We just finished another successful Kidical Mass. Despite it being winter (although 60 degrees still) and a night ride, we still had 42 riders come out to join in the fun! Riders met up at Coloma Community Center, which has a great big playground for the kiddos but sadly, no access to potties after-hours. There were trail-a-bikes, trailers, Xtracycles (and Sacramento's very first and only Cargo Joe!), Mundos, a Nihola, our Bullitt, Melissas Fr8, and two solo kiddos on Isla Bikes as well! Sacramento has such an awesome family bike culture! 

We rode up and down T st. with a few detours, covering about two miles. The sun went down as we were riding so it was imperative that all our riders were properly lit up--red in back, white up front. Many riders added extra holiday baubles, reflectivity, and glow sticks. We were quite visible! 

The ride went smoothly until towards the very end when my own child bit it big time when his bike got "too wobbly" and he went down hard. He was behind me so I just heard the thud and the subsequent wailing. I didn't see any blood or broken bones but he wasn't up for riding. I threw his bike over the Bullitt box and had him in the jump-seat. He cried most of the way back while I promised him cocoa and tried to distract him with the colorful lights. By the time we got back, passed out cocoa, and munched some sugary treats, Big Brother was fine. It was nothing a little rocket ship bandaid couldn't fix. He even biked back home on his own. 

We are very lucky that we live in such an easily bikeable climate. I was so impressed that we had another successful ride in December! Big Brother and I had a blast and are so grateful for all who came out this evening. Let's keep this Sac Kidical Mass ball rolling! 

Jen and I took our respective Mundos and children and rode out to KOA this afternoon. It's such a close trip and fairly easy despite some urban riding through West Sac. It was a great excuse to get out of the house and shake up the post-holiday slump.

This was our first overnight in awhile and because the weather has cooled considerably since the last overnight, we thought it would be easiest to book a luxurious kamping kabin--they even have heaters! The afternoon was warm enough but the evenings can get chilly which is why we've hesitated so long to go camping.

KOA trips are the perfect way to get out without worrying about getting too cold or hungry. To top of our lazy camping trip, we also ordered a pizza for dinner and hung out in the game room.

The boys have had a blast! The ancient playground served to wear them out enough to confine them in a small cabin. Surprisingly, it wasn't even too hard to get them all to sleep at a reasonable time.

So now Jen and I have some peaceful time to chat and she's talented enough to be whipping out an awesome knitted kitchen towel. It has been the perfect way to get back into our bike overnight groove!

Last year was an epic ride to chop down our own tree, our first Christmas-tree-by-bike adventure. It was 60ish miles, there was a donkey, a flat tire, and we finally got home well past dark. This year, we didn't try as hard. No one had the time or energy to have a repeat of last year so we found a lot closer--at Cal Expo, just off the bike trail! 

The only juggling that we had to do was figure out how to use both cargo bikes without Jose. We needed one bike for the kids and the other for the tree. It was obvious that I would ride the Bullitt because that's the hardest one to get used to. The Mundo rides like a regular bike and would be much easier for almost anyone to use. I got the children because they're a wibbly-wobbly mess of energy that also takes getting used to. My cousin, visiting from Canada and having just returned from biking back from San Francisco, volunteered for Christmas-tree-Mundo-duty. 

The boys were hungry so they took lunch to go. Big Brother's bike was strapped to the Mundo so he could ride after we got to the bike trail. 

It always seems to me that biking parents beget little biker kids and we are three generations of proof. 

Little Brother took a sweet little nap on the way over. He was bobbing so much that I finally unbuckled him and let him curl up on the Bullitt floor. 

The lot wasn't as beautiful as Jacob's Mini Farm and there wasn't a petting zoo but it was convenient and the trees were beautiful. We found ours in about 10 minutes and it took another five to strap it to the Mundo. 

I put the boys' blanket in the Carsick Designs Mondo Slings and used the crossing buckles to cinch it down. I added a bungee cord around the truck, just in case. It held up the rest of the way home. 

It might not have been as crazy an adventure as last year but it was just as fun. It's nice to know that we can still carry on our Christmas tree bike tradition without going to as much work. I don't think I'll miss the actual cutting down part as long as we always have wonderful company to ride with. I hope more people take advantage of this lot's easy access to the bike trail and start their own tree-by-bike tradition! 

