A bike for four

Posted on 7/9/2011 by boj Posted in Baby, Bike, General

I thought I was done blogging about bikes for now. It turns out I was wrong. I am a bit of a bike head lately.

Here are some options for carrying three children on bikes:

Trailer
Cost: free – we already own it
Requires: any of our existing bikes carrying the extra seat or, more likely, the other parent pulling the third child
Total cost: none
Pros:
– the price is right (free!!!)
– rain and UV cover for two out of three children
– indispensable for recreational cycling with children younger than 4
– nice cargo space
– folds and hangs nicely in the garage or basement, fits in the car trunk
Cons:
– inconvenient to use in non-recreational setting (like backing up or parking)
– fussy to attach (takes about 10 min to get it ready)
– children 4 and up are heavy in it and may not want to ride for too long
Predicted use:
– once a month for 30km rec ride between May and September – 5x30km
– occasional (say, twice a month) shopping trip – 10x15km
– occasional walks, skating on the Canal + 5x10km
Total: 350km per year over next 3 to 4 years, very limited use afterwards

Trail-a-bike
Options:
Single trail-a-bike can only handle one child, the remaining children would either have to ride with the other parent though we might get away with the front child seat (possibly not stable enough???). Trevor can bike on his own, but probably not far enough to bother with recreational ride for another couple of years.
Tandem trail-a-bike is an option, but due to minimum weight requirements for the adult, only Chris would be able to pull it. Additionally only about 3 out of next 7 years our boys would be the age that two of them can be riding at the same time.
Cost: $250 for single, $600 for tandem
Requires: any of our existing hybrid bikes, another parent to carry the remaining children
Total cost: same as basic cost (not anticipating accessories)
Pros:
– great for rec rides with children between 4 and 6 years old
– looks easy to store and transport
Cons:
– I am anticipating the same backing up, parking and attachment annoyances as with the trailer
– Two parents required to pull the whole family
– no rain or UV cover
– each kid would use it for a relatively short time: Trev in 2012 and 2013, Owen from 2014 to 2016 and the new guy from 2016 to 2018
– The trailer cannot be attached to Africa and my other bike has a cross bar making it very unlikely for me to be comfortable enough to ever pull it myself unless I get another bike
– Most likely it cannot be attached to a bike with a rear child seat
Predicted use:
– once a month for 30km rec ride between May and September – 5x30km
– occasional (say, once a month) fun/errands trip – 5x15km
Total: 195km per year over next 6 years (not counting next year), no use afterwards

Africa for the younger two, Trev bikes on his own
Cost: free – we already own it
Requires: Trev to be willing and able to bike on his own under my supervision
Total cost: none
Pros:
– the price is right (free!!!)
– fits nicely in the garage (if we don’t get a minivan) or basement, fits on the car carrier
Cons:
– no rain or UV cover
– limited to paths and residential roads, limited speed
– not much cargo space
Predicted use:
– daily school/daycare run in nice weather between April and October- 110x3km
– weekly fun/errands trip – 20x15km
Total: 630km per year over next 8 years (less next year), used as cargo bike afterwards (for groceries)

Extended back rack
Options:
Integrated bikes like Kona Ute or Surly Big Dummy or most normal bikes with Xtracycle attachment. Unfortunately, I cannot put Xtracycle attachment on Africa.
Cost: $1100 for Kona Ute, much more for Surley, $600 for Xtracycle attachment
Requires: if going with the attachment, a new bike I am willing to do “surgery” on – currently I do not own a bike I could attach Xtracycle to
Total cost: Anywhere between $1000 and $1500 depending on options and accessories
Pros:
– all boys fit on a single bike
– appropriate for carrying children up to pre-teen age (or more but by then they will be too heavy and too cool)
– nice cargo space
– large bike but it should still fit into the garage (with some rearrangement)
– we would re-use the child seats we already own, no additional seat required for Trev
Cons:
– because I would remove the child seats from Africa, I lose my “investment” in it as it is not a great bike outside of the cargo context
– possibly heavy with all three boys on it, should be fine on flats, but hills might be iffy
– no rain or UV cover
– transporting it in the car might be a headache
– expected travel range should be about 20km for round trip, much like Africa
– adult must hold the bike if a child is on it
Predicted use:
– daily school/daycare run in nice weather between April and October – 110x3km
– weekly groceries shopping trip – 20x15km
– bi-weekly fun/errands trip – 10x15km
Total: 780km per year over next 7 years (not including next year), limited use afterwards

