kids and cargo on few wheels

I really enjoyed a recent post on Copenhagenize about the variety of "play" cargo trikes for kids, which incorporate either a bucket (for carting your toys, of course!) or an extra seat for your friend.

When I was a kid, my friends and I loved carting each other around in a wooden wagon, as shown here in this photo I've posted before:



There's something about kids transporting each other on wheels that I really love. I think there's a sense of achievement, competence, and collaboration in it. We're going somewhere together.

I highly recommended taking a look at the post-- it's mostly photos so a quick read but I guarantee you'll see some styles of bike that you've never seen before. Besides, they're mini and have rosy-cheeked little Danish kids on them. What's not to love?

victoria day

Hm... how to spend Victoria Day?













How about brunch, a bike ride, and a trip to the garden store to start a window sill herb garden?

Yep, sounds good to me.

How did you spend your Victoria Day holiday? Did you get out on your bicycle?

retro velo: retrovelo

I was taking a class with Emily Carr University's Continuing Studies department, recently. (Design for Social Change. Recommended. Check it out.)

Parked out front, one Tuesday evening, was a Retrovelo.



Leave it to an art/design student/teacher to have such a seriously stunning ride. Look at those fat white tires! The painted stem. The 3-tiered front fork. (I suppose there's probably a technical name for that. I just don't know it.) It's a lovely specimen of a bicycle. (And German, I believe.)

As of yet, I don't know of any shop in Vancouver that sells them, so perhaps it came from somewhere else? If anyone reading this knows of any importers in BC, do fill me in.

In other non-photographic news, I spotted:

- A Globe Live 2 Mixte, the other model I was considering before deciding to purchase my Globe Daily 3. There were fabric flowers strung festively around the front rack/basket.

- Abici bicycles (Italian) being sold at Gigi B in the Net Loft on Granville Island. Warning: if you like high-quality, classically-styled bicycles, these will leave you drooling.

And not spotted, but news to report...

- Rain City Bikes is now carrying Linus bicycles. With a variety of frame styles -- mixte, loop, diamond -- and speeds -- single, 3, 5, 8 -- all with internal hubs and many with chain guards and racks, these look like they would make great city bikes. I plan to check them out next time I'm in that neighbourhood.

And that's all for today from the "new practical and beautiful bicycles gracing our city" department.

pack up

It's been a while since I posted a music video. This one has some serious cruisers, ape hangers and all.



Plus, it's catchy! And has public transportation. And rowboats. I like to put it on and dance around my apartment.

easter ride

I visited my family in Victoria for Easter weekend and we celebrated Spring by going for a bicycle ride along the Galloping Goose trail starting at Luxton Fairgrounds and riding as far as Roche Cove. The weather surprised us by being perfect. The trail, being an old rail line, is probably one of the flattest you'll find in the Victoria area. (Islands. That whole mountains-rising-from-the-sea thing. Sheesh.) This section of the trail passes through a variety of areas, including some farm areas, some dark, damp forested areas, and some of those open, rocky areas where you can smell the Arbutus trees and dried grasses. Another nice surprise was when we stumbled upon O, who works with my family (my dad, mom, and sister all work together), on a ride with his partner E and their 1-year-old baby E in a chariot. Despite the fact that they're more athletic about their riding than the rest of us, they'd also come a farther distance (and E was pulling the chariot) so joined us for the last leg. At the far end, we stopped for a short lunch before turning around to ride back. Despite the fact that it was deep into the most stressful time of year for most of the group (they're all in accounting), everyone seemed to agree that this was pretty great way to spend a Saturday.

spring weekend(s)

I haven't had either of my bicycles out since Thursday.

!!!

On Friday I bussed it, because I met up with Melanie after work for dinner at Nuba and a showing of Bill Cunningham New York. In some situations, walking+transit is the most appropriate mode of transportation.

On Saturday, it poured! And I mean poured. The kind of rain that is more common in other places but not here in drizzle-land. It was fantastic to be sitting at the window of a coffee shop when the sky let go, watching everyone on the street run for cover and the gutters fill up like mini rivers. I hadn't been wearing my gumboots so got a bit soggy on the way home, but-- meh. It's not January, so I don't really mind. I don't melt.

On Sunday (today), I went clothes shopping, which I do rarely because I usually find it such a chore. (I do enjoy fashion and the preparation of an outfit, but for some reason dislike the process of filling my closet in the first place.) Instead of riding, I -- again -- walked+bussed. In the circumstances, it just make sense.

So those pictures above?

Yeah, they're from last weekend.

It seems I'm getting lazy.