Utility Cycling - What Utility Rides/Trips/hauls/errands did you do today???

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Went out to get the Christmas Tree today. Ended up being an 18km round trip. The place that has the trees is surrounded by a major highway expansion project that been on for a couple years. It's a real pain to navigate. Never knowing which roads will be open, if the shoulder will be there next week.

Are you happy with the Y? I just ordered the small one, prepairing for summer holydays. Wanted to use a trailer tonight but gave up. It is 10-15 centimeters of snow on the road. The MUP has been plowed already :thumb: but not the road and I would have had to do some riding on the road. Riding a Brompton w trailer in 15 cm snow is not for me.

12 mile grocery run at 33* on the fixie, after a 25 mile ride shaking down my winter bike (a Fisher Opie with Nokian studs). I've also been feeding a friends dogs every day as she is out of town. I probably should pull the trailer down and get it ready for winter use as well. But there's always tomorrow.....

I got the Large, its got 9 1/2" of ground clearance under the axle. It rides smooth and pulls great. I added some extra tie down points to the trailer. about 10 of those 1 1/2" U-bolts, drilled thru the deck and bolted. great for securing more awkward types of loads.
I used to routinely pull 80 - 140lbs twice a week and the trailer hasn't failed me in any way.

Managed to haul home ALL the Christmas shopping in one trip. Presents for the wife and two boys.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7168/6563767333_091656cb23_z.jpg

used the pedicab to take my 3 large baskets of laundry to the laundromat :D

Yesterday I did a 12 mile RT ride with stops at the recycle center and Goodwill.

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Today I rode to a park nearby, bringing my 24kg and 16kg kettlebells with me. I also brought a home-made suspension trainer (functionally the same as TRX (http://www.trxtraining.com), but cost me less than $10 to make) and hung it over the basketball hoop. I worked out there while two of my kids played - kettlebell snatches (15 minutes w/24kg), kettlebell shot-puts (5 minutes w/16kg), and 5 mins of suspension work. Only 2 miles RT. Almost 90 pounds in the stock Raleigh 20 Pletscher rack and it did fine. It swayed around a bit but I just took it easy.

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Sorry about the color of the pictures. I think my camera settings were off...

Today I rode to a park nearby, bringing my 24kg and 16kg kettlebells with me.


Ahh, kettlebells. I have had 60lbs of kettlebell on the Xtracycle pulling a kid trailer, that alone was a good enough workout. Not to mention the fact nearly every kettlebell workout has me on the edge of dry heaving. When I use my kettlebells consistently I do love how much stronger my core is because my back doesn't get that dull ache any more.

Hauling the tree to the tree graveyard!
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40 Miles on the Madsen yesterday-- rode up to Cheshire on the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail to meet someone who for a CL sale. I scored some nice wheels for my CF bike. Good steady workout-- nothing beats including cargo cycling in one's road training regimen, IME.

It was 35F on the way out. 60 on the way home. This global weirding stuff is freaking me out! I was working outside in the afternoon in a T-Shirt and Tevas.

Another trip to Goodwill. ~12 miles RT, 1hr 15mins.

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Threw all of this... a 1960's Moulton Mk2...

http://www.ravingbikefiend.com/bikepics/moultonmk2/2012moulton1.JPG

In this...

http://www.ravingbikefiend.com/bikepics/moultonmk2/2012moultonhaul2.JPG

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The 65 pounds of sidewalk salt I towed home yesterday was less exciting... but was impressed as I used my winter beast with it's A three speed for the towing.

I went to the Farmer's Market to pick up some Naan bread, and bought some milk too.

After having went for a night ride around town last night (couldn't sleep),I rode out to the Walgreens on the far side of town to the Redbox to rent Real Steal :thumb:

Hauled a 23kg dog food bag on my front rack. I had some doubts about handling at first, but it rode OK with a little attention.

another trip to goodwill. ~12 miles rt, 1hr 15mins.

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awesome!

I got breakfast and snacks from Mollie stones, 2 mile round trip. simple errands.