Long-John with a bucket
Options:
There are a number of brands available in North America, but to my knowledge only Tall Trees carry these in Ottawa.
Cost: from what I can tell between $1200 and $5000
Requires: Rain cover, possibly an extra seat, maybe a cushion
Total cost: $3000+ (guess)
Pros:
– all boys fit on a single bike
– appropriate for carrying children up to pre-teen age (or more but by then they will be too heavy and too cool)
– nice cargo space
– no need to remove seats from Africa, the two bikes complement each other nicely
– rain cover, not sure about UV protection
– heavy enough to only need wheel immobilizer to lock up securely for shot shopping trips
– my best hope of losing the baby fat
– because of the rain cover, definition of bad weather depends on me and not the most sensitive kid
– I do not need to hold the bike while children are in their seats, leaves me free to chase the kid not yet in the bucket
Cons:
– unless we do some magic, it will not fit into the garage with two cars
– winter storage is an issue, we might not be able to bring it into the basement
– possibly heavy with all three boys on it, should be fine on flats, but hills might be iffy
– transporting it in the car is not an option
– expected travel range should be about 20km for round trip, much like Africa
– I am not sure I can lift it
– if the bucket is made out of wood, how durable is it?
Predicted use (combined with Africa as they are complementary):
– daily school/daycare run in bearable weather between April and November, possibly longer depending on how well it can handle salt and how well I can handle cold – 130x3km
– weekly groceries shopping trip – 30x15km
– bi-weekly fun/errands trip – 15x15km
Total: 1065km per year over next 6 or 7 years (not including next year), limited use afterwards

So…

Bike	Cost per year	Cost per 100km
Trailer only	free	free
Trail-a-bike	$33 per year	$5 per 100km
Africa only	free	free
Extended back rack	$240	$27.5 per 100km
Long-john with bucket	$461	$43.4

Conclusion so far:
Single trail-a-bike might be worth while if we intend on recreational cycling. If we can get one used, so much the better.
For utilitarian cycling Long-john has the best pros but also the worst cons and is significantly more expensive. Fortunately, we are not in the market for it for another year and a half at least which gives me plenty of time to research, test ride and re-think my choices.

Canadian Shield Sailors

Posted on 7/7/2011 by boj Posted in Baby, Bike, Gardening, General

Poneki mornar mozda
Ostane bez ladje,
Ali bez mora
To je izuzetan peh
Balasevic – “Panonski mornar”

As I loaded up my work PC on Monday, I was overcome by a strong urge to go bike to the cafe and have a cappuccino while looking at the boats. At first I was puzzled and then I realized that it is July and I am not used to working in July. I sighed a little bit, put on the flickr slideshow from last summer and continued working.

Last July

Despite the utter lack of seaside we have been having a nice summer. The boys are making use of both front and back yard. They have discovered dirt as the new favourite toy so there is a dig in the flower bed next to the garage. Shovels and Tonka trucks are involved.

This July

I am feeling good, but am getting quite big so walking and even standing are starting to be a problem. I can still bike pretty well (Yay!). We are trying to come up with a name for the baby, but nothing good has been thought of yet.

Intentional eaters box

Posted on 7/1/20117/1/2011 by boj Posted in General4 Comments

Since Charissa is taking a week off the veggie box, I figured I would post the picture of this week’s haul. Lots of leafy greens:

What shall I make with all of this?

