Memorial Day is winding down, and I got zero miles in this weekend. Work interfered and some stuff with the family took precedence over cycling. That's how it goes sometimes.

Last week I visited a new shop in Chapel Hill, NC. It's called Cycle9 . I went specifically to test out the xtracycle and the Yuba Mundo. Turns out they're only about 50 miles from my house, which is better than the 90 miles to the next nearest X dealer. WOW! The folks at cycle9 are wonderful, very knowledgeable and helpful, and friendly too! They're still getting things put together in their shop, but they have a couple of xtracycled bikes and at least two Yuba Mundo's to test ride. One of them has electric assist. I can envision thousands of uses for this type of bike, what is generally termed a "cargo bike."

Here is a short list of tasks/users for which I believe the cargo bike is perfectly suited:

1) Take out delivery vehicle. Pizza, Chinese, subs, whatever. In a defined delivery area of dense population in a relatively small radius, this bike would easily outperform a car in arriving quicker. Think about an area of student housing, either on-campus or off-campus in a large apartment complex. Consider a large office park where a couple thousand people work. A nearby restaurant could corner the market on deliveries with a couple part-time people riding the Mundo's or Xtracycle bikes.

2) Smartbikes, basically a borrowable bike that is owned by a university or town that lets citizens just take them and ride to their destination, and either leave it there or ride it back for some small rental fee or some activity fee built-in to other fees.

3) College students. Any student I knew during my college days would have loved a bike w/ the versatility and load-carrying capacity of these cargo bikes. When I was a student, I lived 17 miles from the campus, and would drive to the giant commuter parking lot with my mountain bike in the back of my soob. Once parked, I'd get the bike out, throw on my backpack, and not return until late in the evening. The bike was far superior for moving around campus, and the downtown areas where the eateries and bars and the library were on the opposite side of the campus from the giant parking lot. Later in my college career, I lived only 8 miles from campus and did use my bike to commute when I didn't have to leave school directly to go to work...10 more miles further from home.

4) Mail carriers, Paper carriers, Office Park or Parks and Rec staff who need to move items around a specified area like an office complex, Park, or mail route. The cargo bike is well-suited for these tasks as it can carry hundreds of pounds and move swiftly and easily over paved or non-paved paths.

There are many more but I'm sleepy now, so more later. In the meantime check out the Mundo at Cycle9, you'll be amazed with this bike.

Getting into Evangelista mode for bicycling

For some time now, I've been inching toward a rebirth of sorts. I've been reading about Peak Oil
and "The Long Emergency" foretold by Mr. Kunstler. I've found numerous links and articles on the impending collision of socio-economic factors that appears to be the inevitable end of our current era, which was hastened by or created by our own opulence and selfishness with which we have used over half of the total volume of fossil-based crude. If you subscribe to this view, we are heading for a much darker age, where the cars and trucks stop running for lack of available fuel, the potential power generation is markedly diminished, and the ability to move products from far-away places to your neighborhood will be largely a memory. Seems kinda glum. So my new tack is toward a human-powered mobility, and helping others to become more able to travel using human power. Specifically, bicycles, and their evolutionary family, will be key to the next generation of Americans. So why not start in my own town, High Point, NC.

Last night, a small group of cyclists watched a movie called "Contested Streets," presented by the DOT that illustrated some history of how our larger cities turned into the car-dominated mammoths that they are today. Note that I chose Mammoth as a descriptor, because they are extinct now. The last half of the movie showed several cities in Europe where the automobile has been stripped of its supreme ownership of the land. Streets have been modified, cars have been banned in certain areas, and light rail and bus systems have been improved to the point that cars are no longer the mode of choice for moving about in these cities. That's what I'd like to see happen in my town.

To that end, I'm hoping to provide some links and text here that will get folks to start thinking of ways to park their car, and use their bicycles more. Not the kind of riding like you see on the weekends when a long line, or peloton, of cyclists rides for miles and miles through the countryside and city streets burning up the calories and checking HeartRate Monitors for aerobic levels. I'm talking about utility cycling, cycling for the usefulness of getting around. Using the bicycle as a mode of transportation more than a piece of exercise equipment is what it's all about.

I'll leave you with this website so that you can think about how useful a bike can be, if it was safe to ride it to places you need to go. The Powerpoint presentation is really enlightening.

