I got rolling on my new Xtracycle last week.
I love my new bike.
It really is an SUB — it’s held everything that I’ve needed to load on it so far (a purse-backpack, a briefcase with my computer in it, four bags of groceries, and/or two kids), it handles just as well as the bike did beforehand, and it looks snazzy.
Today Sophia and I had a plan to bike to Stacks, a breakfast place in Campbell six miles away. She made it the first two miles, but then after a not-terrible spill wanted Darin to pick her up. I met up with Darin and the kids at the Campbell Farmers Market and then we had breakfast. After breakfast Simon wanted to go to the park near our house, so I said, “Okay, I’ll meet you there.” Sophia asked if she could come with me instead of in the car with Daddy.
Sure. Hop on. Put on your helmet. Hold on.
And off we went.
Despite the 90 degree heat, the sailing was fine down the Creek Trail to the park. I would say, “One, two, three,” and Sophia would sing out, “On your left!” to warn the unwary of our approach. Sophia says she much prefers riding on the bike to riding in the car. “You get fresh air, you can see people, you get wind in your face…”
A man who had his dog riding in a box strapped on the back of his bike stopped to ask me what kind of bike it was I had. “Oh, a Trek,” he said. “A Trek connected to an Xtracycle!” I told him, and then I gave him the song-and-dance about what it can carry (200 pounds) and how easy it is to get stuff (like a dog in a box) onto the rack.
I have taken the bike for food shopping a couple of times, always with Sophia, who now always wants to go along if a bike is involved. Strapping canvas bags into the Xtracycle’s Freeloader pockets is easy and fast, and the bike handles just fine with a full load.
As I get stronger with bike riding, I can see that I’m going to need my car less and less. I gotta remember the sunscreen next time though: I got baked today, and not in the fun “Oh, let’s drink some more tequila” type of way.
I bought a Peapod seat for Simon, but that hasn’t worked out so well — when he was in the seat, the bike’s handling got very difficult. He’s not thrilled with riding on the back without something to hang on to (other than the back of Mommy), so I’m installing a stoker stem and handlebars next week. Once those are on, I can see Simon happily sitting on back on the way to preschool.