Biking in Kanata series: a conclusion of sorts

Posted on 6/28/20116/28/2011 by boj Posted in Bike, General

After a month long examination of what makes me bike or not bike in Kanata I have come to a some conclusions (for now anyway). The following are the factors that negatively affect my chances of choosing to get somewhere by bike:

1. distance/time
2. weather
3. bad roads
4. lack of appropriate equipment
5. hills

The purpose of this exercise was to come up with ideas of what can be done in Kanata to improve walkability and bikeability of the neighbourhood so that more people would choose to get around in that way. My disclaimer is that I have no talent for understanding other people, especially majority of people so what works for me might not be relevant for anyone else.

Distance/time:
In Kanata the easiest way to get around is by car. There is no denying this and I don’t have an issue using the car to get places and do stuff. Roads are fast, usually not congested, there is plenty of free parking, you can dump a lot of stuff in the trunk, lock it and continue on your merry way. You don’t have to worry about the bad weather or heat or UV rays (unless you open the sun roof) etc… If you are going to bike for more than a kilometre, you need an excuse other than convenience. Most people would pick exercise or environment, for me is that I hate driving and that I want to encourage active lifestyle habits for my kids by setting a good example.

Weather:
Some people say that there is no bad weather, only bad clothing. I am nowhere near that level of zen especially in the light of the thunderstorms rolling through Kanata in the last few days. We do get nice weather though so you have to be ready to take advantage of it at the spur of the moment. Having an easily accessible bike that you can use in normal clothing really helps. We rearranged our garage so that the bike I use the most is quick to get out. It is not the perfect solution and I will probably lose my bike parking when we get the minivan (ugh!) but it is ok for now.

Bad roads:
Improving the infrastructure is key to increasing the level of cycling. There is a lot going on in Ottawa with respect to this (new lanes, etc…) but I am not sure how much of this is trickling down to Kanata. Does anyone know? I suppose I really ought to find out. I did join “Citizens for Safe Cycling” out of curiosity.

My conclusion from the last month’s experiment is that Kanata is pretty sweet biking wise in the residential interior, but as soon as you hit a major thoroughfare (March, Terry Fox, Hazeldean, Eagleson) there be monsters. Yes, some of these roads have bike lanes painted on, but that does not make them good infrastructure. Another issue is with shopping areas, particularly Centrum and the strip mall off of Carling (with Chez Cora). An exception and a honourable mention go to the Signature strip mall which looks like whoever designed it actually wanted people on foot or bicycle to shop there.

I am not really sure exactly how these problem areas can be improved. I think it is important for cyclists to be physically distant from cars or trucks rushing at 80km/h. I also think that cyclists should be able to bike as fast as they can (up to 30 or 40km/h) if they are to get anywhere from Kanata. One requirement nixes the painted bike lanes on existing rads, the other nixes multi use paths.

Equipment:
Between the two of us we own six bikes with original purchase price between $100 and $1000. The more expensive bikes have more mileage on them and are driven on almost daily basis, the cheaper bikes are taking up space in the garage and will probably be sold for change if we ever get around to it. It is a bit hard to give a good argument to someone considering bike as transportation without really being sure whether they will stick to it to take $600 or more to a specialized bike shop with staff old enough to shave (be they men or women) when there are so many nice bikes at Costco for $200.

Even with a good quality bike, bike transportation is not a given. A sweet $2000 road or mountain bike is no good for a shopping trip if you have to change into clip shoes, have no panniers and no mudguards if it starts to rain.

I was recently talking to a co-worker who has a 18 month old kid and he was wondering whether he should get a bike seat or a trailer. My answer is both, but I don’t think that it is the right option for someone who will only cycle occasionally for recreation.

(This paragraph sound very consumerist and I hate it for that, but I have had enough bad experiences with poor quality sports equipment to make me somewhat bitter. I have also struggled to use good quality equipment for uses that it was not meant for (i.e. trailers for short trips and shopping). I am trying to speak form experience and not from “look! shiny!!!” perspective.)

Hills:
I just have to live with hills.

