In search of a cargo bike

It's no secret that I enjoy riding my bike (any bike really, and enjoy might be a little light an adjective). I'll ride pretty much to everything I can, including to work or client sites in the pouring rain like I did this week.

We live close to the city and have small kids and I'd love to be able to take them shopping/parks etc by bike. When we had one child a seat on the back of the bike worked really well. Now there are two a trailer was the natural evolution but I've been a little uneasy every time I've taken it out.
The kids sit low to the road so they aren't immediately visible to traffic. They are also behind you (a lot further than a seat) so they are harder to keep an eye on or chat to, as a result I've been looking for an alternative.

I spotted someone at southbank riding a Dutch Cargo bike and thought it was a perfect solution. The biggest issue is cost. For a trike style box bike with a canopy it's basically $4k and while I'm really looking at it as a second car alternative it's hard to justify (at this point I'm expecting a lot of comments about the ridiculous price I payed for wheels for my road bike yesterday). There are some cheaper alternatives (at $1.5k) but no one in Brisbane stocks them and it's hard to judge if they'd be suitable (not sure I want to trust my 200kg load of children to a rear coaster brake on any half decent hill)

Where does that leave me? Well considering the cost of the reasonable bikes I've started investigating custom options. There are a couple of custom bike makers who make amazing machines (http://www.jubecustoms.com.au/ have some especially nice bikes) and I've started asking them how they'd feel about making one.

Winter Riding....

Yes yes, another cycling post.... (don't worry I've got a gaming post coming up... just as soon as I finish Super Mario 3D Land)

Someone asked me today what I wear riding in Winter for casual riding and I thought it was worth while posting. A while ago I was "encouraged" to meet non-cycling people for coffee in anything but lycra and pointed to Creux.

Since then I've been addicted to their gear and am slowly replacing my wardrobe with their gear, including a few other options.

So my standard winter riding getup is like this.

A Netti Jersey as an outer layer (soon to be replaced by a Creux brawler that I ordered today, thanks)

A Creux T-Shirt as a under layer, which are fantastic t-shirts on their own anyway.

A pair of Creux Jeans or a pair of Cadence Jeans. 

And lastly a pair of Chrome Kursk Pro (yes they have SPD cleats in the bottom)

All of this on my newly blinged out Avanti Monza Steelie... affectionally know as "Frankenbike"

Worst new tyre record ever.

So I attempted to give "Frank" a bit of love as it's now my go to bike while the kestrel is away getting assessed for its frame crack. I got some new tyres, and given the color scheme went for all white. I picked vittorias specifically the zaffino pros. It had previously been running the non pro version of the tyre and they had comfortably handled the trip up Arthur's seat and 2/3s of the Midi Smiddy.

The zaffino pros however haven't fared so well. My previous record for a flat (specifically from something that breached the tyre, not a pinch or faulty tube) was held by a brand new GP4000s which had managed a mammoth 10km before hissing like a cranky cobra. That record today was smashed by the Vittoria Zaffino pro which travelled just 5.7km before exposing my tube to the elements. It's a pretty decent cut too (photo attached).

The rest of the ride was a debacle as well with the rest of my tubes failing at which point we carried the bike to the coffee shop had a coffee and headed to the ferry for the "ride" home. Fortunately a patch kit donation saved me the embarrassment of having to carry "frank" home, after carrying it the length of southbank. I can say though the bike really quite helpful.

Big thanks to Myles who stuck with me in possibly the most eventful and shortest ride in history.

A weekend not easily forgotten (Midi Smiddy 2012)

As I sit here in my lounge room writing this post it's hard to believe that in the last 3 days I shared 570km, climbed 5.4km and spent over 24hours riding with 48 almost complete strangers (and two good friends) to raise money for cancer research and had one of the best weekends of my life.

I've had a couple of posts along the way but I though I'd combine the summary of the last day with a look back at the whole weekend.

The last day of the Midi Smiddy was the longest and possibly the hardest day we had to do on the ride. Although our trip up the range wasn't as steep and came earlier in the day, everyone knew that it would be hard having already travelled over 360km.

We started very early in the day, before the sun had started to peek through. Most of us were rugged up prepared for the cold and potential rain that had been falling heavily all night.

Most of the morning was spent discussing the events of the fundraising dinner in Warwick the night before and how much of our hangover was a hinderance or aid for the ride ahead. Most of us were nervous with the though of another ascent of the range ahead and the weather threatening to dampen the roads even further.

