Kidical Mass DC

October 15: Halloween Dress Rehearsal!

2011-10-10T14:22:00.001-04:00

It's time to wrap up our inaugural Kidical Mass season with one final ride to celebrate our awesome first season. We'll meet at Turkey Thicket Rec Center in Brookland at 10:00 this Saturday, October 15th. This ride is a HALLOWEEN DRESS REHEARSAL, so bring or wear your Halloween costume, even if it's not ready yet.

From Brookland, we'll swoop down the Met Branch Trail, depart at the southern terminus in NoMa, wind through Near Northeast and end up at the H Street Farmer's Market. There we will hold a costume contest, judged by Greater Greater Washington and District Curmudgeon's own Jaime Fearer and Geoff Hatchard.

FIRST PRIZE will go to the least complete costume. You can bring as much or as little of your final costume as you like. Bonus points for uncut raw materials (though you should bring a photograph or a sketch to show that it really is for a Halloween costume).
SECOND PRIZE is for best use of a bicycle or bicycle accessory.
THIRD PRIZE is for most complete costume

After the contest, we'll pay a visit to our friends at Pound Coffee, where we will get brunch and eat tasty pumpkin-themed snacks from Dessert Station. To keep little hands busy, we will have a box-full of mini-pumpkins for the kids to decorate and take home.

Meetup times and locations:

10:00am: Turkey Thicket Recreation Center, Brookland, east side near the basketball courts
10:45am: Met Branch Trail, R Street NE entrance
11:15am: H Street Farmer's Market
11:30am: Costume Contest!
11:45am: Leave H Street for Pound Coffee @ Eastern Market

Meetup points and route are on this Google Map. Questions? Email Megan at KidicalMassDC@gmail.com. Please join us and our friends for the final ride of the season!

Next Ride: September 17

2011-09-01T12:47:00.002-04:00

Welcome, Kojo Nnamdi Show listeners and other family biking fans!

Our next ride is September 17, and it's going to be a epic family biking journey, so hold onto your helmets:

Four wards
Three bridge crossings
Two beautiful bike trails
TEN MILES OF AWESOME

Main Ride:
Meet us at the Anacostia Metro Station at 11am for a quick ride through Historic Anacostia, including Anacostia's famous Big Chair, before we take a break from riding in traffic to enjoy the gorgeous river views from the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail. We'll follow the west side of the trail up past RFK (GEESE!) and cross the bike-friendly Benning Road bridge, and end with a picnic at the River Terrace Recreation Center and Playground. Bring your own lunch, desserts are on us!

Super Awesome Epic Family Bike Ride:
Meet me at the R Street NE entrance to the Met Branch Trail at 9:30am for ten full miles of overwhelming cuteness and family biking fun. We'll follow the Met Branch to its end, then zip through Near Northeast, Capitol Hill and Eastern Market (another meetup spot), before we head across the Pennsylvania Avenue bridge to Anacostia.

Route map is here.

Saturday, September 17

9:30am: Met Branch Trail/Eckington meetup
10:15am: Eastern Market meetup
11:00am: Anacostia Metro meetup. Yes, you can take the Metro with a bike and a baby! See?

We look forward to seeing you! Email Megan with any questions.

Next Ride: Saturday, July 16

2011-07-05T22:11:00.001-04:00

Farmer's Market!
The White House!
$50 for 50 Riders!

This ride has a little something for everyone. Meet up at 10:30am on Saturday, July 16 at the Mt. Pleasant Farmer's Market, where you can grab a scone from Atwater's Bakery or an exotic popsicle from Pleasant Pops, or just sample the delicious meat, cheese and produce. At 11:00am, we'll all leave together for an easy ride down to the White House, where we'll take our picture together. After that break, we'll head back up the hill to finish off with a well-deserved cooldown at the Columbia Heights splash fountain. Participants are welcome to stay after the ride to enjoy some of the many eating options in Columbia Heights.

