mr,grumpy 

I went to the packy for some BudLights and Athen's Pizza for a salad. Put both things in my custom rear-basket (a milk crate zip-tied on) and headed home. I STILL couldn't slow down and just meander. I was beet when I got home. It was onlt a couple of miles, but I did 5 miles of hard MTBing earlier in the day, mostly up-hill.

memnoch_proxy

I was out the door at 6:45 to for my first errand, a mile away. Got home, had breakfast, went on my 07:45 errand, 1.5 miles away. Back home (dropped off the groceries), had a snack and then at 8:30 went off to work (7mi). Right when I got home I hung the bike on the hook and tightened my rear derailer.

qmsdc15

The next day, I delivered the same filing, so I guess the client hasn't given up on us yet. Crosstown
rush hour freight job needs more than 30 min. heads up.

I delivered 3 boxes from a printer to the people who put on The Environmental Film Festival. This
fountain is near their offices. I don't go there often but it appears they know me and explained the
job required me or a car. Maybe because they are environmentally aware, they sort of know me
based on only a few deliveries. That was nice.

On the other hand, the client I serve the most has no idea that they are the second biggest user
of human powered freight delivery in DC. One employee who I interact with daily said yesterday
"I thought they were sending a car." OK, that is a reasonable thing to think, but after I pick up car
jobs from you every day for months, that thought might be not need to be related to me at that
time but I don't mind. Too much information from our clients is always better than not enough.
Every once in a while they will tell me something of value, so I'm always listening.

xargaun

xargaun

Getting a Surly 1x1 fork, front disc brakes, and a new front wheel with a dynamo hub put on. The rigid fork and higher bars should help a lot with comfort and the hills. Probably get a Big Apple 26x2.15 for the front too (that is what is on the back).

Towed the red bike so that I could ride it and tow the trailer home. Made a stop at the coffee shop and the park with my daughter on the way home.

Only problem with this setup is I should have let the bottom of the fork dangle so the bars could pivot. Going on and off curbs it tended to lift the trailer wheels off the ground. That's what happens when you test your work on flat ground...

The other problem is that the red bike isn't geared to tow the trailer, and the 300 foot hill climb on the way home sucked pretty hard, but I figure I earned my beers for the day.

not sure why I can't get the photo to add. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pi...&id=1336396599

qmsdc15

A gallon and a half of beer (three growlers), 26lbs of ice and a fruit salad across two state lines to a potluck in Virginia. It was yesterday actually, but I was banned from posting here at that time.

qmsdc15

Four boxes and a bag containing some foam board posters and an envelope. National Archives. DOJ behind
to the left. Almost a total eclipse of the bike, only the handlebars, saddle and the orange flags visible from here.


I post pictures of bikes in DC in my regional forum, Southeast, in a thread titled K street. If you want to see
more of my pictures, check it out. I posted this one there, but I thought I should share also with my utility bike
peeps. She was on her way to Home Depot on an electric trike.

Dan Burkhart 

Today, I hauled an old 26" TV 11 km to the electronics recycle depot.
https://cid-c5aa741102f41823.skydrive...runs%20004.jpg
It was the first serious haul I tried with the iMotion 9 hub,(other than hauling my 240 lb butt around.) The first 3.5 km was steady climbing, but quite doable with the gearing at hand. Most of the trip was done in the first 5 gears, although I did hit 9th for a stretch. Even at 27 kmh, the Croozer trailer was very stable with this heavy load. This little cheapo trailer never fails to impress me every time I use it.
I passed right by Costco on the way home, so I picked up a few goodies for a backhaul.
https://cid-c5aa741102f41823.skydrive...runs%20006.jpg

qmsdc15

Nice. Combine trips to save energy!

Doconabike

Hauled a few orange trees for planting. Hauling trees by bike seems to make people smile - lots of happy waves from people on the road. Life is good.

eggnoggbubble

first real test of the yuba yesterday! picked baby up from daycare and went to the park.

Daycare bag (clothes changes, washable diapers etc) and sleeping mattress (because that goes home at the weekend to be washed) went in the go-getter bag, the baby stroller was strapped to the wideloader on the other side, and off we went to the park!

(baby is in a rucksack (type-thing) on my back - I know some people are against that arrangement, but riding as slowly as i do, on the sidewalk and thinking as a pedestrian, I feel pretty safe)

As i say, first time I've really hauled anything I couldn't on another bike, it felt SOLID and STABLE, remarkably so, in fact i hardly noticed the weight at all, tho it probably helped that there was weight on both sides. Gearing was plenty low enough for the moderate hills i had to climb - i did them all spinning while still sat in the saddle.

