Tow Away Zone

As usual on Mondays, Benjamin and I rode our bikes to Grandma's place after picking up Alta at pre-school. What was unusual was leaving Grandma's early to go to a bike advocacy meeting. This meant leaving both kids at Grandma's with Carol to finish up the evening. But how to get Benjamin's bike home while pulling the trailer? I collapsed the trailer and put the front wheel and fork into the left hand sling/bag of the Xtracycle and secured it with the straps from the FreeRadical and one bungee cord. The rear wheel sat in the middle of the trailer. It worked out quite well!

Definitely a bike geek

Just read about the new Kickback stand from Xtracycle on Commute by Bike. It's great news for Xtracycle owners. I've been so frustrated with the X falling over when parked with heavy loads. This should make things much easier. Nonetheless, it was a bit of a surprise to find myself shouting with glee when I saw the photo and read about it.

Went through bike withdrawal today. I overslept and had to drive to work. My routines are all out of sorts - I'm a creature of habit. My son even said, "Dad, don't drive up to the bike racks, okay?" on our way home to pick up his sister.

Last, just heard that the Bianchi frame and fork were delivered for sandblasting and painting this afternoon. The choice of color? "Safety Yellow." Gee! :-)

A forkful of haulers

So here's a photo of the X with the RST suspension swapped out for the Surly 1x1. The ride is much more stable than with the suspension fork. I can ride no-handed easily. Accelerating feels confident and strong. I'm very glad I made the switch. I rode by myself and with my son on the back today for a total of about 5 miles. We rode from his school to home, home to grandmother's, grandmother's to home, home to Krogers, Krogers to the Credit Union, then CU to home.

I skipped biking in to work today after waking up feeling like a truck ran over me. I'll bike commute tomorrow morning, despite the just at or below freezing temperatures forecast.

Here's another angle of the X.