This month, there's an added incentive to ride! Our old pals at BicycleSPACE, following up on a challenge issued by a staff member at the Rails to Trails Conservancy, have pledged to give Kidical Mass DC $50 if we can recruit 50 riders for this event! We're saving our pennies for a very special event this October, so we hope you can help us meet this challenge on Saturday!

For more information, email KidicalMassDC@gmail.com

Where We Ride: Met Branch Trail

2011-06-20T23:29:00.003-04:00

Before I had a kid, I used to be a cyclist of the “strong and fearless” variety. No road was too busy and no bike lane too narrow to stop me from getting to my destination by the most direct route. After I had my son Alex, though, it was as if I had become a newbie all over again. Suddenly I was hyperaware of every vehicle, every pothole, every pedestrian and every hazard on the road. I began to prioritize traffic calmness much more in choosing my routes.

Around the same time, I discovered the Metropolitan Branch Trail.

A little miracle in the heart of Washington, D.C., the Met Branch Trail enables Alex and me to bike from our Bloomingdale home to some of our favorite destinations while avoiding some of the city's most dangerous roads. From our house, it’s an easy four-block ride to the trail’s R Street access point. From there, we can head south to NoMa and Near Northeast, skipping the twin nightmares of New York and Florida Avenues. Or we can pedal north to Brookland, gliding over the commuter artery of Rhode Island Avenue.

The Met Branch is a huge help during our several-times-a-week commute to daycare. For those trips, we bike north on the trail to Brookland, then zigzag on side streets over the Maryland border to Hyattsville. The trail helps us bypass the commuter traffic of Rhode Island Avenue and converts the exhausting ups-and-downs of Edgewood into a persistent but manageable uphill climb.

My favorite part of our daycare commute is the trip home, when the sweat from the morning's uphill climb pays off in a long downhill run and we fly past the trees and the railroad tracks, with the Capitol dome ahead of us and Alex waving his hands in the air to feel the wind.

The Met Branch is still a work in progress. The District Department of Transportation and numerous other partners are still working to complete the trail from Union Station to Silver Spring, Md. Even before the rest of the trail is completed, there are projects that will improve the trail's connection with neighborhoods and transit stops.

Since we live in Bloomingdale, we use the R Street NE entrance in Eckington to access the trail. For us and many others, R Street is not only a gateway to Met Branch Trail, it's an important crosstown street for cyclists, stretching nearly three miles from the Met Branch Trail in Eckington to Rock Creek Park.

The only problem is that R Street is one-way for a single block in Eckington. In order to avoid illegally bicycling against traffic on our return trips, I hop up on the curb for that one block. Although a legal maneuver outside of downtown D.C., it's not the best solution. The sidewalk is narrow and residents store their trash cans there. I’m always worried that I’m going to run into a fellow sidewalk user or knock over someone’s trash can—especially on days when we’re using our bike trailer.

For that reason, I’ve been following the recent debate over proposed changes to R Street with interest. I support the proposed addition of a contraflow bike lane to the one-way block and sharrows to the rest of R Street NE from North Capitol Street to the trail entrance. It will make this section of R Street safer for cyclists, drivers and pedestrians by slowing down traffic in this residential neighborhood—without eliminating any on-street parking spaces.

This connection may face debate and delay, but it is critical to making our neighborhoods better places to walk and bike—not to mention raise a family. The Met Branch Trail has made it easier and even more fun to bike around town with my son. I’m so grateful to have this resource, and I look forward to many more miles on the trail with him.

Crossposted at Rails-to-Trails Conservancy's RTC TrailBlog and at The WashCycle.

Next Ride and POOL PARTY! Saturday, June 18

2011-06-07T23:07:00.003-04:00

We have some birthdays to celebrate this month, so June’s Kidical Mass ride is going to be extra fun and full of action! We’ll gather at the Turkey Thicket Recreation Center at 10:30am on June 18 before heading off through the quiet streets of Brookland to pay a visit to the Mt. Rainier Bike Co-op. After a quick pit-stop and visit with our friends at the Co-op, we’ll cool off with a POOL PARTY at the Prince George’s Pool in Mt. Rainier. Our friends at DessertStation are providing a special cake to help us celebrate the birthdays of our June babies (young and old)!

