What a month!

I have to apologize for being so out of touch. I confess I've hardly even been thinking about bikes even!

Let's see, in the last month I've worked full-time while caring for a baby. That's normal, but I did it without my husband, who had started his new job. I also did it while couch-surfing, because we gave up our apartment but I still needed to work. I coordinated a domestic move, putting our things in storage, and an international move. Then in the midst of all this my sister lost her little girl.

So I haven't been missing without a good reason!

I owe you all a review of a Burley child trailer, which was wonderful and Burley has been beyond patient and understanding about all this. I also have to work out a direction for this blog. There is already a chic cycling blog in Paris... what would you all like to see here?

Missing you all....
-Charlotte

Waterproof Cycling Backpack Recommendation?

Dear Readers,

Take pity on my poor husband who has not been on a bike in over a month(!) as he recovers from a big shoulder re-construction surgery.

His armchair cycling has got him shopping for a waterproof laptop-carrying backpack. I am particularly concerned with sight lines as he looks back, and he with it being a backpack because he really does need to keep his shoulders aligned for some time to come. He doesn't need a big bag, as he's actually carrying a very small netbook. It is too bad it doesn't have a solid-state drive.

He's considering this Chrome and this Ortleib, but we're somewhat overwhelmed with all the options out there. A few friends have weighed in with suggestions, PAC Designs looks actually really cool but I understand the messenger-style is a deal breaker in the context of his surgery. Readers, are there any others we should consider? Any comments for or against the two backpacks in contention?

Thank you ever so much!
-Charlotte

Little Green Shopper

I saw this shopper of ambiguous vintage in the South End and thought of you Velouria: Green frame, cream tires... It would be cuter if the fenders were green too, don't you think?  :)

Sometimes you just need a car?

I have a new commute. My friend watches Future Cyclist two days a week. She's in Arlington just off the Minuteman. At first I drove to her and then rode my bike to work, because that's what we knew. I quickly realized how miserable it is to have my baby in the backseat while I'm stuck driving, so now we take the subway to Alewife, walk a ways to my friend's house, and then I bike to work... Some people make think we just need a car but these mornings together are the highlight of my day.

All this leadup to explain why I was on the subway and saw this Zipcar advertisement:

OK, I agree, sometimes you might just need a car. That's true. But the example given in the photo? That's just not the case there. Sometime you just need SOME BIKE RACKS people! For the $60 annual Zipcar subscription you could get a decent set of front and rear racks, solving the problem posed in the photo for more than just one year.

My HandleBar

I finally have half a moment to post a photo from my brother's wedding this summer. We were enjoying a sunny afternoon in downtown Boulder when MyHandleBar rolled into town. This thing looked like so much fun I went running over with my niece and her grandpa (my sister's father-in-law, is there a name for our relationship?) Here they are for scale as we checked this thing out:

It is a mobile bicycle bar, with one driver and everyone else literally saddled up to the bar.

The geometry of the cockpit is "relaxed", to say the least. They need 3 people minimum, if I remember correctly, and can take on more than will have pedals. The slope of your hill can't exceed 5 or 6%, but given those constraints it looked like a blast. Maybe someday Harpoon will have one of these and we won't have to ride Brewery to Brewery, we can just bring the beer along!

Boots in the South End

Submitted by my friend J.

Freebie Friday

Wow, it has been a LONG time since this blog has had a freebie friday.

In hopes of making up for all that lost time, I would like to offer someone in the Boston area my custom-reinforced Cyclist-themed Bike Rack Wine Box.

For information about the box please see this post with the details and this post with more photos. This box will work best for you if you have a Blackburn rear rack, but should be customizable for another rack. Email me to discuss picking this up for free. *CLAIMED*

Happy Friday everyone!!!

The Things We'll Do

Yes, this man is crossing the double yellow line. Yet he looks so handsome doing it, and I happen to know that he was crossing over to go to Flour Bakery. So you see, there were mitigating circumstances to his traffic infraction. I know people (in my family!) who fly across the country to go to Flour Bakery...

Wooden Rack Box

Awesome rack-mounted box spotted on Mass Ave. I peeked inside it and the owner had a bike helmet in there at the time of these photos. I particularly liked the wide leather straps, this was clearly a DIY project.

Whoa there stranger!

I am sure there is a treasure trove out there on the internet, but a quick Google search did not turn it up...

So this morning I left Future Cyclist with his nanny and got on my bike to head to work. Very first stoplight a cyclist pulls in about 2 cm from my shoulder. YIKES! I startled, and all I could think to say was "oh, hi." Later he passed me at the next red light, and then I very loudly said "On your left!" as I dropped him on the bridge.

Always too late at this sort of thing I thought later that what I wished I'd said was something more like "I don't usually let a man get this close to me 'till I've got his phone number" or something like that.

Witty people, or people with better Googling skills, what could we be saying in these situations, something that indicates no-harm-done but next time say something!?