Biking in the Rain with a Kid Our family doesn’t own a car, so when it rains we often still ride our bikes. This sometimes can present challenges when riding with a kid. The rain has returned, at least temporarily, in the Bay Area. So we got out our waterproof outerwear for the rides to school and back. Here the gear we use for biking in the rain. Biking Rain Gear (for the adults) I’ve been bike commuting to school/work for nearly 20 years now, and my bikes and gear have evolved considerably. Here is my current setup for biking in the rain: On the Bike Fenders: I have the type that mount to eyelets on the bike and cover a lot of the wheel. Some of the temporary solutions work ok, but it’s nice having more wheel coverage. I […]
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Would you go find the owner if you saw a poorly-locked expensive e-bike?
If you saw a nice $$$ bike that was locked poorly, would you let the owner know? And how? I was in a situation a few weeks ago, and was wondering what others in the bike commuting community would do. I posted this question on Reddit, and will share some of the general sentiment of the responses as well. I rode with my child to the library to drop off a slightly late book (sorry!) and pick up one or two new ones. I found this Tern GSD (I assume worth like $4k-$6k) locked to the bike rack. It’s a nice bike, so I checked it out for a while and then noticed some problems with the locking: The cable lock went around (not through) the frame and then through the U-lock. The U-lock was of questionable quality, and […]
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A kids bike ride through Berkeley
We went for a bike ride through Berkeley last week with some friends and kids. Our friend’s child has a 20″ Frog 52 and we have a 20″ Opus Doppler. Both red. We enjoyed the Ninth Street bike boulevard and riding around the makeshift traffic circles (aka Healthy Streets Traffic Octagons)Third (and final, for now at least) Healthy Streets quick-build traffic octagon installed at 9th and Page! @CityofBerkeley https://t.co/Z2eIZVCGn9 pic.twitter.com/Kg8gbn7Z1C— Walk Bike Berkeley (@WalkBikeBerk) May 20, 2021The kids enjoyed singing, racing, playing games, and just chatting while riding, and I’m sure we’ll repeat this sometime in the future.We rode through West Berkeley and got food at Pollara Pizzeria and Tacubaya on 4th street when everybody got hungry. Then we headed home. Or follow along for updates:
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How do you carry a child on a bike? What we know about bike attachments for kids
We didn’t own a car when our child was born. That made the idea of running errands as a family much more complicated. There are well-meaning laws in California and other states that require you to use a car seat to take your child home after they are born (assuming they are not born at home!). Though apparently, the hospital is not allowed to deny discharge if you don’t take your child home in a car seat. A friend generously loaned us a car for a month. Since we don’t drive much, we only used it for the trip to and from the hospital, and to meet up for a friend’s birthday at a cafe. We live in a fairly urban area, so we were able to walk most other places we needed to go and transport our child via […]
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How do I teach my kid to ride a bike? What others say and our own experiences
Our child took to riding a bike pretty well and we ride around a lot to get from place to place, so we’re frequently asked about how to get kids started on a bike, and how to make a child feel comfortable riding a bike. Back in the day: Training wheels I have memories of when I was a child, watching my dad adjust the training wheels of my old yellow bike. I remember him adjusting the training wheels as I started to get more comfortable on the bike, and how sometimes I’d be riding only on one training wheel or none at all, depending on the terrain and how much I was leaning over. I remember the slightly loud sound of the wheels as they rolled on the ground. All of us neighborhood kids got scared when the biggest […]
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Riding bikes with children: Talking about cars
In the USA, at least, I found that talking to kids about bike safety meant talking a lot about cars. Dedicated bike paths (in the USA) don’t always take you where you need to go When our child started riding with us on their own bike, I realized that 90% of our communication was about riding safely with cars on the road. It wasn’t about kids bike safety gear, helmets, proper clothing or anything else like that. Dedicated bike paths to the library, the playground, to school or wherever else for running errands usually don’t exist in the States. So, we had to ride in the street, and this meant sharing the road with cars. This is a little scary when riding with a young child. Though there are bike lanes near me, a layer of paint doesn’t feel like […]
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