Catching Up On Our Spring Rides

The blog has taken a back burner for the last few months, and we apologize if you've missed a ride because of that. Sometimes it's easier to post rides on Facebook or at bike253.com, but we'll make a better effort to post them here as well.

Here's a few photos from our last few rides...

The Water Flume Line Trail ride in March: The toughest part is getting your little riders to South Tacoma. Matt's kids took the lane on Cedar from 19th to South Tacoma Way, which wasn't too bad since there's nearly no car traffic at 10am on a Sunday. The girls used the sidewalk in places of South Tacoma Way and only used the bike lane closer to the South Tacoma business district where the speed limit drops.

The trail ride was great. It's about 2 miles from South Park down to the Homestead Restaurant, where we picked up five pies for sharing back at the new playground on 74th St. We had families from the West Side, East Side, North End, South End and maybe other neighborhoods, too. This was probably our most geographically diverse pack of Tacoma riders to date. Ride the Flume!

Jr. Daffodil Parade in March: This is our second year riding in this completely non-motorized parade in the Proctor District. It's only four blocks long, but the kids have a blast riding as slowly as possible. We were busy decorating bikes and waving, but Carla took some great photos!

7th Annual Tacoma Bike Swap in May: Sarah and Mark built the best Bike Rodeo course that the bike swap has ever seen. The teeter-totter ramp delighted the younger riders (and a few not-so-young riders, too.)

Hilltop Rock'n Ride with Pig Snout in May: Bike Month is huge in Tacoma. There are events nearly every day and our Bike Month ride is usually the biggest crown of the year. We followed the same route as last year, starting at Peoples Park in Hilltop and doing a big loop of the neighborhood down to McCarver Park. We stopped along the way at Tacoma's Oldest Park, where kids protested the City to improve playground conditions back in the 1940s. Be empowered, Kids!

We had two little riders that did the whole ride on 12" bikes, one was a no-pedal push bike and the other had training wheels. Big Brother waited anxiously to make sure Little Brother and Mom made it to the playground safely.

We had about 100 kids, parents and friends along for the ride and most of them stuck around at 2nd Cycle for an amazing show by Tacoma's rocking family trio Pig Snout. Family bike ride to a family rock show in a community bike shop - doesn't get much better than that!

Our next ride is June 14 in the Lincoln and McKinley Districts. Hop over to bike253.com for details (we'll get a post up here on the blog soon.)  

Thanks again to the Tacoma Wheelmen's Bicycle Club for sponsoring us as we get more families pedaling in the street during the Year of the Bike!

For November: 2nd Cycle Shop Ride through Hilltop

Mock up of the new shop at 1205 MLK Jr Way in Tacoma

Join us at the brand new 2nd Cycle shop on Sunday November 2nd to celebrate DIY bikes. Meetup at 10:30 to get ready, roll-out at 11am for a loop ride around the Hilltop neighborhood. We'll return to the shop for snacks and a hands-on tutorial for kids on how to change a flat tire. Let 'em get their hands dirty - that's how they learn!

So long old shop...

2nd Cycle is a community cycle center where you can buy new/used parts and shop time. They help teach you how to use the tools to repair and maintain your bicycle. It's an empowering concept that your kids will love.

Their old shop down the street has been an amazing resource for both the Hilltop community and Tacoma at-large. They are making the transition to this new, permanent space at 1205 MLK Way throughout the month of October.
This is a free event sponsored by the Tacoma Wheelmen's Bicycle Club, but donations to 2nd Cycle are appreciated and encouraged. You can support them in-person at the shop or through their IndieGoGo site.

This is our first winter ride, and we're expecting it to be a little chilly and wet. Dress for the weather, or just join us at the shop. The route will be almost entirely flat, 2-3 miles, and rideable for riders of nearly all ages and abilities. Email Matt the ride leader if you have specific questions. 

We love riding in Hilltop!

Facebook event page

Riding Through Hilltop For Bike Month

 

May is Bike Month and there are many bikey activities planned in the Tacoma area. Kidical Mass will join in the fun on May 17 with a ride through the Hilltop neighborhood.

View Larger Map

Kidical Mass is a bike ride for families, giving kids and parents an opportunity to ride in the street together safely and lawfully. Tacoma has a helmet law, so helmets are required for all riders - including parents. Rides are typically 3-4 miles roundtrip with a stop in the middle to play. Bikes with wheels smaller than 16" and bikes with training wheels are not recommended, but feel free to bring younger riders along with kid seats, cargobikes, trailers and trail-a-bikes.


