Last weekend, I had the great opportunity to participate in the Tour de Fat! This event is basically a huge bicycle parade with people wearing funky costumes and decorated bikes, followed by a festival with music and food. The Tour is sponsored by the New Belgium brewing company – a beer company who just happen to also be fans of bikes and sustainable transportation!

Pirates in the Madsen

I had not participated in this before, so we weren’t too sure what to expect other than “decorate your bikes”. We decorated the Xtracycle and my daugther’s bike with colorful streamers and the kids dressed in costumes complete with tails sticking out behind. Then we headed down to Ann Morrison park where the parade was meeting.

What we found was a huge number of bikers assembling to roving music. We met 3 other people with Madsen bikes (an estimated 50% of the Madsen owners in Boise), one of whom actually bought her electric assist kit from Cycle 9!

After milling around for awhile, the parade started heading out and we joined the slow moving group. We were fortunate to be near one of the roving music trikes, and jammed out to tunes while riding with the crowd.

Bikes stretched all the way to the capital building in the distance

The tour route took over one of the main arteries through downtown – a 4 lane, one-way road that crosses the river and approaches the capital building. People were ringing their bells, cheering and waving to waiting cars and generally having a good time. As we neared the capital and turned the corner and there were bikes as far as I could see in both directions, including the apx 1 mile behind me down Capital blvd. It reminded me of pictures of the Boston marathon or something. I heard later that an estimated 3,000 people participated in the parade – a new record.

Of course, a main purpose to the tour is FUN. But the festival afterwards was also a fundraiser for local bike projects. Sales of beer, food and festival booths raised over $43,000 for Southwest Idaho Mountain Biking Association, Treasure Valley Cycling Alliance and Boise Bike Project to put to good use in the community.

Just goes to show what can happen when bikers get together!

I’m glad I got a chance to participate in this really fun event, and I encourage you to do so if you’re in one of the Tour cities. Go out and meet your biking community!

The other day, I found myself riding my bike through a beautiful morning with near perfect temperatures along tree-lined and low traffic streets and it was a bit of a wake-up call. I hadn’t been out on my bike much lately and I missed it. Why not? I talk about this in the following post, as well as one PERFECT use for a bicycle….

Turbulent times

The last 6 months have been pretty turbulent for us, as we decided to close our retail location of Cycle 9 and also relocated to a new city and moved houses, twice! We’ve moved from Chapel Hill, North Carolina to Boise, Idaho! Yes, Idaho – that weird looking state between Oregon and Montana, the one most well known for potatoes (from an apparent historic State Branding campaign), homophobic senators who turn out to be gay, and white supremesist militias hiding out in the woods. I can’t say the public campaigns have been very inviting for this beautiful state (Montana seems to have that down much more than Idaho), but think mountains, rivers, trails, and a lively and interesting cultural mix.

We thought Boise would be a reasonable town with great outdoors access, but have been really pleasantly surprised at the hip (but not hipster) culture, variety of good places to eat and hang out, friendly nature of the people, and ease of getting around without a car! For one thing, the city is built in a river valley, so the terrain in town is primarily flat (hurray! such a change from Chapel HILL). And secondly, much of the old city is built on a grid system of streets, so it’s really easy to find less-trafficed alternate routes among that part of town. THANK YOU old time city planners of the West who were not hindered by geography. And thirdly, the town has an active bike culture that has resulted in a reasonable network of bike lanes on busier streets, as well as lots of people out on their bikes (and the more people out = the safer it is!). There are also huge crowds of mountain bikers and road riders who hit the foothills trails and roads before or after work.  These were all surprises to us, and have made us like the town even more.

But wait! That car is getting used all the time

Despite these great bike advantages, however, I’ve found myself using the car a lot more than usual over the past few months. It’s been a bit depressing, actually, to fall back into this habit. It happened as a matter of course, and I didn’t think about it too much until recently when we’ve gotten out pretty often by bike. As it occurred to me, I contemplated the bike vs. drive question again, and here’s what I came up with for why more driving as of late….

1.  We’ve had to take a lot more “errand” trips than usual to help us get the new house(s) organized (hardware store, Target-type stores, etc), as well as shuffling boxes and belongings between a storage unit and the house, and do all those things like setting up bank accounts, looking for office space to rent for my partner’s business, and all that other not-so fun stuff about moving.

I think I could have done more of these errands by bike, but it also took awhile to figure out good bike routes and just routes in general of how to get from point A to B. It seems like any time you move, the map of the city in your head takes awhile to grow. And also those types of stores are usually located in the boon docks! Well, at least the boon-docks when considering a bike ride.

2.  I actually think the main reason why I haven’t biked as much is not the above, but rather the lack of a daily routine. When you have a (more or less) set routine, it’s much easier to bike to your usual places. You know the route, you have all your gear in one place (not the “now which box is the tire pump in?”), and you just get on the bike and go without a lot of thinking. By contrast, there’s a certain amount of energy drain that comes with the chaos of a broken routine and it’s just harder to get motivated to look up a new route and attempt a long bike errand trip.

