It was pretty cold…
When I got up and saw the Environment Canada forecast I wondered if there’d be much of a turn-out… Then I though again and realized there’s plenty enough nut-cases out there that think nothing of riding in -35°C…
I had to swap a tire and a little hub adjustment out in the (unheated) Bicycle Storage Facility, which was a little frosty on the fingers…
(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)
Rolling out to Ice Cycle 2010 with the family. I don’t ride much with the kids once there’s a lot of snow and ice – gets a little sketchy with the bike-train… (we walk or bus when we can't ride...). The ride, however, started and finished at the Farmer's Market, which is just a couple block form our house – and the route of the ride was just through downtown which is relatively clear of ice and mostly level.
Yup… all the usual crazies… and then some!!
Gerald from the Bike Doctor chatting with a couple of Saskatoon’s Finest – who came along for the ride too!
Doctor Matt and his daughter Aura.
I think that’s Tom in the orange…
So many people wandered up to me and started chatting at me and it would take me a minute to recognize the voice – because everyone looks so different in their winter riding kit… When you ride with people enough you learn to recognize them by their kit… but I haven’t been riding with people much lately.
For example…
That’s Corey Neufeld (from The Better Good) under that mask!
No helmet... not even a toque! and no brakes…!! Yikes!!
I hears someone saying there was about 190 cyclists out... at this point I think I was in about the middle of the pack...
That’s Jamison in that funny hat – from the City of Saskatoon Infrastructure Services – transportation… making the city just a little more bicycle friendly!
Mr. Dixon
Stopped at a stop light.
Though sometime we didn’t have to…
Jan and Ken.
At the end of the ride there was Hot Chocolate and other stuff going on but we had to roll on to other activities later in the afternoon..
The three Browns on the bike train… or the “unschool not-so-bus” as we sometimes call it…
Big thanks to all the organizers! I hope this turns out to be an annual event!!
Thanks for posting Tim, looks like there was a great turnout! I was registered and had planned on brining Amelie to ride in the parade with me but we had my niece's 1st birthday party yesterday afternoon.
ReplyDeleteLet's hope I get another chance next year.
Cheers,
Bryan
Crap!
ReplyDeleteI can't even imagine this happening in Calgary.
what kind of bike attachment do you have for your son and where could I find one? My daughter has out grown her chariot and I would like to find one of those for her.
ReplyDeleteIt's a Burley Piccolo. We bought ours at Bike Universe. In Canada I think they are distributed by Norco, so most bike stores would be able to order one in for you.
ReplyDeleteHey Tim how do you like the Piccolo? We have a Adams Trail-a-Bike, bought used off of friends. The Adams version attaches to the seat post rather than to a bike rack. The seat post attachment is nice and strong so I like it for that. It also frees up the rear rack as long as what I carry is low enough not to be in the way of the trail-a-bike. For instance - Friday afternoon the kids & I biked to the grocery store and picked up a few things, and I was still able to load most of that on my rack - something I wouldn't have been able to do without a pannier with the Piccolo. I would also think the seat post would be more secure and rigid than the rack attachment. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Bryan
I think they're both good. I've read some horror stories about the cheaper department store versions...
ReplyDeleteI also had a trail-a-bike that I got used really cheap and used it for a bit before we got the burley. it was alright...
You might want to check if you have a used trail-a-bike, there was a massive recall - of about 8 years worth of them - something that failed in the hitch... it's apparently a quick fix....
The rack mount is solid.
I find with the rack attachment... perhaps due to it's position - lower...? further back...? or maybe just the mechanism of it (rotates on bearings). I feel a lot less of Finnegan's movements. It seems a lot more stable.
I can still attach panniers to mine...!? It won't attach to any rack - there is a specific burly rack that their trailer bikes attach to. One comes with the trailer, and we bought a second one for Amanda's bike.
The only downside is it has larger tubing so we had to get new "over-sized" pannier clips - which was a bit of a pain in the ass...
Oh... or, wait.. you mean strapping stuff on top of the panniers? doh! Ah.. well, yeah...
With the trail-a-bike I had I don't think it would have had enough clearance to strap anything on anyway... guess it depends on the bike... I'm usually towing a trailer anyway with lots of space to chuck stuff in now that there's just one kids in it!
My friend Dean does a bit of light trail riding with his and he's had the bar hit his back tire... not so much an issue with the rack mount
One thing I DO really like about the newer trail-a-bikes (and wish they had it on the Burley!) is they have a massive chain ring bash guard loop of tubing under the bottom bracket so when you take it off the chain/chainring isn't the first thing to hit the ground!!
I have a plastic pop crate attached to the top of my rear rack allowing me to bungee my day pack in, or carry a couple of large grocery bags, etc. It works well, and is only a few inches tall so the trail-a-bike clears it. In order for anything I strap into the crate not to hit the arm of the trail-a-bike, it can't extend more than a few inches above the crate. Still, there's enough room for a few things.
ReplyDeleteYeah, the bar under the chainring is definitely a boon.
Lauren really likes to goof around back there and sometimes I have to holler at her to sit still since she's leaning all over the damn place! Not exactly a comforting feeling up front. The Piccolo would allow that side to side sway more independently than the Adams version.
Lauren & I are both loving the trail-a-bike. She likes being out of the trailer and I like how much easier it is to haul than the double kid trailer. Sadly, I can't fit an entire cartload of groceries plus a kid on board so there are times when I go back to using the trailer. Amelie (7) is on her own bike now and our range is improving. Not keen on having her ride in traffic though so we plan routes that make full use of residential streets and parks (there are a bunch of connected or nearly connected parks out here in Lakeview/Lakeridge/Wildwood). I just checked and was surprised to see that it was 3.3km to the grocery store from here meaning she did a 6.6km round trip. Not too bad.
Cheers,
Bryan