Biking in Kanata series: the perfect bicycle

Posted on 6/25/20116/26/2011 by boj Posted in Bike, General

When I first moved to Kanata my mom got me a second hand bike from someone at her work. It is a Fuji mixte mountain hybridy something or other with not too bad shifting gears but overall heavy and not my size. I rode it to work and sometimes other places but not exclusively and not, what I would call, a lot. This was at the time before I got my drivers licence and before Chris lived in Kanata and was able to drive me around at the drop of the hat so it was the perfect time for utilitarian biking, but I did not really do much of it. I was a little bit perplexed by that. Yes, Kanata infrastructure could use some bike-friending, but some can be said for Zagreb where I run errands on bike all summer. I attributed this to general boringness of Kanata and the the fact that I was wearing a helmet. I have nothing against helmets, I wear them on any ride I consider dangerous (March road anyone?), but that does not make me like them. In retrospect, the bike had a lot to do with it as well. It was the perfect bike at the time because it was there and it was free at the time when I had just started making money, but not the perfect bike for me. I still have that bike. The money I would get for it if I tried to sell it does not justify the effort and sometimes I ride it in the winter.

Biking in Zagreb – look ma, no infrastructure!

A few years later Chris and I got matching Rocky Mountain hybrids and our recreational and commuting cycling really took off. We routinely biked downtown or through the rural areas on weekends. These were the perfect DINKy bikes. We did not do any utilitarian cycling. The effort or tying up those bikes is unreasonably high. The bikes have quick release parts which make them transportable by car but you have to make a pretzel with a bike chain to secure everything. There is no appreciable cargo space. Riding these bikes in normal clothes is uncomfortable, indecent even in case of skirts (crossbar) and you’re bound to get chain grease on the legs. The bike handles poorly when it has to stop and start often (it likes to go fast for a long time) and the addition of the trailer made all of these problems more acute.

DINKy days

With kids my time and willingness to put in effort decreased and recreational and fitness cycling is just not something that I do very often. This is where Kona Africa comes in. It can carry kids close enough to me to be able to have a conversation with them, it handles well when stoping and starting often. I can cycle in regular clothes but there is still no room for groceries (as long as the kids seats are on the bike anyway). I am pretty sure I doubled (at least) the amount of utilitarian cycling I do just by using this bike. It is the perfect bike for now, but it is not the perfect bike. I’d really like something zippier that fits my geometry better.

This summer I am already starting to be a bit too big and wimpy with the pregnancy to bike longer distances (summers are uncomfortably hot when you are pregnant). Even short trips to the grocery store take twice as long with the bike and Chris is unlikely to be interested in joining us after doing his 40k commute. Next year, I might not be able to bike much because the baby will be too young. I will try and bike with the older two when I get a chance (how often will that be?). The year after that we will have to rethink our whole strategy. Will we get a trail-a-bike for Trev for recreational rides? Will we still do any recreational rides? Should I get a bike with extended rear rack so I can fit all three kids on a utilitarian bike? Would I even be able to pull a bike with three kids on it? Would I want to?

Some days I feel like utilitarian biking is just a pipe dream for this family… How to get out of this funk? I love biking, I love biking with kids, infrastructure in Kanata is not as bad as that, there are places to go to within 20 minutes, I hate driving the car etc, etc, etc. So what is it going to take to bike more?

Biking in Kanata series: All dressed up, but where to go?

Posted on 6/15/2011 by boj Posted in Bike

About two weeks ago I got a bike computer installed on my utility bike and decided to keep stats of some of my trips. I made a list of places in Kanata that are within biking range and that I frequent on regular or semi regular basis. I wanted to determine what factors made it a good or bad destination for cycling.

Since I installed the bike computer I clocked just over 60 km.

Closest places are the library and daycare centre. These are the places that I will bike to by default and only take the car if the weather is bad or for some other very good reason (scheduling issue or a trip in which this is just one of the stops). Even if I am driving to work, I will bike Trev to daycare and then bike back with Owen and get into the car. The round trip lasts less than 5 minutes and it saves me the trouble of driving to the daycare and parking in the daycare parking lot which always makes me uncomfortable. Both locations are under a kilometre away from my home, and the routes to get there are as low in traffic as residential Kanata gets.

