Brainstorming ways to get others on their bikes

So it's been a couple of months since I got my Yuba. I'm enjoying riding around carrying stuff and making a few shopping trips here and there. Lots of folks have asked me questions about it, and I try to keep some cards or stickers on hand that advertise Cycle9 so maybe they can get some more business, create a new cargo-cyclist, create some more business, and on and on.

Lately, however, I've been thinking how great it would be to have a semi-organized ride on Saturday mornings or afternoon to go to the local Farmer's Market. Every weekend in my area from June through September there is some kind of charity ride or race with a variety of routes that include the century crowd and the 25- to 35-mile crowd. That's great for people that want the competition or the joy of helping out the Charities. I'm curious if there are folks who would enjoy a leisurely ride to the farmer's market to get some healthy exercise and carry back some fine locally-grown food to provide healthy eating choices for their families. For me, it would be fun to have a group ride (safety in numbers) to get in a dozen or so miles of riding, plus the fun family time of cruising around the Farmer's Market and checking out the goods.

Another thing I've considered is an informal guided tour of the local Greenways. Many people I run into have no idea about how many miles there are, or where they go, or what's near the Greenways that might be interesting. It makes me curious how many MORE people would ride if they knew what venues were readily available and how nicely kept they are.

Another useful trip I've considered is using a bicycle to pickup food for the local Open Door Ministry. They serve hundreds of meals twice a day, and they must surely need the ingredients for those meals to come from someplace. It's about 10 miles from the Open Door to the Farmer's Market, so it could easily be pedaled, and using a cargo bike, easily transport big boxes of produce and fruits back. I wonder how interested some of the homeless folks would be in earning a bike by making that ride several times during the week, to bring back food to the place where they eat. Maybe an opportunity there, get some non-profit or a local philanthropist to donate cargo bikes for use by the people to help bring in their own food. Hmmm. Interesting.