Sunday, December 6, 2009

More groceries

Most of my hauling trips are for groceries. It's amazing that this was one of the last reasons why we held on to our car a few years back.

These 4 large bags have nearly $100 in groceries in them and they're so easy to haul. I've been thinking that it might be nice to have some sort of basket on the snapdeck to haul 2-4 more bags but so far this capacity has been more than enough.

Jula the bike mechanic

Last night I was working on various bike projects in the shop and Jula hung out with me for an hour or so.

For awhile she was content to cruise around the garage on her Skuut but soon wanted some tools so she could "fix her bike"

She actually figured out which allen wrench fit in the bolts on her Skuut, thankfully she's not coordinated enough yet to actually loosen anything :)

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Hauling firewood

This isn't the greatest picture but I hauled a heaping wheelbarrow worth of oak firewood tonight. The weight was pretty impressive but the bike dealt with it all well. Even hit 10+ mph on the downhill home. :)

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Big grocery haul

Last night we realized that not only were we out of dog food, cat litter and cat food but we also needed to go to the grocery store for some staples that we were also out of.

The trailer has 70lbs of cat litter, 35lbs of dog food, and 30lbs of cat food.

The xtracycle has 4 large grocery bags with all kinds of heavy stuff, milk, yogurt, flour, ~$100 worth in all.

And of course ~30lbs of Jula who tagged along merrily although she enjoyed riding there in the trailer a lot more than directly behind me on the way home :)

Christmas tree haul

Now this is the way to get a christmas tree home!

In case you're wondering, it wobbled a bit hanging so far off the bike but it was not hard at all.

Hauling bike carcasses

My old friend Caleb had these two bike carcasses that he no longer wanted so I rode over to pick them up for parts.

It was quite a load and I took a dropout-stabbing to the ankle from one of the frames but it was not a difficult load.

Now there's a new problem, the shop is full!

Parking day #5

Each time we do PARK(ing) Day my load gets a little bigger!

In this load, big round coffee table, two wooden chairs, four metal folding chairs, 2 folding tables, and a 8x10 rug!

Thomas hauled in a load of plants in his custom bike-trunk arrangement.

As usual we had a lot of fun and met a lot of new neighborhood folks. Hopefully we'll have a space inside the Farmer's Market next time!

Monday, November 16, 2009

A note on the intent of this blog...

So it occurred to me recently (and it was driven home by a comment from a friend) that my blogging here has somewhat strayed from the "car free with kids" theme and has taken on a distinct "things that can be carried on a bike" feel. Just so you don't worry, we're still taking Jula out on our bikes but life with an infant added to our mix has slowed us down quite a lot. Mind you, this slowing down is a good thing for our little Tenzin but it means that we're not all biking together just yet :)

Also, we have a little secret that we haven't discussed here yet. Nicole has a new bike :) More on that later...

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Xtracycle xtracycle

One of my coworkers is buying my extra xtracycle setup and now that it's finally cleaned up and removed from it's previous host bike I needed to haul it in to the office.

The tapestry helped keep my brand new snapdeck safe and pretty :)

And we're here!

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Hauling wood and drums

A friend and I loaded up our drums aand a didgeridoo and rode off in to golden gate park to play music.

We eventaully settled on playing in one of the tunnels near the deYoung museum, great acoustics!

Friday, November 6, 2009

Firewood haul

We wanted to get some firewood for the weekend while some really good friends were in town staying with us. I thought this would be a lot more awkward to haul but it was very easy and only needed one strap to hold it on :)

Sunday, November 1, 2009

PARK(ing) Day #3


Loaded up for yet another Inner Sunset PARK(ing) day!


This time we had a nice spread of food to attract the passers-by.

And come they did! the PARK(ing) space was full of people all day long!

We were even treated to some music!

A good time was had by all!


To top it all off, Adam was given this awesome pumpkin which he hauled home on his bike just like this :)



Sunday, October 25, 2009

PARK(ing) Day

I've been joining in with a group of folks from my neighborhood to hold a bi-weekly PARK(ing) day in the SF Inner Sunset. I've been hauling most of the furniture out to our spot via my xtracycle/trailer combo.

