Flume Line Trail Ride for Pierce County Trails Day 2021

 

After a long pandemic break, we're back with bikes for Pierce County Trails Day!

Co-hosts Kidical Mass Tacoma and Asia Pacific Cultural Center team up to offer a safe bike ride for kids and families on the Flume Line Trail in South Tacoma. Participants will also practice riding in the street and following the Rules of the Road. 

There are multiple playground stops (including a spray park) and refreshments at the end courtesy of the generous Asia Pacific Cultural Center, located just north of the start location on the trail.

Thanks to ForeverGreen Trails for helping us coordinate this event.

SATURDAY, JULY 31, 2021 AT 10:30 AM PDT – 12 PM PDT

Start Location: South Park, S 50th and Puget Sound Ave, Tacoma 98409

Map pin for start point: https://goo.gl/maps/2JSXDx79eCdKvCY7A

Length: 4-5 miles

Rating: We ride at a kid's pace in a group. Bikes with training wheels are discouraged due to terrain and distance.

RSVP on Facebook (not required but helpful)

https://www.facebook.com/events/332945768204169

More info about Kidical Mass Tacoma

http://kidicalmasstacoma.blogspot.com/p/about-kidical-mass.html

More info about Asia Pacific Cultural Center

https://www.facebook.com/AsiaPacificCulturalCenter

List of ALL Pierce County Trails Day events:

https://www.forevergreentrails.org/pierce-county-trails-day

We shared the trail with this duck family a few weeks ago

Kidical Mass Invites You to First Night

Kidical Mass Tacoma invites you to ride along in the World's Shortest Parade on December 31st! The parade is part of First Night, Downtown Tacoma's New Year's celebration, and kicks-off a full evening of activities and musical performances.

Meet at South 7th and Broadway in front of the Graffiti Garages at 6pm. The parade route is downhill a mere 4 blocks along Broadway and ends at the Pierce Transit park just past the Pantages Theater, which is where the main outdoor stage is for the celebration.

View Larger Map

Helmets are required. Lights are recommended. Costumes, noise-makers, and bike decorations are certainly encouraged. 

Visit www.firstnighttacoma.org for more details on the other First Night activities and to purchase event buttons. 

P.S. Mark your calendars for the Junior Daffodil Parade on April 12, 2014. The theme is "Ready, Set, Grow!" and it seems like the perfect way to kickoff our 2014 Kidical Mass Tacoma season.

A Big Finish to Tacoma's Inaugural Kidical Mass Summer

Last weekend we wrapped up Tacoma's first season of Kidical Mass with our fifth and final ride of the summer. Kidical Mass went Point-to-Point with over 100 kids, parents and friends riding together on the new waterfront trail from Point Defiance Park down to the playground at the Point Ruston development. 

With nearly 250 participants pre-registered for the ride, I was amazed to see so many families turn up on what was a very wet and chilly day. It's evident that Tacomans want their kids to ride!

The Point-to-Point ride was just one component of MetroParks's Downtown To Defiance Sunday Parkways event, a first-of-its-kind activity for Tacoma that opened a 7 mile stretch of our beautiful waterfront solely to cyclists, runners, and pedestrians. MetroParks estimates over 800 people took the opportunity to ride, run or walk part of the trail that morning. 

On behalf of our riders, THANK YOU to the Tacoma Wheelmen's Bicycle Club, Hilltop Pop Shop, Point Ruston, Defiance Bicycles, Downtown On The Go, MetroParks, and the City of Tacoma for organizing this event and supporting Kidical Mass in Tacoma. We're already looking forward to more family rides in 2014!

South Tacoma Trail Ride with Kidical Mass

Our fourth Kidical Mass of the summer happened on Saturday. Five families met at South Park for a ride on the Water Ditch Trail, which winds through the South Tacoma neighborhood. Before we started, I scoped out the street crossing at South 56th, the only major arterial on the trail. To my surprise I found a huge car show taking up 6 blocks of nearby South Tacoma Way.

The car show was easily drawing 10 times the normal Saturday morning traffic and the road closure was causing backups and parking issues near the trailhead at South Park. While the kids decorated bikes, the pedal parents discussed how we'd handle the traffic.

There is signage expressly prohibiting pedestrian crossings where the Water Ditch Trail meets 56th Street. Rather than navigate our 15 bikes several blocks up the sidewalk to the traffic signal, we simply waited for a gap and blocked traffic for a minute. It worked OK.

After we crossed and walked up this short incline, we were rather unencumbered for the rest of the ride. There are many small residential street crossings, which gave us opportunities to practice Watch for Cars and Look Both Ways. 

Our destination was Arlington Elementary, where one of our riders had just graduated from preschool. She was excited to tell us about her field trip to Northwest Trek and how she'd be attending kindergarten at Edison Elementary next month, a school which we also rode by. With conviction and maybe even pride, she told us, "I live in South Tacoma." She seemed tickled to be sharing her neighborhood with us.

At Arlington we spent 15 minutes picking up litter from the playground and the ball field. Kids and pedal parents were more than happy to pitch in.