Without the yuba this clearly would have been a car journey, but since we only did about 6km all afternoon that would have been....immoral

Got lots of stares from people i passed - spreading the word!

ps sorry about the crap photo - i really didnt want to manoeuver the bike back out of the (rather narrow) driveway to take a better one

qmsdc15

Nice bike, eggnog!

eggnoggbubble

why thank you I spent weeks weighing that decision (hard to buy sight-unseen over the internet) but I am pretty stoked with it, good buy.

yesterday's trip was more modest - snorkelling gear in the gogetter, then the weekly (seems like, recently) trip to the hardware home center, followed by a snorkel, followed by a leisurely ride down the beach watching the sunset (baby stayed at home, but that kind of trip is going to be fun once he gets a bit bigger and can sit in the child seat - and go for a swim). bike got a lot of looks down on the beach!

and a quick stop in the supermarket on the way home. everything goes in!

keep pedalling

Condorita

Just an ordinary trip to the farmers' market at Alamitos Bay today. Also stopped at Whole Paycheck for a few items, and then Sprouts when I was a little closer to home and I didn't need to worry about the lettuce wilting from the heat.

busted knuckles

I have to do laundry every 10 days. The laundermat is right next door to a supermarket.

memnoch_proxy

I towed home a present for my son last night -- found a Specialized Hardrock 20" bike with front and back handbrakes and 6 speeds for my 6yo. I popped the front tire off and bungied to the right side of my saddle rack. I stuck the forks into the left side saddle bag and bungied the downtube to the saddle rack, and zipped it up. That worked really well! My son loves the bike!

eggnoggbubble

it's a bit....

...gasp...


hard to see....


...pant...


in this crappy photo....

...puff...

(taken on my phone)...

...huff...

but down in the background

...grunt...

is the coast i was at....

...heave...


15minutes ago....

(baby on my back to add to the load, he went to sleep right when he was supposed to start pedaling to help)

made it tho', lowest gear, stood up, must....keeep.....pedaling......

I did say it was hilly around here.....mundo seems to be getting the job done tho'

ps half way up i spotted an abandoned kids trike, i actually stopped to think about taking it home! turned out the front forks were broken in a way i didnt think i could fix, so i left it.

qmsdc15

Precious cargo. Take extra care. Beautiful child. Haiku yo, yuba so.

eggnoggbubble

thanks, he is a cherub, I just wish he would wake up and take a stint at the pedals occasionally.....

slow and careful is the way i ride with him along. bicycles slow me down and give me some much-needed zen, having a baby along doubles this effect.

peace, love, democracy, and bicycles.

squirtdad

long weekend....just chilling
trips to farmers market, frozen yogurt (more than once), hardware store, Bagel shop, and park to throw football, frisbee and deisign imaginary roller coaster rides

Jim

Dan Burkhart 

Time to put sealer on the driveway, so today's mission was to make a trip to the building supply store to buy a bucket of sealer.
Swung by the grocery store to get something for supper. I'm gonna be hungry after I get the driveway finnished.

cerewa

Two days ago I carried 60 or 80 pounds of books (didn't weigh it) on my bike for a distance of about 0.2 miles. I was gonna walk, but then I realized that it would be mighty uncomfortable to walk even that short distance with two really heavy bags of books, plus I might have accidentally torn the bags.

Today I carried one book and a coat the whole 2.5 miles to work. Same bike, and a wonderful utility bike it is. My favorite thing about it is that it's an easy way to get to work, but my second favorite thing about it is that it's an easy way to transport groceries. Another thing I like is that its waterproof plastic container keeps my stuff safe in bad weather.

eggnoggbubble

waterproof plastic container? what's your setup there? I'm thinking about doing something similar myself.

qmsdc15

Around and around we go in the circle game.


With some carpet samples onboard, picked up across K street from this park on the Georgetown waterfront. Rosslyn, Virginia is in the background. The labyrinth describes my journeys today. After taking this picture, I returned to the west end of K several times, between visits to Capitol Hill with jaunts north and south, last drop was here, the farthest part of the central business district from my house, long fun day.

Picked up groceries on the way home.

Standalone 

Last night we made some home grown home cooked home fried Jalapeno Poppers. Yum. Problem was, we had no corn in the freezer for the tortilla soup. Down the big hill to Super Stop and Shop. Back up. Got my already opened bottle of IPA out of the fridge, took a sip...

"Honey, I forgot that we were out of eggs, too..."

Beer back in fridge, me back on bike...

The result was definitely worth the effort!