A biketrain will bike up the Met Branch Trail starting at 9:45(ish...) with meetups in Bloomingdale, Eckington, and Edgewood for residents of Capitol Hill and other points south.

Full details after the jump:

LOCATIONS & TIMES:

All meetup points are marked in this Google map

Bloomingdale meetup: 9:45am. Big Bear Cafe, 1st Street NW & R Street NW.
Eckington meetup: 10:00am. Met Branch Trail @ R Street NE.
Edgewood/R.I. Avenue meetup: 10:15am. Met Branch Trail @ Rhode Island Avenue Shopping Center.
Brookland meetup: 10:30am. Turkey Thicket Playground, Michigan Ave. NE between Quincy Street NE & Randolph Street NE.
Mt. Rainier Bike Co-op: 11:30am. 3601 Bunker Hill Road, Mt Rainier, MD 20712
Prince George's Pool: 3301 Buchanan Street (between Queens Chapel Road and 34th Street), Mt. Rainier, MD 20712

LUNCH: Snacks and water will be provided at various points during the ride, but you are responsible for your own lunch! The Prince George’s Pool does not have a concession stand, but features picnic facilities.

POOL ADMISSION: Admission to the pool for this party is $4 per person ($3 non-member admission fee plus $1 to offset the party registration fee). Swim diapers are required for diaper-age children. Click here to see the rules and facilities of the Prince George’s Pool.

EVENT PARTNERS:

Mt. Rainier Bike Co-op (blog)

Rails to Trails Conservancy (c/o Stephen Miller, Urban Pathways Coordinator)

DDOT Safe Routes to School Program

Prince George’s Pool

BicycleSPACE

DessertStation

How We Ride: Christiania cargo bike

2011-05-19T12:23:00.002-04:00

We’ve all admired the chic Copenhagers and carefree Amsterdammers for their casual inclusion of bicycles in everyday life, but what happens when these European cycling paragons have children? Do they pack it all in for a house in a suburban subdivision and buy themselves a station wagon? No! They just invest in the city cycling version of a station wagon—the cargo bike. Whether they’re built on two wheels or three, cargo bikes feature in many a photograph of “Supermums” on Copenhagenize and Amsterdamize. One of the most popular examples of cargo bikes is the Christiania cargo trike. The Christiania is now available in the US for the first time through the efforts of American Will Kearins and his export company, Boxcycles. BicycleSPACE here in DC has secured a coveted spot as a retailer of Christiania’s bikes.

The staff at BicycleSPACE, taking pity on my obvious desperation to ride one of these legendary bikes, generously allowed me to try out the Christiania with my son Baby A. We used the bike on two separate occasions: once on our Tuesday Biketrain from our Washington DC home to Baby A’s daycare in Hyattsville and back, and once on a Kidical Mass ride through Capitol Hill. Together, these rides illustrated both the strengths and weaknesses of the Christiania as an urban family vehicle/car replacement.

The Christiania occupies an important kid-and-dog transportation niche

Full review after the jump >>

Let’s talk first about the outstanding feature of the Christiania: it holds SO. MUCH. STUFF. Parents reading this know what I’m talking about, and parents-to-be, let me just warn you: kids need a lot of stuff. Even making the simple daily trip to daycare, we bring: Alex’s lunchbox, a change of clothing and crib sheets, a pacifier, a toy, my lunch, my laptop, a change of clothes, my purse, and the knitting project of the day. My poor, valiant Trek hybrid has nearly tipped over under loads like this more than once. What a relief it was to grab everything I needed and throw it all into the Christiania’s front box with plenty of room left over for Alex! The Christiania has greater carrying capacity than any other cargo bike or trailer I’ve ever seen. The handling isn’t affected no matter how much you load the box up (though when you start getting close to the 200lb weight limit, you will find yourself slowing down).

