I love biking. On a bicycle, that is. I haven’t had a bike for several years, but when I had one, I loved it! And I would love to do it again.

Of course I never did all the things I intended to do. (Mountain biking always sounded fun, but turns out I’m way too chicken!) I also never really went anywhere purposefully on a bike — way too scared of getting hit.

But that was in Kentucky. Drivers are not friendly in Kentucky.

Seattle, on the other hand, is a very bike-friendly town. The drivers are not that much nicer, it’s more that there are designated bike paths on many roadways, and in fact there are biking and pedestrian only paths which actually go useful places. This sounds awesome.

For a while I thought I’d get a bike and a trailer for the Boo, but somehow never managed to procure such items. We lived on a really busy road and I just couldn’t work up the nerve. Still a bit afraid of cars, you see. Plus it was plenty easy to walk places, and everywhere else we wanted to go was far enough away to warrant driving.

Now, we may live on a busy road, but there are destinations just a wee bit too far to walk to. Biking, though, is entirely possible. And how much nicer would it be to just bike up to the store for the evening’s groceries, rather than piling everyone in the car again? My mind has been a-twhirling trying to sort out how to accomplish this.

How on earth does one bike with two young kids?

(Before I get into this, just let me say I realize I shouldn’t be biking with the baby at all until he’s at least a year old. Apparently they’re not strong enough to wear a helmet and withstand the shakes! That brings us to considering these options for next summer.)

Well, for starters, I’ve been reading a local blog called Car Free Days. Very inspiring, but her kids are a lot older. Capable and trustworthy of sitting on a bike and holding on, for example. Mine aren’t there yet. Well, at least one isn’t, the other might be by now.

(Although I just ran across this post from the Clever Cycles blog, and that looks do-able by next summer, maybe? That’s an Xtracycle, which the Car Free Days blog also uses.)

The trailer idea (I like the look of the Burleys) is out because by the time the baby is a year old then the Boo will be waaaay too big for a trailer. And even if he wasn’t, I can’t see convincing him to get in one. Perhaps he could bike on his own by then, but I can’t quite bring myself to want to bike on the streets with my 4/5 year old on his own bike. Maybe on the sidewalk, but what if there isn’t one? Not ready for that yet, I think. Plus his traffic instincts won’t be so good yet. Definitely not a good idea.

Another option is using a bike attachment that turns your bike into a tandem bike (apparently called a trailer cycle.) The baby could go in one of those baby seats that straps to the adult’s bike, and the groceries etc. could go in pannier bags. Or a basket. Do they still make bike baskets? I like this idea because in the long run I’d still have a bike of my own!

(Incidently, here’s an interesting take on why you should us a tandem instead of a trailercycle. I could see the Boo wanting to contribute more. But the trailercycle does contribute more than the Xtracycle. Hmm. However tandems are rather pricey! But you could put a trailer on the back of a tandem for the Bean and the groceries. Intriguing.)

Now here’s something I really like the look of:

That’s a Nihola tricycle. It’s Danish. There’s another similar brand called Johnny Loco. They remind me of rickshaws, but the kids are in front of you.

Now, I have no idea how much these beauties cost. I imagine, quite a lot. Plus it would have to ship internationally. After all, these are from the extremely bike-friendly Denmark/German area of Europe. I’ve never seen anything like this here, and no local retailers show up in a search. I suppose it’s worth researching some more because I just might not have found the right brand yet, but still. Aren’t they cute?

The only downside to this that I can think of is that if this were my only bike, well, I’d look a bit silly by myself :) Also, the Nihola site claims that this is a very safe bike for children but I’m not sure how it’s safer than a trailer. I would make my kids wear helmets, for example. And are there seat belts? What happens to them if you get hit?

To summarize, I belive my options are these:

• Bike for me, with trailercycle attachment, with seat for baby, with pannier bags or basket for stuff.
• Tandem bike for me and the Boo, with seat for baby, with pannier bags or basket for stuff.
• Tandem bike for me and the Boo, with trailer for baby and stuff.
• Xtracycle with seat for baby and board for Boo with pannier bags for stuff.
• Cute tricycle thingy.
• Rickshaw! Why not?
• Screw it, just keep driving until they’re old enough to leave home and you can go to the grocery by yourself!

Ahem. So, this is yet another thing that’s been swimming in my mind lately. How to bike with two kids. I could dearly use the exercise, I’d love to not use the car for quick trips to the grocery, there are a few different parks within biking but not walking distance (although we’re still loving our cute little local park), and there’s a trail nearby too (although I’m not sure where it goes yet). There’s even a YMCA opening soon that’s about a mile away.

See? Lots of places to bike to. If I could just figure out the logistics!

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 21st, 2008 at 2:36 am and is filed under Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.