Parked and ready to unload.


We take over a parking space and make it our PARK space for the day. It's a blast!


The farmers' market in full bloom across the street from us.

Thomas looking quite chipper while Kevin looks on.

Office junk haul

A handful of stuff had been laying around the office that I had been meaning to take home. Kevin motivated me to get it all out of there by threatening to throw it out :) So you know me, I'll take on any chance to haul a bunch of stuff. The big spool is now a table in our backyard, the wheels are going to have their rust scrubbed from them and will hopefully roll again on the extremely well-weathered bike frame, maybe as a road bike for Nicole. :)

New Stroller Haul

Nicole finally wore out the stroller that we found on the street 2 years ago. Lots of off-road walks in Golden Gate Park will do that :)

I found this awesome deal on craigslist, a moderately priced, pneumatic-tired, well built stroller that should be the last one we have to buy (coincidently, it's the first one we've ever paid for).

The catch was that it was 8 miles away and over at least one pretty big hill. The xtracycle handled the whole affair like a champ and I learned a few things about strapping cargo to the snapdeck :)

Friday, October 16, 2009

Xtracycle maintenance day

My xtracycle needed to go to the LBS for some TLC but I didnt want to have to take the bus home and back again so I hauled along my single speed so I could ride back :) Runs good!

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Xtracycle Furniture Moving

While on my way back from our local bike shop I ran across this pile of furniture. My daughter has been in need of a new dresser for some time now and this fine all-wood dresser will do quite nicely! It does need a coat of paint and maybe some new knobs but FREE! Woo!

The best part is that the xtracycle is so stable that I was able to strap the dresser on with only 2 bungee cords. I couldn't believe how stable is was for the ~1 mile ride home.

Friday, October 2, 2009

Friday Morning Craigslist Staff Ride

In what's quickly becoming a regular thing, Today I met up with several of my fellow craigslisters for a Friday morning ride. After a spirited romp through the dirt trail in the park (I caught air with the xtracycle for the first time!) we made our way to the ocean. Half of the Great Highway was closed to cars due to sand dunes encroaching on the road so we had the road to ourselves all the way to the SF Zoo! After that we took a lap around Lake Merced and then back to the office. Something like 20 miles or so. It was a blast!

Skitching for fun and profit!










Nice shadow Dallas!

A nearly perfect ride with perfect weather and good friends. Life is good.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Finally a break!

This is a sight that I love. My wife, my best friend, in front of me on her bike.

My parents were visiting us this past weekend. It may be more accurate that they came to visit their grandkids. I feel like I hardly saw them since they were almost insistent that Nicole and I get out of the house together without our kids. Tenzin isn't quite old enough to ride with us (another ~9mos!) so we don't get this chance very often. We rode through Golden Gate Park and then down the panhandle before deciding that we wanted to go to the Lower Haight for coffee.While we we down there, Grandma called to say that the kids were still napping and to encourage us to go out to eat alone. Just the two of us! It's amazing how valuable this kind of time has become to us now that we're parents of two :) We quickly found a Thai restaurant that we had not eaten at before. Totally fell in love with their crispy fried portabello mushroom & eggplant dish. Wow. Nicole took pictures of the food, it was all so beautiful. Coincidentally the restaurant is right on the wiggle so when it was time to go we just hopped on our bikes and wiggled our way back up to the panhandle and back through the park on home. Part of the way that I fell in love with Nicole was through our mutual love of bicycles. Riding with her is easily my all time favorite activity and I miss it so. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for allowing us the space to get out together :)

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

DFL Cross Dress Cyclocross Race!

Jula and I had a grand time in Golden Gate Park watching the annual DFL Cross Dress Cyclocross race. It's an unofficial, unsanctioned, illegal cross race through Golden Gate Park. Race entrance fee was $5 or free if you wore a dress!

There were lots and lots of bikes!

Part of the "course"


Pink tu-tu's make you ride fast!

Jula (and Brown B) were enthralled with all the bike action. I had a hard time peeling her away.


The crowd from Jula's level.


Eventually I persuaded Jula that it was time to go by taking her to the nearby pond to watch the ducks and the fog roll in.