Sippy cup access: a crucial element

The Christiania is equipped with well-chosen components that maximize its durability and utility

8-speed internal gear hub: low-maintenance, weather-proof, and offering the nifty advantage of being able to shift gears while stopped
disc brakes that retain their stopping power in any weather
step-through frame, chainguard and grippy rubber pedals to let you ride in everyday clothing
heavy-duty, puncture resistant tires
a removable weather canopy to protect kids and other cargo from rain and cold

There are a few components that I would add or change:

saddle –while the upright posture does require a wider saddle than some cyclists will be used to, you don’t need such an over-padded saddle to ride this bike comfortably. A sprung Brooks or Velo Orange leather saddle will do the job without giving you sciatica.
lights – surprisingly on a bike this oriented toward transportation cycling, the Christiania does not come equipped with a built-in lighting system. Plan on adding some battery-powered lights for maximum nighttime visibility. The reflectors, while plentiful, are no substitute for a good set of lights for nighttime visibility.

RIDE QUALITY

It takes a while to get used to the Boxbike’s steering mechanism. Throw away everything you’ve learned from riding a two-wheeled bike: steering is controlled entirely with the hands and you have to lean into turns to keep your balance. Once you’ve banished all your assumptions, you’ll find that the Boxbike is incredibly easy to pilot, especially at low speeds. The gear range of the Shimano Nexus 8-speed is also thoughtfully chosen. As a short, out-of-shape woman with bad knees, I thought I was going to have trouble with some parts of the Bloomingdale to Hyattsville ride, but we made it all in one go without having to take a break. Of course, it took us longer—using the Christiania increased the time of our trip by a good twenty minutes each way. Our friend’s cycle computer indicated that we were traveling an average of 2mph less throughout the trip. At first I thought we could make up for slow uphill times by using the bike’s momentum on the downhills, but I discovered that the Boxbike’s steering gets increasingly responsive (technical term: squirrelly) the faster you go, so that the littlest change of pressure with your hands can put you out in the middle of the lane before you know it. No doubt practice can help you overcome this tendency, but for a novice user, I’d put the Boxbike’s top speed at 12mph.

WHO IT’S GOOD FOR

The Christiania is great for people who:

need to haul kids, pets, cargo, or any combination thereof
have a daily commute of less than five miles each way
live in a fairly dense area
hate searching for parking spots

The Christiania is less than ideal for people who:

have to take their kids more than five miles on a time-sensitive trip (ie, morning & evening commute)
can only lock their bikes up on the street (just my intuition, but to me the Christiania looks like a good target for vandalism)
don’t like strangers complimenting them on their cool ride!

In short, the Christiania is an ideal car replacement. Its carrying capacity allows you to really pack it with kids, dogs, deliveries, or any other cargo you can think of, while its simple yet thoughtful design allows for lots of custom modifications. It’s a lot of fun for both the pilot and the passengers. Yes, it’s an investment, but this bike is so well-made that its maintenance costs are practically nil and it’ll hold its value far better than any comparably-priced car. I encourage you to stop by BicycleSPACE and test it out on a short trip, or ask them if you can rent it for a day. The hardest part will be giving it back!

Nex Ride: Saturday, May 21

2011-05-11T11:00:00.001-04:00

Location: Near Eastern Market Station. Map.
Time: Gather at 10:00am, ride starts at 11:00am
Destination: Pound Coffee, 621 Pennsylvania Avenue SE

Once again we’ll meet in the park area just across Pennsylvania Avenue SE from Eastern Market Station (between 8th, 9th and D Street and Pennsylvania Avenue). From 10:00am till 11:00am, we’ll drink coffee, eat tasty snacks provided by our friends at Dessert Station, and share our family biking stories. Then we’ll leave for a leisurely ride through Capitol Hill and end with brunch at Pound Coffee. Participants will have a chance to win a $50 gift certificate from event partner BicycleSPACE.

