We Want YOU

... to learn the ABC's of Family Biking!

Yes, it's the family biking event of the season! On Saturday, April 21st, Kidical Mass DC, WABA and DDOT Safe Routes to School will help interested families learn more about the tools and resources available to help them bike together.

• WABA staff will teach basic skills classes along with a special NEW class on biketrains and group riding
• SCRAP-dc will have a special bike-decorating station with repurposed crafting supplies
• The Bike House will offer a skills clinic on roadside repairs (so you and your little ones will never be stranded!)
• Local bike shops BicycleSPACE and The Daily Rider will exhibit some of the equipment and special bikes they sell to help parents transport kids (and dogs, groceries, gardening supplies and anything else you can think of!) around town
• And last but not least, several local biking parents will show off their own bikes and share their tips and tricks for riding with their children. 

Here's a short list of some of the nifty toys incredibly useful tools you can expect to see at The ABC's of Family Biking:

• iBert and BOBike front-mounted bike seats
• Yepp and Peanut Shell rear-mounted bike seats
• Xtracycle Free Radical, Xtracycle Radish, and Yuba Mundo longtail cargo bikes
• Boxcycles Christiania cargo trike
• Larry vs. Harry Bullitt and Gazelle Cabby bakfietsen (two-wheeled boxbikes) 
• Burley and Chariot trailers
• Adams Trail-a-Bike
• Strider Balance Bike

We'll also send all attendees home with a Resource Guide that lists contact information for participating bike shops and Show and Tell parents, along with other helpful sources of information on biking with kids of all ages.

When: Saturday, April 21, 2012. 11am -  2pm (biketrain class starts at 1pm)
Where: Capitol Hill Montessori School at Logan, 215 G Street NE (parking lot entrance is on 2nd Street NE)
Places to eat nearby: Union Station Food Court, Ebenezer's Coffeehouse (201 F Street NE), Sidamo Coffee (417 H Street NE, very kid-friendly and has changing table in bathroom)

Join us on April 21st to get ready for the first-ever Bike to School Day. Hope to see you there!

Cherry blossoms, anyone?

Kidical Mass DC's riding season officially begins next month with The ABC's of Family Biking (are you coming? You should!), but the weather has been so beautiful that we're throwing open the option of doing an informal ride to visit the Tidal Basin's cherry blossoms this Saturday. If you want to come along, meet me at the M Street NE terminus of the Met Branch Trail at 10:30am this Saturday, March 17.

We'll bike across the Mall to the Tidal Basin, take the obligatory pictures, and possibly (depending on how the little ones are feeling) extend the trip to Georgetown for lunch and/or cupcakes. Tentative route is here.

By the way, if you're a decent photographer, please come! I've been trying to get Official Odett Family Cherry Blossom Photos for three years running and have failed every time. Maybe fourth time's the charm?

If you're interested, e-mail Megan Odett at KidicalMassDC@gmail.com.

October 15: Halloween Dress Rehearsal!

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

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

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

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.

Next Ride and POOL PARTY! Saturday, June 18

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: