Biking to yummy park
April 15, 2008
Posted by CindyW in : Green Journal , trackback
Weather? Check. 82 degrees and not a cloud in sight
Cash? Check.
Helmets? Check.
Grocery bags? Check. All 8 of them (yeah, we were ambitious)
Off we went, to the farmers’ market, a mile and a half away. My 5 year old commented that it was like riding to the park, except this park had yummy strawberries and popcorn. We’ve always driven those one and a half miles. Embarrassing? Yes, but sort of, kind of with a reason – logistics.
With a 5 year old who likes to ride a trail-a-bike, and a 3 year old who screams bloody murder when forced into a trailer, the physical configuration of the children, the bikes and the storage (for the farmers’ market loot) has been somewhat challenging.
After some trial and error that involved kids falling from their seats, we finally figured it out. Here it is:
Mom leading the pack with the 3 year old in the back seat; dad and the 5 year old following with the bike trailer as the caboose, we were riding our bike train to the park with lots of fresh food.
Along the way, a friend, heading to the same destination in her car, rolled down the window and hollered, “Can your bikes have any more attachments?” We had sun hats hanging on the side of the trailer (which we had to chase down after they got blown off), flowers and weeds waving from the back (my girls’ doing), and a bike pump poking out. But we beat her by 10 minutes – the time she spent circling around trying to find a parking spot on business streets.
We have not perfected our logistics yet – left our bike locks in the garage. Then again, what are the odds of our bikes being stolen outside a vibrant farmers’ market? Maybe I am just naïve. But our bikes were right there when we walked out of the market. Well my rear wheel was wet; it must be mistaken as a lamp post or a fire hydrant by a passing canine. Oh well.
After consuming our fresh loot right outside the market (yeah, we are all about instant gratification) – strawberries, fresh apple cider from a farm 10 miles away, and cheese from a local artisan shop, we all concluded that this was one of our best farmers’ market trips yet - relaxing, fun, yum.
Now we just need to perfect our bike train and all its attachments
CindyW
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Comments»
Oh, my goodness, what fun for your kids! (And what work for you!) They will have such good memories! And I just can’t help envying your weather (we just had sleet yesterday) and that your farmer’s market is even open. Ours opens May 18th.
You ROCK, Cindy. That is so completely awesome. I aspire someday to that. Right now, I’m just trying to get used to biking on my own (yeah, I’m lame like that) but I hope to be able to add one of the kids to the back soon. My husband has the trailer bike and takes our 5 year old. We haven’t figured out what to do with the 3 year old. Yours actually fits in the seat? Mine exceeds the weight limit so we didn’t invest in one of those but I don’t know what else to do with him. Anyway, sounds like an amazing ride.
That sounds like so much fun!!! By biking with the kids you are making the 1.5 mile journey fun as opposed to just a means to an end. So cool!
A little over 2 weeks and I will be off to the first farmers’ market of the year. God I can’t wait!
Miranda began biking for the first time with her kids…I think a year ago. And she took 5 kids with her. I was very impressed at her dedication and you might find her posts inspiring.