Click here to register for the event.

Hope to see you there!

Did someone say "prizes"?!

2011-04-13T10:04:00.001-04:00

Yes, indeedy! The rockstars at BicycleSPACE have given us three (three!) $50 giftcards to give away at the April 23 ride. We'll be distributing them to the following winners:

Youngest passenger
Youngest solo rider
Luckiest participant (chosen at random from all registered participants)

Many thanks to the staff and management of BicycleSPACE for supporting Kidical Mass DC!

Fine Print:
You must be present at Kidical Mass DC to win. Only registered participants are eligible. You can register in person on the day of the ride or in advance by clicking here. Only one prize per family. The solo rider prize will be awarded to the youngest participant in the Kidical Mass ride to cycle independently the full distance from Eastern Market to the Argonaut.

How We Ride: Pushbikes

2011-04-12T08:36:00.002-04:00

Photo courtesy of Like-A-Bike

Although Baby A is still too young and small for any kind of training bike, I’ve already been doing my research on the best way to teach him how to ride. If you’re like me, you remember graduating from a tricycle to a bike with training wheels to (finally!) an independent two-wheeler; but some parents are now finding that their children can begin at a younger age and transition more smoothly to two-wheeled bikes by using small pedal-less bikes known variously as pushbikes, scooter bikes, or balance bikes. A few parents on the invaluable Brookland parents’ listserv have offered their suggestions on introductory bikes for children. Read more after the jump!

Amy from biblioMOMia wrote, “My friends are all CRAZY about LikeABikes. It's so funny to watch their toddlers zooming around on them!”

Rebbie from the Mount Pleasant Farmer’s Market said, “My son rode his Skuut for about a year, probably age 2.5 - 3.5, and then when he decided to try a pedal bike this Feb, it took him about 15 minutes to learn to ride without training wheels.... His 6 year old sister STILL can't ride a bike, and she didn't have the Skuut.”

Mikael Colville-Andersen, proprietor of the Copenhagen Cycle Chic and Copenhagenize blogs, has offered up his own experience here and here--be sure to check out the second link for further helpful comments and a lethally cute video of Colville-Anderson’s daughter learning to ride her pushbike.

Finally, for the ultimate in thrifty DIY action, you can take a very small bike (bikes with 12” wheels are recommended) and remove the pedals to create your own balance bike. Then you can just re-mount them when your little dude or dudette is ready to start pedaling.

Next Ride: Saturday, April 23

2011-04-02T20:48:00.002-04:00

UPDATE: Capital Weather Gang thinks that most of the rain will have cleared by
Saturday morning, so we will ride rain or shine!

Join us for Washington DC's first-ever Kidical Mass ride - a legal, safe and FUN bike ride for kids, kids at heart, and their families. Coffee! Prizes! A chance to meet other cycling families!

Meet us at 10am on Saturday, April 23 across the street from Eastern Market Station for refreshments, a bicycle decorating party, and an opportunity for future cyclists to ride their pushbikes and tricycles in a protected area. Then we'll leave at 11am for a leisurely ride through Capitol Hill before ending at the Argonaut for brunch.

10:00am: Refreshments from Dessert Stations, bike decorating (supplies donated by SCRAP-dc), tricycle and pushbike riding for young riders
11:00am: Main ride begins. Prizes from BicycleSPACE will be awarded at the end!

Start point: 8th St. SE & D St. SE
End point: The Argonaut, 1433 H St. NE.

Helmet use is strongly encouraged.

Email us to RSVP.

Welcome to Kidical Mass DC!

2011-03-31T09:58:00.000-04:00

Hello, and thanks for stopping by! Here's where you'll find updates on Kidical Mass events along with information and inspiration for biking with kids. Stop by often or add us to your feed reader to keep up with local and national family biking information.