Carried home my new in box 1/2" bench press drill, on my front rack. 11 km trip, no problem.

Yesterday I brought a load of recycles to the recycle center. On the way back I picked up ~450 pounds of sand for the garden (3 Rubbermaid bins with ~150 lbs each, 2 on the BAW 64A trailer, one behind the BAW on my old child trailer). No pictures, sorry.

About 5 miles RT, but the return trip was definitely more noteworthy than the typical 2.5 mile bike ride.

Yesterday I brought a load of recycles to the recycle center. On the way back I picked up ~450 pounds of sand for the garden (3 Rubbermaid bins with ~150 lbs each, 2 on the BAW 64A trailer, one behind the BAW on my old child trailer). No pictures, sorry.

About 5 miles RT, but the return trip was definitely more noteworthy than the typical 2.5 mile bike ride.

A picture of the person working at the place that sold you the sand could be priceless.

picking up 2 dozen t shirts for my thing i've been working with the last 6 years. white seabass fish i have been working with. not a big thing, to some. sucks up alot of time though

Bunch of food, 30pack of beer, baby, wife, and some firewood.....
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7196/6847730165_436441e502_b.jpg

5x8 landscape ties 25lbs each.
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^Nice work! But I hope you don't need to brake hard...

^^ that's a lot of weight to carry, very nice.

Went to pick up some trash bags,loaf of bread and milk,rent a dvd and just to ride around.

Safeway had litter cheaper, so my monthly stock-up run was actually a shorter distance than to petsmart.

100lbs of litter in the trailer, another 30lbs of groceries in the panniers. Should've added a 12pack for the front end.

http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/7184/p1030713i.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/46/p1030713i.jpg/)

http://img849.imageshack.us/img849/6752/p1030714s.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/849/p1030714s.jpg/)

Safeway had litter cheaper, so my monthly stock-up run was actually a shorter distance than to petsmart.

100lbs of litter in the trailer, another 30lbs of groceries in the panniers. Should've added a 12pack for the front end.



ahh, yes the need for equalizing ballast does lend to rationalizing almost anything not on the 'list' LOL!! (nice rig, btw!!)

No ride, but did get the original utility/dog trailer of ours out to replace the tubes and wash everything down. With any amount of luck we should be back to doing grocery runs before too long!!

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Hmm, realized just now I had been remiss and neglected to post our first trip to recycler dude of 2012...

My wife and I rode down to the flea market this morning. Shopping yielded a 1st edition 1936 engineering text book for my step-son, a CD of classical love music, two big-ass tablecloths we're going to turn into curtains, an extension cord, some molly bolt hooks for hanging houseplants and a desk chair. I love my trailer. :)

Total trip including a trip to the bank ~9 miles.

Another trip to the recycle center. This time, I hauled three kids with me. Total was only about 2.5 miles there with about 220 pounds on the trailer. After dropping off the recycles I picked up a bin (about 100 pounds) full of soil additive, for a total weight on the return trip of 2.5 miles was about 280 pounds. I ran 6 miles this morning, so this was a lot more difficult ride than it should have been.

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We stopped by the park on the way home.
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Good times!

That's a darn cute pic of your kids on the trailer!

Well, I set a new personal record today. I took a load of scrap metal to the recycle yard. Before leaving, my son said, "dad, you can just take the truck." I said, "son, your dad likes to do things the hard way." And, the hard way it was...

Per google tracks:
Trip there:6.57 miles, 5.87 mph average, 987 feet elevation gain, max grade -3.2%, 1 hr 7 min 11 seconds
Trip back: 6.44 miles, 12.35 mph average, 315 feet elevation gain, max grade 8.7%, 30 min 33 seconds

I turned in 467 pounds of metal + ~100 pounds of kid/trailers/buckets = a new PR of ~570 pounds moved by bicycle for about 6.5 miles. Needless to say, it was a lot of work, and it was definitely my heaviest load yet. To put things in perspective, I had a very difficult time off the bike and pushing the load (1 hand on the handlebars, 1 hand pulling on the seat). The only way for me to move it was to be in a very low gear and pedaling. When I came to a stop, I had it in my easiest gear (22 front ring, 32 rear cog) and I would have to stand on the pedals when I started up. Believe it or not, it's actually difficult to mash in that low of a gear!