Eventually the climb to Queen Mary Falls was here and after a quick briefing about carpets on cattle grids we were off. Even though this was a "go your own pace" (aka smiddy smash) section we all knew it would be a hard climb and all chipped in to help those who weren't feeling as fresh. Jon (my recently acquired cracked frame buddy) teamed up determined that our rider would get to the top without a stint in the van. I think I felt more accomplished at the top of that climb than in any other before it (no matter how many other riders I'd passed).

The scariest part of the day, however belonged to the descent. 17%+ gradient shrouded in mist and fog was ahead of us. The briefings about being safe on the descent only cemented our fears. It was here on the 5th hair pin that I'd get my first flat of the Smiddy (And the first flat on "Frank"). Hard breaking for too long and I overheated my rim and blew the front tube... fortunately enough I slowed to a stop in the clearing and yet again my frame buddy came to my rescue with a new tube and set off to chase down the peloton. Two riders ahead of me were lucky not to be caught in a stampede of bovine as they neared the bottom of the descent, if the descent itself wasn't scary enough!

The rest of the day seemed to flow by with everyone eager to get to the finish to see friends and family. There were plenty of rolling hills to challenge even the freshest of legs but there were plenty on hand to offer encouragement or the occasional push to make sure we all made it. After we passed our final stop the pace of the peloton surged as we felt closer to home and could almost smell the sausage sizzle. Congratulations and thank yous started to flow amongst the group as we realised this was the last few kilometres we'd be spending on the ride.

As we reached Indooroopilly we stopped to regroup as we headed for Park Road. We started rolling and i looked down to discover that my front tyre had flatted again. Boydie and I discussed (for probably the next 2 kilometres) whether I could make it with the flatted rim (or an alternate route to make sure I made it) we decided that a change was the best choice. In what felt like something with F1 team precision or the flurry of a pro peloton I stopped and Jimmy (from Bikeology) had my wheel swapped out in a matter of seconds. After that it was the hardest sprint I'd done for the entire weekend determined not to suffer my first "Van Time" less than 5km from the finish. The irony of course is just as I caught the peloton we hit traffic on Coronation drive and the 50 riders sat stationary for 15 minutes stuck less than 1km from their waiting friends and family.

Once we cleared the traffic we headed for home and the sound of the crowd as we pulled into Smiddy park was amazing and made the last 570km feel like a short pedal to the park.

The post probably sounds a little gushy overall and that's mostly because I had a fantastic weekend, I made some lasting friendships and helped raise money for a good cause doing something that I love. As one of the riders said "A bad day on a bike is still a lot better than a bad day at work". Mostly is sounds gushy because I feel incredibly privileged to have been able to be in a position to help even after breaking a bike, have a few places that are a little more chaffed than I'd like and most of the muscles in my legs being just that little bit sore. Especially after hearing everyone's stories on why they'd taken the time to punish themselves over 3 hard days of riding.

I have to say a big thanks to my Wife for putting up with all the training and the time away for the ride, especially after signing up for a smiddy event biannually!

Lastly a huge thank you to all the people who donated and offered their support for the ride. Your donations are invaluable and hopefully as a result one day we won't need to have a ride....

Midi smiddy day #2

Short post today after a fundraising dinner and a 445 start tomorrow.

A shorter day today with "only" 157km. Did the full day on my steel avanti "frank" after I cracked the frame on the faithful kestrel yesterday and the bike mechanic declared it unsafe. Fortunately one of the road crew very kindly drove to Brisbane and picked up "frank" and another riders spare bike.

"Frank" served me well and the weather gods were very kind keeping the rain away but repaying us with headwinds most of the day.

The rain has set in tonight so fingers crossed it will be rained out when we head out in the dark tomorrow.

Midi Smiddy day 1 by the numbers

Day one is over. Here's the stats and photos.

Distance: 205km (215 if you count the ride to the start
Altitude gain: 2189m
Calories burnt: 4372
Energy bars: 6
Honey shots: 3
water: 4.8L
Biggest climb: 323m at 9%
http://app.strava.com/rides/9839491

One of the hardest days on a bike ever. Just glad I could help a few others up the big climbs.

Glad I brought the leg warmers with me even if it did earn me the nickname Mr. White, which is better than Cameron Diaz which is the current favourite.

Even though it was tough, feel pretty good (and hungry) at the end and happy that I made it.

Heading out for smiddy

Just wanted to thank everyone who donated so generously to the cause!