Exploring by bike

However, there is one particular activity that I’ve found biking is perfectly suited for in a new town, and that is getting to know the town! When you’re in the car, you just go from one point to the next and rarely see much of what’s in between. However, the bike is a completely different way to explore, and one I’ve had a lot more fun with. I find that “map in my head” gets filled in much more quickly with little details and alternate routes when I explore on the bike. We take different streets to check out the houses, run across random little stores tucked away here and there, and take much more notice of what’s around us when we’re out biking.

We’ve found the best routes between the coffee shop and the book store, how to get to the pizza place and park out front without circling the one-way grid system for 10 minutes looking for parking, and explored downtown museums and the library along with bike rides along the river-side bike path. We’ve even met a few other people with Xtracycles and one person with a Madsen (even though no shop in town sells those bikes).

There’s something about riding a bike around that is just more accessible and friendly to the local environment. I think it’s probably a combination of the slower speed and the exposure to the elements that allows one to interact with the environment more than when in your little steel box. Whatever it is, I certainly FEEL much more connected to the city and it’s people when on my bike, and for that it’s an ideal vehicle for exploring.

What do you think? Why do you find yourself driving vs. biking more? and have you explored cities by bike via other means? Leave your comments below.

I wanted to help spread the word about two upcoming events in our area:  Joy Ride and the 2011  kick-off stop of the 2011 edition of  the Tour de Fat. Both events are being held in our neighboring city of Durham, NC.

The Joy Ride is a celebration of New Belgium Brewing Co’s 20th anniversary. New Belgium, for those uninitiated, is a bike-centered company and makers of fine adult beverages. The  Saturday June 4th event starts with a toast at Tyler’s in Durham @ 3pm. Then a ride leaving @ 3;30pm to Full Steam Brewery with a second toast @4pm and finally back to the tobacco district for more liquid refreshments. Costumes are encouraged and appreciated.

The first stop of the 2011 Tour de Fat sponsored by New Belgium gets underway at 10am Saturday June 25th @ Diamond View Park (in American Tobacco Park). Here a couple of links : http://www.newbelgium.com/events/tour-de-fat.aspx  and  http://www.facebook.com/TourDeFat . Be sure to get there early for registration. This ballyhoo of good times will be benefitting North Carolina Active Transportation Alliance. Music and theatrics to follow the ride.

Hope to see you there!

Steve

We’re already a week into the month but it’s never too late to celebrate bikes. May is “National Bike Month” and here’s a rundown of what’s happening in the shop and around town:

Come by the shop for Bike to Work Week(s!), May 1-20 To celebrate come by Cycle 9 for:

• 15% Off Commuter Accessories
• 20% Off Tune-Ups
• FREE Bicycle Inspections (We’ll check out your bike and recommend any necessary service)

Carrboro Bike Breakfast, Tues May 17, 7am – 10am Completely FREE and open to the public (IN THE PARKING LOT ACROSS FROM ARMADILLO GRILL IN CARRBORO)

• Bike Check-Ups and Maintenance
• Food!: Biscuits from Neal’s Deli, Coffee from Open Eye
• Raffle for Prizes and other fun Giveaways

Chapel Hill-Carrboro Bicycle Parade, Fri May 20 @ 5:30pm

• Meet at Wallace Plaza (on top of the Rosemary St. Parking Deck) for an 8-mile “Bike Parade” loop thru Chapel Hill and Carrboro with food and live music at the end.                                                             –Riders of all ages and abilities welcome–

Bike & Bus Workshop, Sat May 14 9am – Noon (Details can be found HERE)

BikeAbility Adapted Event, Sat May 21 10am – 2pm

• Safety Clinic and Adaptive Bike Demo for children and adults with special needs. Must register in advance. See Chapel Hill Parks and Rec for details and registration.

It’s that time again -  the annual Spring Bike Swap presented by Cycle 9 – Sunday April 10 9am-3pm, or so.  As always, space is free for vendors and the public.  Shops are welcome to bring their wares.  Back Alley Bikes, Reidsville Bikeshop, and ReCyclery NC are on the list.  There is plenty of free parking and space to set up tables, tents, blankets, rocking chairs, etc.  The Looking Glass Cafe’ adjacent to us, has plenty of great food and beverages for purchase.  It’s a great time to sell (or get rid of) that stuff gathering dust in the parts box.  The previous Spring Swap’s have seen upwards of 200 people in attendance.  So, it’s kind of a big deal.  Come join and geek out with us on bike parts galore!

Contact Steve at 919-636-5909 or steve@cycle9.com

Wow. I just got back from the local car repair shop. (Yes, I do actually own a car!). My car is well into it’s middle age and it was time for one of those Regularly Scheduled tune-ups. You know the type – the type where the mechanic looks it over and gives you a laundry list of things that could be replaced in order of “your car will fail if you don’t do this” to “this is our recommendation”.