I'm not sure exactly how the weight was distributed. I believe I had about 325 pounds on the BAW trailer and about 200 pounds on the rear/converted child trailer. Both handled their respective weights perfectly with no ill-effects.

In the end, I earned ~$154 for the scrap metal. In other words, I got paid ~$154 for exercising!

Here are the pics:

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The metal consisted of copper tubing from upgrading/changing out some of my indoor pipes, some sheathed copper wire, an old wood stove (circa 1986) with a solid brass front door, and other odds and ends that I've been hanging on to since the last trip.

All in all, this load pushed my limits. I was able to move it effectively, but I wouldn't want to move much more weight or that much for much more of a distance. Fortunately, there was no noticeable grade, or it may have been an entirely different story.

Enjoy!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v353/bbrace/groceryrun.jpg
Toured Yuba City for a few hours and then we ended trying to get all the deals we could get at Wallyworld.

Well, I set a new personal record today. I took a load of scrap metal to the recycle yard. Before leaving, my son said, "dad, you can just take the truck." I said, "son, your dad likes to do things the hard way." And, the hard way it was...

Per google tracks:
Trip there:6.57 miles, 5.87 mph average, 987 feet elevation gain, max grade -3.2%, 1 hr 7 min 11 seconds
Trip back: 6.44 miles, 12.35 mph average, 315 feet elevation gain, max grade 8.7%, 30 min 33 seconds

I turned in 467 pounds of metal + ~100 pounds of kid/trailers/buckets = a new PR of ~570 pounds moved by bicycle for about 6.5 miles. Needless to say, it was a lot of work, and it was definitely my heaviest load yet. To put things in perspective, I had a very difficult time off the bike and pushing the load (1 hand on the handlebars, 1 hand pulling on the seat). The only way for me to move it was to be in a very low gear and pedaling. When I came to a stop, I had it in my easiest gear (22 front ring, 32 rear cog) and I would have to stand on the pedals when I started up. Believe it or not, it's actually difficult to mash in that low of a gear!

I'm not sure exactly how the weight was distributed. I believe I had about 325 pounds on the BAW trailer and about 200 pounds on the rear/converted child trailer. Both handled their respective weights perfectly with no ill-effects.

In the end, I earned ~$154 for the scrap metal. In other words, I got paid ~$154 for exercising!

Here are the pics:

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The metal consisted of copper tubing from upgrading/changing out some of my indoor pipes, some sheathed copper wire, an old wood stove (circa 1986) with a solid brass front door, and other odds and ends that I've been hanging on to since the last trip.

All in all, this load pushed my limits. I was able to move it effectively, but I wouldn't want to move much more weight or that much for much more of a distance. Fortunately, there was no noticeable grade, or it may have been an entirely different story.

Enjoy!

Very impressive indeed, way to go!

Got to love them disk brakes, I too haul heavy stuff on my trailer and without the disk brakes, well it's just dangerous!

Very impressive indeed, way to go!

Got to love them disk brakes, I too haul heavy stuff on my trailer and without the disk brakes, well it's just dangerous!

Thanks for the kudos, Stu! Most people who haul things by bike aren't in the 500+ pounds club, but I know you know what that's like. It's anything but easy, and yes, disc brakes are a requirement. I doubt I'll ever be in Tokyo, but if I am, I'll look you up.

hopperja - heheh, love your set of doubles, very cool indeed!!!

Me n the Boy did a grocery run. :thumb:

http://i722.photobucket.com/albums/ww227/Longhaultruker1/Ride%20Pics%202012/005-2.jpg
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(Sorry for the too-big-pics...Photobucket said they'd been resized...:notamused::twitchy:)

You all are giving me excellent ideas for when I pick up my Transport. I'm thinking Rubbermaid container opposite of the bag that comes with it. I have a few spares laying around. You all are a good influence on me...or in my wife's eyes...a bad influence! hahaha

Since you all are seasoned veterans to the utility cycling gig, how many bungee's and straps do you normally keep on hand?