For this ride, we'll meet at Peoples Park (South 9th and Martin Luther King Jr Way) between 10-11am on Saturday, May 17. There's a great playground here and we'll have some supplies on-hand for decorating and personalizing your bike. We will roll out at 11am on our way to McCarver Elementary and Zina Linnik Park, a 1.8 mile route.

The pace will be rather slow (about 4-5mph) so that a rider on a 16" wheeled bike can stay with the group. We'll hang out at McCarver for 20 minutes or so before heading back to Peoples Park for a free snack. The return route will be more direct and we'll decide from a few options based on how comfortable riders are with traffic.

We should be back at Peoples Park around noon, so feel free to pack a lunch and have a picnic if the weather is nice. We'll still ride in a drizzle, but extreme rain will cancel.

Questions? Feedback? Are you planning to attend? Ideas to make this more awesome? Please post comments or email kidicalmasstacoma(at)gmail(dot)com.

POST-RIDE UPDATE:

What a great turn-out! The skies parted just in time for us to meet at People's Park. The kids and parents mingled, decorating bikes and finding lots of creative ways to personalize those I Bike Tacoma bandanas. TV Tacoma was there to capture the chaos for an upcoming segment on their new Urban Green program (can you spot the helmet cams?) and a reporter from The News Tribune finally rode along as well. 

There were box bikes, recumbent tandems, trail-a-bikes, kid seats, long-tails, mid-tails, and a few young and determined riders on push bikes and training wheels bringing up the rear. We even picked up another father and daughter pair of riders as we reached McCarver Elementary. And no rain! 

I lost track of how many Little Free Libraries we spotted along the way; at least two but I think the kids saw one that I didn't.

FabLab Tacoma surprised the kids by rolling their FabLorean pedal car to People's Park so the kids could take their one-of-a-kind time-machine for a spin. Thanks Billy!

It was just a great day. There were a few minor mechanical issues with a few kids' bike, but we had no problems navigating Hilltop by bicycle. I'd say Hilltop is actually the most bike-friendly neighborhood in Tacoma. 

Thanks again to the Tacoma Wheelmen's Bicycle Club for sponsoring the ride, to Jeff's Ice Cream for bringing along frozen treats for everyone, to Carla Gramlich for taking photos, and to riders from VeloFemmes and TWBC that came along to help out. We'll see you on another ride in the future!

Families Bike Hilltop

We had another great turnout for Kidical Mass Tacoma #2. After some bike fitting and decorating,  we toured the neighborhood with five or six families. Two parents even jogged along with the group, which wasn't difficult at our kid-bike pace. Our youngest rider was just 3 years old, but we all stayed together and rode as a group.

We rode in the street from Peoples Park to McCarver Park (also know as Zina's Place) with a loop around  Ferry Park on the way. (Did you know that Ferry is Tacoma's oldest park? 1883!) All three of these Hilltop parks have great playgrounds and lots of open space to run and ride around. 

After a short break at McCarver, we took a more direct route back to Peoples Park, taking advantage of the one-way streets through the neighborhood. Crossing South 19th Street was the only difficulty, but courteous drivers helped us manage it safely. Thank you Kris, Peter, and Betsy for volunteering as crossing guards.

Jeff's Ice Cream had frozen treats for our riders at the finish, courtesy of a few anonymous snack sponsors. Thank you, Sponsors! Made In Washington ice cream is the best.

It was great to chat with other parents about family cycling in Tacoma and brainstorm future Kidical Mass events. If you have questions, comments, or feedback about the rides, please share a note below or email us. We're having fun and looking forward to sharing the lane with kids again soon.

Up Next: Kidical Mass Ride #3

Saturday July 13!

Central Tacoma: UPS Campus to Franklin Park

Meetup at 10:30am by the fountain at the University of Puget Sound (N 15th and Lawrence)

Ride 11am-12pm to the newly renovated Franklin Park, then back to UPS

More details and route info coming soon 

Kidical Mass Ride #4

Saturday August 17

Where should we go? Destination, route, theme?

Maybe the East Side or South Tacoma?

We'll announce details at the July ride and here on the blog.

Kidical Mass Ride #5

Sunday September 22

Mark your calendar! We'll be gathering kids to ride a portion of the Sunday Parkways route that will connect the downtown waterfront to Point Defiance Park. 

This is a huge event organized by the City of Tacoma and you won't want to miss it.