Knowing the afternoon traffic would be heavier, we left the trail and dropped down to Puget Sound Avenue just before 56th Street so we could cross at a traffic light. It was a good choice.

Big kids took the lane and younger riders took the sidewalk for the last six blocks back to the park. Traffic was heavy, but everyone did a great job of sharing the road. At this point I felt the whole group was riding with a poise and confidence that we lacked at the beginning. They made it look easy.

As usual, Jeff's Ice Cream rode along and handed out frozen treats to all of our riders at the finish. South Park is truly a gem of the South Tacoma neighborhood and worth checking out.

Thanks again to the Tacoma Wheelmen's Bicycle Club for supporting Kidical Mass. Our next (and final) ride of the summer, will be on September 22 as part of Metropark's Downtown to Defiance: Sunday Parkway event. Kidical Mass will start at 11am from the Point Defiance Park entrance (look for a special bike corral.) More details will be posted here soon. Mark your calendar!

Kidical Mass Tacoma #4: Water Ditch Trail

Our next Kidical Mass on August 17 will head to South Tacoma for a ride on the Water Ditch Trail. The trail starts near South Park and the Asia Pacific Cultural Center at S. 50th and Puget Sound Ave (just off South Tacoma Way). We'll start there at 11 am, but come earlier if you want to decorate your bike.

South Park has a playground, sprayground and restrooms.

The trail heads south through the neighborhood, past Gray Middle School, and ends near Arlington Elementary School. I pre-rode the route today and found this guy at the Arlington playground.

While the playground will make a fun mid-point recess spot for our young riders, I couldn't help but notice the litter. There's a lot of litter around the playground. So I'm going to bring garbage bags, broom, dustpan, and some gloves so that we can do a little clean-up while we hang out at Arlington. It just looks like it could use a little love. Bring gloves for your young riders if you'd like them to pitch in.

View Kidical Mass #4: Water Ditch Trail in a larger map

Then we'll head back to South Park for treats and another chance to play. South Park is well shaded and will be a great place to cool off after this flat and manageable 3.8 mile round-trip. Did I already mention the sprayground?

As always, we will ride together and stop to regroup as needed along the way. Our only major street crossing will be at S. 56th Street. We will have volunteers stop traffic before crossing the street as a group. On every ride, I'm always impressed with the courtesy of drivers who give us their right-of-way when we cross arterials. Kids are traffic, too!

We'll see you on August 17.

Kidical Mass Tacoma 3: Share, Snack, Play, Crash

Kidical Mass #3 took place on Saturday July 13, starting and ending on the beautiful campus of the University of Puget Sound. We had 42 riders including Jeff's Ice Cream and several kitted members of the Tacoma Wheelmen's Bicycle Club who not only came along for the ride, but also offered mechanical support and TWBC tattoos!

Once the kids were inked and their bikes were decorated, we had a brief safety message to emphasize Stay on the Right and Don't Bunch at Intersections. These have been key concepts to emphasize while we are on the road as well.

We made our way south to our first stop, the Central Tacoma Free Radical Media Exchange. It's the largest of several Little Free Libraries in Tacoma. Because it's located down a loose gravel alley, we dismounted and walked down to check it out. 

The pocket library concept seemed new to most folks, but the kids quickly jumped right in to hunt for books and pick a few fresh raspberries. Many thanks to library curator RR Anderson for showcasing a great way to creatively re-use materials and share with neighbors.

Now loaded up with books, we took off for Franklin Park. On the way we had our second minor crash that resulted in a flat 12" tire. A few folks stayed behind to try and patch the tube, while the rest of the bunch continued to the park for a longer break. Ultimately, the young rider's dad had to go back for his truck to give him a lift to the finish. There's always free ice cream at the finish and he had definitely earned his ice cream.

Just a few blocks from UPS, a third rider went down. He was ok, buck shaken up. Thankfully, his mom was willing to give him a pump back to campus and a cargotrike dad was able to carry the young rider's 12" bike to the finish. Teamwork!

Interestingly, when we pulled over to make sure mom and son were ok, several of the kids noticed we were stopped next to another little library! It was a surprise to me, too, since this one isn't registered on the LFL website. Look for it north of 6th on Puget Sound Ave.

Back on campus, the kids enjoyed made-in-Washington ice cream bars from Jeff's Ice Cream and raced bikes around Jones Fountain. My helmet is off to all of the pedal parents and kid riders who persevered on this rather rough ride. The street surfaces of Central Tacoma are in the poorest condition of any that Kidical Mass Tacoma has ridden so far.

This was also our longest and most involved ride yet. Our average speed of 4.5mph has been quite consistent on our three rides and is based primarily on a single-speed rider with 16" wheels. I don't want to discourage riders with 12" wheels from attending Kidical Mass, but parents should be aware that Tacoma's road conditions don't always play nicely with wheels that small. Potholes are the bullies of neighborhood family bike rides.

As always, your feedback and comments on the ride are always appreciated. I'm still ironing out the route details for KM #4 in August, but it will likely be a South Tacoma route. More details to follow soon!

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.