Tis the season for evening parties! We went out this evening to one with family, just under 2 miles away. I rode the Bullitt because I was also getting some sewing lessons and brought my machine to my grandma. I decided to take Big Brother with me and let him ride over, knowing that it'd be very dark when we were heading home. Today was his last day of school for three weeks so he's been literally (yes, literally) vibrating around the house and backyard since he got home from his sugar-filled day at school. I wanted him to burn off some of that energy this evening. 

Riding over at dusk was fine. He was very bundled up, had his Ikea vest on, and lights flashing. He stayed right next to me on the street and I had my lights and newly installed holiday lights aglow. Despite his sugar high, he did wonderfully. 

Jose and Little Brother followed us over a while later on the Mundo so we had both cargo bikes at the party in case Big Brother needed a lift home. It was past his bedtime and he was hopped up on even more good food, good cheer, and lots of attention but Big Brother was still ready to ride--his first night time trek. 

I think we were lit up quite beautifully (although Big Brother's headlamp cut out as we left the driveway, he still had a front light and was perfectly safe and legal though). 

So while the CA DMV says that bikers should "avoid riding at night" and that "young children should NOT (emphasis theirs) ride at night," I say "this is super awesome and we had a blast." I will mention that we were especially careful in regards to the other traffic on the road as this is also the time of year for people to go to holiday parties, get drunk, then drive home. Our route was especially quiet and we were hypervigilant about our surroundings. 

We are still getting used to having a solo rider with us and many routes don't work for him to ride but every chance we can give him to gain confidence and experience, he's willing to give it a try! I'm so proud of his riding ability and I can see his skills improving all the time. 

We made it through the big cold spell without much bother. I'm pretty sure the drivers complained more about the cold than we did. I always think it's funny when people give us so much credit for riding around in the winter. After a few minutes of biking, I'm usually sweating. Drivers are the ones who have it rough--having to wait for the heater to kick on, taking off the kids' jackets to fit in the carseats, getting out of the car just as their bodies have adjusted to the warmth. Sounds like hard work to me! Riding certainly helps us keep the heat down in the house because we come in from the cold and it feels toasty warm already. 

Our California winter means that sometimes we have to dress like this: 

And sometimes like this: 

Sometimes we resort to this: 

Big Brother found a great way to keep his eyes from watering: 

We see this guy riding along our route home on the wrong side of the street and on the sidewalk. I keep wanting to ask him why he does it but I don't have the nerve. He has a nice bike, a Cannondale road bike, and he rides for at least 3 long blocks on roads with clear bike lanes. My guess is that he eventually makes a left turn and he doesn't want to do that across traffic. It's amazing to me the variation in comfort-levels people have while riding. I just want to scream at him "It's not legal and it's not safer on the sidewalk!" He's obviously not doing it to be a jerk but he's not helping the bikers-as-scofflaws perception people have.  

In other news, here's a chicken on a bike: 

And here is a toy that my children will NEVER have the joy of playing: 

Here is a crappy bike parking situation at the downtown Embassy Suites hotel (they had wanted me to park at the racks on the waterfront and I said "Heck no!": 

And finally, in case you were wondering how our bike commuting is going, here's Big Brother rocketing along on his Isla Bike. He actually hasn't been riding as often because our morning timing often puts us way behind schedule these days. Also, one day he refused to ride because I couldn't find his black gloves and only had his blue mittens. Joys of parenting. 

We have been lucky enough to have the opportunity to try out an REI brand Afterburner trailer bike (similar to this but single-speed) because it's just a bit too big for our friends' son (thanks, Dan and Ashlie!). Yesterday was the first day that we got to take it out. We were headed out and Big Brother asked sweetly "Can I ride my own bike?" Unfortunately, it was a route that I wasn't comfortable taking him on. Since Little Brother was coming with us, we hooked it up to the Bullitt. 

The Afterburner is a seatpost-mounted trailer bike. I've always been a bit leery of this design, especially because I usually see dads (it's always dads) racing down the bike trail with their kid flopping dangerously side to side on their wobbly trailing bike. The Mundo wouldn't be able to handle a seatpost mount but I have seen a Mundo hacked to be able to hook up a Burley Piccolo. The Piccolo mounts to a specific rack, creating a much more stable ride, I'd imagine. Dorie, from Hum Of The City uses a Roland+bike on the back of their Bullitt which attaches similarly to the Piccolo. 