Full-on grocery shopping trip today - 100+ lbs. in the trailer. I LOVE freaking out the straights when they see the bike helmets dangling from the shopping cart. ;)

You all are giving me excellent ideas for when I pick up my Transport. I'm thinking Rubbermaid container opposite of the bag that comes with it. I have a few spares laying around. You all are a good influence on me...or in my wife's eyes...a bad influence! hahaha

Since you all are seasoned veterans to the utility cycling gig, how many bungee's and straps do you normally keep on hand?

If I had wide-load style platforms, I would first wrap them in a spiral cord wrap (http://www.cabletiesandmore.com/SpiralWrap.php). I use it as a chain stay protector, and it is indestructible.

For my trailer hauling, I typically use large Nite-Ize figure 9 (http://www.niteize.com/collections/figure-9/products/figure-9-large-1)'s. They are fantastic and are generally more useful than tie down straps. They'll hold more weight than you'd want to carry. A couple large (with 12 feet of 3/8" rope each) and 4 of the small Nite Ize figure (http://www.niteize.com/collections/figure-9/products/figure-9-large-1) 9's (they come in a pack for about $10), and I can tie down virtually anything on my trailer. I've also tied a 5 gallon bucket, and even a full-sized garbage can, to a rear rack using these things.

The small figure 9's are rated to 50 lbs. I've tied mine in a loop and picked up ~90 lbs of weight, so the 50lbs is a continual working load. I can't say enough good things about them.

I have a cargo net always in my bag, or on the load I am running to the recycle dude, several bungee cords are in the bags/panniers as well.

Just started commuting last week.

Also started using the bike for errands. A couple of days ago, I took a 10 mi loop from home to my LBS, then work to pick up a check, pharmacy, bank and then back home. I could really get used to this!

Just started commuting last week.

Also started using the bike for errands. A couple of days ago, I took a 10 mi loop from home to my LBS, then work to pick up a check, pharmacy, bank and then back home. I could really get used to this!

yepper, that's how it starts....LOL!! Welcome to the madness that is utility cycling and BF!! It is cool when you realize your lifestyle is swinging in the direction of more errands on bike than car, very cool indeed when that happens!!

The Boy and I rode 7+ miles to the park's far said (from home) just to play and have a sandwich picnic....does that count? I hauled the picnic stuff :p

Carried the heaviest load to date on my front rack, 24 kg. 20 km round trip.

Took a combined load today - glass/plastic recycles and a trip to Goodwill. I make about a trip a month to Goodwill, so my basement is finally starting to look a little better. After I get all the clutter out of there, the garage is next. It seems it's never ending, but I'm pleased the BAW trailer is getting a good bit of use, I'm getting good workouts with it, and saving gas at the same time!

I don't know how much everything weighed (I'd guess around 200 pounds), but the trip to Goodwill is ~12 miles round trip. On the way back, we stopped by a park, my youngest son played and rode his bike around while I did a TRX/suspension workout (http://www.trxtraining.com/) (for those who have TRX, it was the original Force program, week 3/4, upper body). I was knackered, as they say in some parts of the world.

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Rode the Schwinn Cimarron (it's now the $50 beater shopping bike) while I figure out how to make a cargo bike - to Cub Foods for shredded cheese, a dozen eggs, and a small bag of white onions. Here's a little cargo tip - before I put the eggs in my messenger bag, I tied an empty plastic grocery bag around the carton to hold it shut.

I love riding the bikes for these shorter trips. My wife enjoys it and she is increasing her stamina by walking around the block every morning.

Most recently, I transported a unicycle. Me and my housemates decided to take advantage of the sunshine and ride to the local park, and one of them wanted to bring his unicycle. It's a surprisingly awkward thing to load onto a bike. After a couple of false starts with the idea of towing the thing, we eventually managed to secure it to my rear cargo rack with a couple of bungees and a bike lock, with the saddle pointing out behind the bike. It certainly drew a few odd looks from people driving past.