Next closest places are the grocery stores, Metro at 2km (10 min) away and Farm Boy at 3.5 km (15 min). The time it takes to get to both stores is twice as it would take me in the car. Over last two weeks the number of trips I’ve made by bike was about the same as by car. Even though it is closer, I prefer biking to Farm Boy than to Metro because of the three hills I have to climb on the way back from Metro with groceries. One of this hills (between Metro and March road) contains moderate traffic which I would prefer to avoid. In fact, before I got the bike computer I very rarely shopped at Farm Boy, but after this experiment I will always consider it first if I am about to go shopping on the bike. Another interesting thing I learned last week is that I prefer biking to Farm Boy on roads than on paths. The paths contain a number of hills which are probably not an issue on most bikes, but on my heavy bike with kids and groceries it can be a bit grating. The residential feeder roads to get there are wide, have sufficient bike infrastructure, traffic calming measures and I feel very safe on them.

The problem with groceries is that my bike is not set up to carry anything other than children and one medium sized bag. If I leave Owen at home I can fit one grocery bag in his seat and I might be able to fit one overfilled grocery bag in Trev’s seat, but I have not yet gone to the grocery store without him. Once the kids are old enough not to be riding on my bike, I will probably install panniers and/or a crate but that is too far in the future to seriously think about. Currently, space is limited and I do not have the umph to pull children AND more than two bags of groceries on the bike.

The next location is the Centrum. I timed my trip to the hair salon near the movie theatre, but I think that the timing is close enough for all areas of the “mall”. This distance is 4 km and it took me just under 20 minutes. I have not timed the equivalent trip by car, but I think it would take half the time. Getting to the edge of Centrum is a breeze, but I do not feel entirely comfortable getting into the area and biking “inside” it. Ironically enough, it is probably easier to bike than to walk there. Fortunately for me, no stores that I frequent on the regular basis are inside the bird’s nest so I can handle the occasional trip by bike if need be.

I’ve already talked about biking to work, but over the last two weeks, I’ve made some readjustments in my opinion on it. I found out that, while biking to work in the morning takes 20 minutes longer than by car, biking back takes the same time or no more than 5 minutes longer. This is due to afternoon congestion on March road going towards Eagleson. I’ve also found this trip is near the comfort limits of trips on this particular bicycle. The distance, the hills in Morgan’s Grant, the extra weight I am carrying in internal and external children and the general clunkiness of the bike makes it unlikely for me to be willing to make the trip two days in the row. My legs are slightly sore and I feel bad for Trev having to stay at daycare for 20 minutes longer than if I drove, which I am sure he doesn’t mind half as much as I do.

There are three more locations on my list that I have not biked to, and might never actually get around to biking to but as they are within easy biking distance I feel I need to consider them.

Costco is one of the places I don’t see myself biking to. Getting to the corner of Terry Fox and Katimavik should be no problem, but I would be reluctant to go from there to Costco due to high traffic. It would be even harder to get back as I would have to navigate the same traffic up the hill with groceries. Whenever I go there I get at least 20 kilos of groceries which is equivalent of the two of my children plus two bags of groceries. It should be doable once I am not pregnant, but I would have to go without the kids which I would prefer not to do because I like to spend as much time with them as possible.

Hazeldean road has a number of stores that I visit semi frequently. Despite it being relatively far, getting to Hazledean should be no problem (except that it would take over 20 minutes, probably closer to half an hour) but Hazledean itself is a busy road with little or no bicycle infrastructure. I would not go there unless I am really in a mood for a long bike ride.

The last destination in the Riverglen Farm on Carling. The way there is quite safe, mostly on paths and wide paved shoulders though it is far (just under 6 km). It would be a fun ride with kids though so the distance is justifiable. However, currently our veggie pick up is on night that I have other commitments so I do not have an hour to spend on a round trip bike ride. My schedule should change soonish so I just might consider this a fun family weeknight activity.