The Afterburner hooked up easily to the Bullitt's seatpost. Since it's a pretty beefy seatpost, I had to do a bit of adjusting but it is literally just two standard allen bolts and a quick release. Within a few minutes, we were ready to ride. 

I was surprised that it didn't feel too weird to have an additional 5' and 50ish pounds trailing behind me. I wouldn't necessarily say that Big Brother's pedaling made much of a difference, it felt like it offset the weight of the set-up and its drag. However, I would stopped pedaling a few times to see if he could push us and we kept moving! He was having such a great time! 

I wanted to test the Afterburner out on a standard bike to see how differently it handled from being on the Bullitt. 

Today, we rode out on my touring bike, Oscar. If anything, Big Brother's movements were more pronounced with the lighter bike. I noticed that as we would ride, I'd need to do a bit of extra steering to counter his movements. It was a bit unnerving when we were passed by cars. It wasn't scary but we were more wobbly than usual. He was able to pedal the two of us much easier and wanted to do all the work. 

I really enjoyed being able to help him get more exercise than he does in the cargo bike and it was much easier than letting him ride on his own in areas that didn't have very good bike infrastructure. I think that with a little more practice, I'd get used to the extra movement. It was great to have some extra space in the Bullitt box, too. Big Brother was really happy to be able to pedal and ride routes that I won't let him, yet. 

On the other hand, the quick release kept hitting against my legs (more so on the Bullitt than Oscar) and I could see how the wobbliness from bike's design could cause problems. It was just a bit worse than when the boys get really rambunctious on the Mundo but if you're not used to it or prepared, even just a little added excitement from your co-pilot could send you well off your intended path. Overall, the trail-a-bike felt solidly built on it's own. I think that if it had higher gears, Big Brother's pedaling would be a bigger help. 

I really like the idea of having an interim solution to allow the boys to ride but still be connected to my bike (and my riding decisions). I look forward to doing some more testing with the Afterburner and probably try it out on a couple more bikes to get a good feel for how it changes the handling. If we end up liking this set-up, I think we'd go for a Piccolo instead. I can see having a trail-a-bike as a good option for days that my dad might go pick Big Brother up from school or trips with just one child (Little Brother would still need to wait a few years, unless we went with a Weehoo) and not have to deal with a big cargo bike. It's a great idea for longer rides where kiddo still wants to pedal but you don't want to be tied into having to go at their pace or distance. 

It was chilly for us this morning at about 30 degrees Fahrenheit and in typical Bustamante family fashion, we were "pretty much" prepared.  

Yesterday, I threw both boys in the Bullitt due to time and schedule issues as well as my laziness about dressing them for warmth. The whole ride was a mess of "he took the blanket!" "my face is cold!" and so on and on and on. Today, I finally got around to call Splendid Cycles to order our Blaq Designs cover. Sadly, they're still in production and will take a few weeks to get here. That's what I get for waiting for the last minute. 

Today, Big Brother got to ride his bike. He had his gloves, scarf, a couple layers of shirts, his big jacket, jeans, and his snow pants from last year that were smaller than I had expected. We pulled out the driveway and he immediately lost it emotionally. It was too hard to pedal with the big pants on. I kept urging him to keep moving but he wouldn't, he'd coast until he got really wobbly and then struggle to find his footing again. It quickly became a safety issue because he wasn't listening to me or reacting quickly enough. We pulled over and I took the pants off, leaving him with just his jeans. It was pretty frustrating considering how long it took us to get everything on him and then all the work to take them off again on the side of the road. Pretty silly to think we were only traveling less than a mile. He was totally happy once he could pedal again and then he just complained about his fingers being cold while he rode the rest of the way to school. 

Little Brother got the blanket to himself this morning, which made life much easier. He's still too little to really figure out how to get his thumbs in the thumb-holes so mittens are a much more feasible option for him. These are waterproof ones from last year. Under his warm jacket is his fleece jammy top because he woke up late and under the blanket, he's wearing flannel-lined pants that we got from a thrift store. He was okay on our way to school but as we headed back, he took his gloves off and immediately regretted it. I tried to get him to just keep his hands under the blanket but he wasn't having it and he fussed the whole 8 minutes back home. 

