Yesterday was the official opening of Bike Friday's Haul-A-Day Kickstarter campaign. In less than 24 hours, they had already met their goal and are now moving into their stretch-goal range. For the next 24 hours, you can support Bike Friday's goal of increasing their Haul-a-Day production capability and developing their accessory offerings to improve the Haul-a-Day's adaptability. I love how Alan calls this bike the SUV-replacement vehicle.

You can check out their page here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/greengear/haul-a-day-the-strong-and-light-cargo-bike-built-f and score your own Haul-a-Day at a nice discount!

Life on the Bullitt before the Caddyrack was okay. We had to do some finagling to get a rack on there because Bullitts surprisingly don't come with braze-ons for mounting a rack. I used a rack-mount seatcollar and had a freebie rack put on that was in the bike shop. It wasn't ideal but it added more room for cargo. I was amazed that once the boys were in the box (or the box was full), there was little room left for the rest of our stuff.

Once we got the Piccolo, I installed the special rack and that was slightly better. Now, we could get one munchin out of the box and "helping" to pedal, leaving more space in the box for extra "stuff." The Burley Piccolo rack was sturdier than the one we had before but it still wasn't ideal for panniers because of the mounting bracket. 

Our next set-up has been an amazing upgrade: John Lucas's Caddyrack! It has changed our Bullitt for the better. 

The Caddyrack is unlike any other rack I've seen. Because there weren't any mounting points at the seatpost, John used a sleeve-type mount on the seatpost and bolted it into the frame by the dropouts. 

We've had the rack for a few months now and I've been really impressed with its versatility. We can tow bikes both large and small, sometimes even two at once! 

We can carry an extra kid sitting on the deck, although we're working on some foot-guards to keep them toesies out of the spokes so for now, it's just for short rides with very trustable kids. 

The Caddyrack has its very own Burley Piccolo mount built in! Easy on-off when we need our Crazy Train to load up. 

The side bars at the bottom are wonderful for stabilizing a large load. 

It can hold panniers (although my rack design doesn't have a lower bar to attach the bottom of panniers, yet. That was a feature we discovered was needed after this prototype was developed). 

We don't have a Yepp Maxi seat but there is a built-in bracket for that, too! 

The Caddyrack has basically doubled our carrying capacity for the Bullitt, something that I had always been a bit frustrated about. This rack adds about 10ish lbs but we're riding around on a bike that weighs 80 already and we add 90lbs of kid most often. The benefits and functionality of this rack are worth it. I love it! 

I started this website about two and a half years ago. It was a way to hold myself accountable for my goal of living a gentler life on this planet and sharing our adventures with others. I try to be honest about the difficulties we've faced going car-free with the rest of our lives moving along. Earlier this year, I posted about working on staying positive. After last year's depression, I was ready to move forward and live a life that felt authentic to me--to focus on my boys and my work with bicycle education and touring. What I hadn't realized at the time was that that also meant letting go of my marriage. Jose moved out earlier this year and since then, it's been a roller coaster of emotions and reevaluations. I've pared out a lot of things out of my life since then that were not necessary or beneficial but also added some very wonderful people to my circle. I've focused on being gentler to myself and giving myself the freedom to be happy with what's evolving. It's been hard. Most days, it seems that nothing has changed. Some days, the reality sets in and it's overwhelming. The boys are happy and have adjusted wonderfully. I am so lucky to have such resilient children. Bicycling helps me work through my feelings of failure and allows me to focus on what's ahead. 

This weekend was particularly rough because Big Brother's birthday fell on one of my weekends without the boys. I took myself (and Oscar 2.0) on a bike overnight to recharge. The weather has been beautiful (a little too beautiful for it being November) and I wanted to take advantage of my time alone. 

Life is different now but it's still very, very good. I am so grateful for all the support the boys and I have received to help us through this time. I am happy with the way things are going and look forward to continue experiencing this new adventure. 

This week, we partied! 

First, the boys and I joined my parents at the ECOS Environmentalist Of The Year Awards. My mom received an award for all her hard work this past year. She has dedicated her life to creating positive change and I am so proud of her! The event was a great inspiration with some incredible people doing incredible work--I feel so lucky to be related to one of those amazing folks. 

And, of course, we biked there. 

Next, we had to celebrate Halloween at Big Brother's school. 

Last night was the SABA Velo Ball, an annual fundraiser with silent auction and raffle. I was invited to join Mellissa and the NNTMA crew. There was fun schmoozing, delicious food, and valet bike parking! Mellissa and I rode out together. It was wonderful to get an opportunity to go out to a party without having to run around after the kids! I felt very adult. 

To wrap up the week, Big Brother had a surprise birthday party with some of our neighborhood friends. My dad and I brought over the food and boys' bikes by cargo bike to the newly revamped McClatchy Park. 

I'm looking forward to a quieter week to recover from all our social butterflying.