By the time I got through the basic maintenance needs and some replacements of belts and such, the total

The Offending Vehicle.... (photo from Honda Motor Co)

was still over $1,000 (and that was only 2/3 of the full list). Ouch. Between that and the new tires that were required earlier this year (another $700), the car is turning out to be sucking down resources lately.

The perception of cost

But the other thing about it was that that number seemed “reasonable” for a car repair. It wasn’t like I thought it was going to be $200 and ended up being $1000. My perception of cars and their associated costs puts that number in the range of something you might spend on a car.

By contrast, we get people in the shop who look at a bike that costs $1,000 and couldn’t dream of spending that much on it, nonetheless spending a couple grand on a true car-replacement bike. The perception of bikes is that they should cost around $300. You can find a used bike on Craigs List for $100 right?

However, for about what I just spent on a car repair, you could get a very nice bike like the Surly Long Haul Trucker (retails at ~$1150). It’s a bike with a steel frame that might last longer than you, good quality components that can be replaced or refurbished, and the capacity to carry what you need, even for adding an Xtracycle to carg0-bike it for those big trips.

In fact, for just a little more you could even go whole hog on the Cargo Bike, scoring a Yuba Mundo,

The money saver...

Xtracycle Radish bike or Madsen bucket bike (all available for less than $1300). Could you get by with one less car if you had such a bike? (The true cost of owning a car is $6,000 to $10,00 per year – check it out at edmonds.com).

And as far as bikes go, while $1000 is not a cheap bike, it’s not an expensive bike either. Pick up on a really nice road bike for riding around the countryside and you’ll be looking at $3,000 or more. (I once heard of someone who spent an incredible $20,000 on a custom road bike! Maybe it had gold trim or something…..)

Well, the whole car repair experience served as a good reminder of just how expensive cars can be, even if you don’t drive them all that often. And conversely, how relatively inexpensive my “expensive” electric cargo bike is. Yes, that’s the one that allows me to cut my car mileage to less than 20 miles most weeks with relative ease.

Ride More, Drive Less.

What can you do with a cargo bike? How about deliver a christmas tree? You see those people with trees strapped to the top of their cars, but how many bikes did you see this year with trees strapped to them?

In this video, experience a little slice of life here in our hometown, Carrboro, NC, as Dave takes a Christmas Tree to the local gathering spot and gives it away. I love how when filming this video, little things happen here and there that just have “Carrboro” written all over them….

Enjoy and Happy Holidays!

-Elise

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Logistical issues are usually of our own creation

Think you can’t bike more because of logistical issues? Here’s my thought to share with you today:

Many people complain that they can’t bike more often, especially with kids, because their lives are too challenging logistically. You know, child A has to be here while child B has to be there. The daycare is on the other side of town. You have to run here then there.

A few years ago, my life was filled with this kind of logistical nightmares – running errands all over town several times a week. But then I decided to make biking my priority rather than all that “stuff” I was doing. And you know what? I don’t miss all those trips to pick up this or that thing and I don’t even miss the thing I thought I really needed! My life is easier because I CHOSE to make it easier.

There’s plenty of choice in this world, and it is easy to find activities that are fun and enriching while at the same time don’t require driving everywhere. You can do it, especially if you examine where your priorities are.

And if you do have kids, check out THIS family who wrote about a challenging day, done ALL by bike

Ride on!

-Elise

Go By Bike is a video series that talks about how to be green by riding more and using your car less, including electric bikes, electric kits, cargo bikes, bike safety, and getting motivated to bike

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Is biking at the gym better than biking on the street?

In a recent copy of our local paper, the Chapel Hill News, I read a column about a woman who biked on a stationary bike at the gym while imagining she was a kid riding on the street. Why didn’t she actually ride on the street? Listen to find out….

You can find the original column on the Chapel Hill News site here

What do you think? Have you run into people with this much fear? What’s your response? Write a comment below.

-Elise

Go By Bike is a daily video series that talks about how to be green by riding more and using your car less, including electric bikes, electric kits, cargo bikes, bike safety, and getting motivated to bike

Get notified! Sign UP using the box to the right to be notified of new video topics and other great happenings at Cycle 9

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More from How to Live Well Without a Car

Whether you want to just drive less or completely get rid of your car, here are 5 quick tips to think about when making the jump. It’s not just about getting to work and back. What about the non-work trips? Can you reduce your car use on non-wok trips? Check the video for some suggestions.

Have you tried some of these tips? What has worked or has NOT worked for you? Leave a comment below.

-Elise

Go By Bike is a video series that talks about how to be green by riding more and using your car less, including electric bikes, electric kits, cargo bikes, bike safety, and getting motivated to bike.

Get notified! Sign UP using the box to the right to be notified of new video topics and other great happenings at Cycle 9

If you like this video, please digg it, stumble upon it, tweet about it or post it to delicious or facebook using one of the links below