Lessons learned today: Buy the dang cargo canopy before the weather turns south! Also, make sure the layers fit and work before you actually need them. However, hot tea after a chilly ride fixes everything (except a loose BionX wire which I need to have Tim deal with as soon as he gets back from his fun Southern California vacation. I lost power 3 times on the way in to work and again once on the way home which was a bit more of a worry as the battery was also powering my lights! Luckily, I can pinpoint the offending wire and jiggle it enough to get rolling again). 

I ordered two pairs of thermal pants for Big Brother from Sierra Trading Post--they were about $5 each with an additional 30% discount. I also got the boys a fleece neck gaiter as well (~$6 each). I don't really like the idea of them wearing scarves, especially on the bike where it could get caught in something. This way, they can pull them up over their noses without them falling off or getting tangled. It's hard for me to justify really investing a lot of money into expensive winter gear because we don't need to use it much and most likely, it'll be too small by the following year. Sierra Trading Post had some nice inexpensive gear and if you sign up, you can get $10 off your first purchase (and I'll get $10 for referring you!) so go for it!  

You might think that Californians don't know how to dress for Winter. You're probably right. 

In fact, you can tell that rain is in the forecast by the number of college students wearing Uggs with their jeans. People here think hoodies are appropriate rain jackets. 

I always feel silly when we start complaining about Sacramento Winters. I know it's nothing like the real Winters that actually snow and people have to worry about their brake cables freezing and whether the bike lanes have been plowed. Still, it's pretty darn cold for us. This week marks the first real cold spell and it's quite a drop from what we've been dealing with so far. I keep worrying that we're not adequately prepared for the weather but I have to keep reminding myself that we managed to live through last year, our first winter without a car. 

To be honest, it wasn't even that bad. The mornings and evenings were cold and foggy, the wind sucked, and the rain was sparse. As long as we had lots of layers and lots of lights, we were fine. The boys did have snowsuits that I made them wear once or twice but they hated them. I'm hoping that the suits still fit but I haven't made them try them on, yet. 

This year, since we have the Bullitt, I'm ordering a rain cover from Blaq design. They make incredibly beautiful weather covers. This will give us just a bit more flexibility and comfort on the really cold and/or rainy days. 

When they boys are in the Bullitt, it's pretty easy to just cover them with blankets. In the rain, we cover the blankets with ponchos (at least until we can get the cover). On the Mundo, lots of layers for cold and rain gear for rain. Yep, it's that simple. 

One added change this year is Big Brother's solo biking. I want to let him ride on his own as much as possible and so far, it's working well. We ordered his Isla bike with fenders so he could splash through puddles. For added visibility, he now has a great set of Planet Bike lights front and rear as well as a new spiffy Ikea reflective vest ($2.99!). 

For myself, it's a little trickier. I'm trying to Portlandize by wardrobe by adding wool for warmth and rain protection. My SmartWool tights failed at the seams after a couple weeks of riding, they just didn't have enough give. The Muk Luks were 50-50, literally--one pair arrived almost unraveled but the other pair has held strong and is super soft. I have one other pair of fleece-lined Xhilaration tights which are also great even though I got a size too small. They are really thick, very stretchy, and super warm. I tend to over-layer myself so it's a good thing I ride a big bike and can peel things off as I warm up. I usually go with two sets of gloves and socks, thermals under my pants, and many layers of tops. I wish I had more sweaters to replace the 5-6 shirts I end up wearing so I'll probably need to visit the thrift shop soon. The only other thing I make sure to bring is a long scarf that I can wrap around my face, cover my ears, and warm my neck. 

Finally, we finish our Winter-biking prep by decking the bikes with lots of lights. Last year, we go a couple of battery powered strands of outdoor holiday lights. I broke them eventually, of course, so I plan to get another set and take better care of them. 

I feel better about going into Winter having experienced one car-free already. I assume that we'll learn new tricks, have some miserable rides, enjoy the crisp air, and suddenly be surprised that Spring shows up again. You couldn't pay me to put away our bikes for three whole months! 

Here we go!!!