Been a while since I've had time to add content. Today, I'll post some photos of my current bikes. I've apparently been on a journey to achieve the most versatile and comfortable bike for me. I had ridden a Rans Vrex for the last two years. It was marvelously comfy and a joy to ride. What I found, however, is that while the bike fit me physically quite well; it didn't fit my life very well. I could ride it easily for 45 or more miles. I rode it twice in the MS 150 Tour To Tanglewood, the local charity Ride wherein we ride 90 miles over two days. I'm not a racer, not really fast, but could sustain a reasonable pace to finish the Ride both days before lunch, and do it without any pain except for some exercise soreness. So the comfort and the physical fit was astonishing. My life is the part that doesn't fit with the time necessary to ride 40 to 50 miles. I'm lucky to get an hour in a couple times a week. The poor Vrex spent more time sitting than rolling. So I debated with myself and eventually justified selling the Vrex. I had been salivating over the new genre of CrankForward bikes, in particular Citi model, except I wanted a triple upfront for additional gears, and I felt skinnier tires would be more efficient for my style of riding. Rans read my mind, and possibly the minds of others, and built my bike, called the Street. Now I had no choice, it was made for me so I've bought one. It's great. Gotta few little tweaks and add-ons to work out, but after the first 100 miles, I love it.

Some folks have asked why I chose the Street over some of the other models available from Rans in the CrankForward line. Here are some pics of my other bikes, looks like there's a pattern.

This is my Fuji Cambridge VI. It's about 25 years old. I built it up when MTN bikes didn't quite exist. I was working in a bike shop in VA when the Schwinn Varsity's were being morphed into something the Cali kids could ride in the woods. I used this frame cause it was a tough steel frame, had good clearance for fatter tires, a multitude of bosses and brazeons for whatever accessories I might choose. It originally came with fenders and 27 inch wheels, a single chainring upfront and 6 speed in the rear. I built up some 26 inch wider wheels, got some long reach BMX brakes, and some friction shifters and a triple. I've sold this bike twice, and bought it three times. Since I created it in the early 80's, it is something of a nostalgic item for me. It has changed and gone from favorite and cool to unneeded and unusual. For years it sat in the closet in the garage, until I needed to mount a kid seat, and my fancy mtn bike had no facility for such. Suddenly the utility of the Frankenbike was more important than the coolness.

Here's a newer attempt at a poor-mans RANS crankforward. Where the RANS are mostly $1k plus, this little beauty was had on clearance for barely over $200. Works great lasts as long as you maintain it. It's a K2 Seaside, nearly identical to the current Big Easy Deuce being sold at REI this year. It came w/ 2" balloon cruiser tires. I switched them out for better rolling skinny 1.25" road jobs. I've changed the seat out several times, but put this original one back on in case I decide to sell it. This was an experiment that works pretty well, although I don't dig the low-end suspension fork. I'm considering if I keep it, I'll replace it with a solid mount. I have a Tange one lying around that might fit. I've put about 500-600 miles on it so far.

Here's my new favorite. See a pattern here? I dig curvy tubes. I've only got about 100 miles on it so far. I plan to put many more on it in the coming years. What can this do that my VRex couldn't? It's closer to the standard upright bike format, which means I can stand and pedal if needed, I can bunny hop curbs, tree trunks, ditches, etc. I can mount a child seat, or a tag-a-long, and with my choice to go with disc brakes, I can use either 26" or 700c wheels as the ride dictates. I can make it more road friendly, or more dirt friendly just be changing the wheels. Of course it won't be the cream of the crop in either scenario, but it performs surprising well in both situations, better than the rider anyway. It's no Racing bike, either in MTB or Road form, but it more than suits my riding these days. Greenways and light commuting for errands don't demand a featherlight fragile high-tech precision instrument. This is a well-spec'ed aluminum bike with versatility built-in that allows me to choose my joe-average riding style and do it in supreme comfort. No hand, shoulder, neck or butt pain makes me more likely to ride further and more frequently. And like the great Bryan Ball described, it has "hoppability." I think Bryan's experience and skills in reviewing bikes of all formats, and especially his many thousands of miles on different bikes and trikes, make him a far better explainer than me. Check it out, maybe you'll convert too. If you are aging out of the radical mountain bike crew, or find it takes you longer to recover after a weekend ride w/ your favorite roadie group...maybe check out this new format. There are people in their 70's now riding hundreds of mile a month, and you don't have to be a "senior" to enjoy a bike ride when you can dismount and walk upright without 5 minutes of stretching. And it's easy to jump on a bike and go when you don't have to don the chamois shorts and think about that seat up your bum, or your head hanging down looking at your front wheel. There's alot of better things to look at while riding a bike. May is Bike Month, and next week is Bike to Work week here. I'm hoping to get in at least two days, maybe three.

The biggest problem most people find when checking out the new Crankforwards is the lack of availability to test ride. If you get to the point of wanting to touch and ride one, check out my friend Nanda's site. He has a section that lists some of his customers who have volunteered to allow test rides. There are some spread all over the US, and I think one or two in Europe.