mile adventure:

Just biking along...

Chain fell off... common problem on the triple.

All of those bikes are ours!

One of the hills I had to walk the bakfiets up.

In front of the bike shop on the Stanford Campus. They have tools you can use to fix up your bike. Came in handy for a loose seat on the triple.

Near Bol Park. Community donkeys are cared for by volunteers.

Sweet Shop.

Very cool fountain by outdoor seating area.

The kids loved the bathroom decor.

One of two bike racks at the Sweet Shop. There was more bike parking than car parking!

Bikes in Taipei - part 1

I snapped a few pictures of bikes on a recent trip to Taiwan. Folding bikes seem to be fairly popular. The bike that I found most interesting was the "folding triple". This bike looked about the same size as your typical Dahon-type folding bikes in the US. However, it had seats for three. The "adult" rode in the middle seat and reached the far handle bars. A front child seat had a near set of handlebars, and a heavy cushion was on the rear seat for another child (or adult - these must be good racks!)



I did see a mother with her two kids cruising on one of these to the train station. This one looked fairly rusty and had smaller-than-usual wheels. But, they still managed to move at a reasonable pace. (Though they did seem to have a wobbly start.)




The area around the university was loaded with bikes. I saw the train station with its double-decker bike parkers first:

Then I noticed a few bikes around the corner towards the back:

And then it was on to biketopia. The number of bikes parked in close proximity would put Stanford to shame.

Why I like my bakfiets...

I like my bakfiets because it can hold all these groceries... plus the smiling toddler, plus Toddler's collection of sticks from the park, plus Toddler's blanket, plus the carseat base for the baby, plus an extra jacket, plus a bunch of little things (map, bike tools, Ironman figurine, scarf, etc., etc.), and I can still ride comfortably and smoothly along. Amazing!