Errand bike thread....

[sgtiger]

Lisa, great job! Up a hill with snow! I have to constantly remind myself that it's not a good idea to stock up on sale items when I take my bike. Luckily for me any overage can go into the trailer with DD, but I've learned not to leave the grapes with her.

Fredwina, that's cute. If only they offered a deck for the rack....

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Lisa, great job! Up a hill with snow!

Just to clarify- there was no snow. Just my heavyish load, and the hill, in the cold and wind. That was enough for now!

I thought about maybe getting studded tires for the winter, but decided against it unless I get noticeably stronger and the hill seems easier. Studded tires are heavier, and more weight is about the last thing I need right now- my bike alone already weighs 35 lbs and then adding 20 lbs of groceries to that pretty much puts me about at my uphill limit...
But 20 pounds of groceries is actually quite a bit of food, I discovered. So if I can stick to getting the really heavy large items like detergent and cat sand once a month by car, then I hope to be able to do the regular food runs twice a week by bike.
So I will have to avoid bike errands when there is ice or snow on the roads. We have no snow yet.

Pardes- you were right about how we choose food more carefully when on bike. I found I picked a few things based on how cleverly i could combine them into a couple of meals. Mushrooms, swiss cheese, onion?....could be used both for an omelette and over veggie burgers. Cilantro, red pepper?...went into both my tabouli salad and my black bean soup yesterday. Cool.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I figured out a cool way to combine two different activities today.

Usually I either ride into town and do errands on my bike, OR I walk into town (1/2 mile to get there), have breakfast at Ralph's Pretty Good Cafe, do a 4-5 mile fitness walk looping all around the town's streets, then walk back home.

This morning it struck me that I didn't really have to keep the two different things quite so separate. It was an obvious idea really, but when you are used to doing things a certain way oout of habit sometimes obvious things don't occur to you right away.

So this morning it was pretty cold- about 20F when I started out and 25 when i got home.
I rode my 'Grocer-Ramb' down the hill into town and locked it in front of Ralph's and had a nice breakfast and hot latte. Then I took my usual brisk 4 mile walk all around the town streets and around the schools, etc. (I left my helmet at Ralph's and donned a wool hat that I brought along).
When I got back from my walk I went to the health food store across the street and got about one bag of groceries: chocolate bars, tea, calcium & magnesium supplements, 2 bags chips, eggs, coffee filters, granola bars, jam, deodorant. I think the groceries only weighed about 8-10 pounds total. I loaded my bike up and pedaled back home up the hill. The good thing was that after my walk my leg muscles were warmed up so I didn't have to go up the hill 'cold'.
The smaller load of groceries made this trip up the hill a relative piece of cake compared to my first 20 pound haul of a couple days ago.

I really like this particular activity/errand combination. I go for a fitness walk at least once a week anyway, so now I can make my walks more practical and combine two 'trips to town' into one. Leaving my bike locked on Main Street is very safe and I almost always start and finish my fitness walks from Main street anyway.

I had good clothes on today and didn't get cold at all.

[xeney]

Good for you, Lisa!

My errands are about to become more limited because my husband got a job (yay!) and is going back to work full time on December 8. He's buying me a baby seat for the pink mixte so I can run short errands on the bike with my daughter along (our Chariot trailer is tons of fun for longer rides but not really practical for errands), but I won't be heading out to work in coffee houses anymore.

For today, though, I am about to head out to do just that, and I am also taking a load of clothes to the Salvation Army. On my bike. For some reason it never occurred to me to do that even though I collect the clothes in paper grocery bags (perfect for my wire baskets) and the SA is right on my street, about 15 blocks away ... perfect bike errand! Instead I always wait until I have a ton of clothes and it requires a car trip, and in the meantime the old clothes are clutter. Dumb!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Xeney- congrats to your DH on his new job!!! No small feat getting a job these days.

Get someone to take picture of you and your daughter strapped up and ready to go on your pink mixte- we want to see!
Anyone who bikes with a small child on their bike has my awe and admiration.

Yes, isn't it funny how new ways just don't occur to us when we are used to doing them by a certain familiar means?
I am finding I really need to shake the cobwebs out of my knoggin concerning car vs. bike uses. Most people (including myself these days) don't realize how much a bike can really do if you plan carefully. I am learning about that more each week and having many "AHA!" moments.

(Of course it goes without saying that some people just plain live too far from everything to make bicycle use very practical. I'm certainly grateful I'm not in that situation.)

[xeney]

Yesterday's errands were almost six miles, which is much further than I usually ride for errands. (I love my neighborhood.) The Salvation Army trip was perfect -- there was a long line of cars but I zoomed to the front to drop off my stuff. I will be doing that from now on.

[Groundhog]

I love the ease of errands by bike. I do commute part-way by bike (to the bus freeway stop) but it's only 2 miles each way so it feels wimpy. In the summer, though, I'll ride 5 to a different bus stop and a hill on the way home.

Anyway, my favorite is to bike to my girlfriend's house for our Saturday morning walk.

Second favorite is to ride to Trader Joe's and back, which follows my bus commute route but is about 4 miles each way. I have the Detours Toucan pannier, which is lovely. And a short favorite is to the local grocery store/hardware store in our neighborhood.

[Torrilin]

So if I can stick to getting the really heavy large items like detergent and cat sand once a month by car, then I hope to be able to do the regular food runs twice a week by bike.

If you're using a liquid detergent, it *might* be worth swapping to a powder one. They work a bit differently, but one small box of powder lasts the two of us most of a year... and is a lot easier to carry on a bike.

I do special runs for bags of rice, 25lbs at a time. One bag just fits inside my backpack, and then I can ride my bike home. It's not very comfortable, but it works well enough for the 1 mile ride home. The same trick might work if you buy cat sand in bags. If you buy it in buckets, it gets harder... for that I'd want a trailer.

I've never used grocery panniers, only regular touring panniers... the lower center of gravity really helps. The more errands you do with weight, the easier it gets. I've practiced with a heavily loaded single pannier, and my bike doesn't handle much differently. Same with just weight in my front basket. Earlier this fall, I finally broke 55 lbs on a grocery run, and was unspeakably proud of myself . Most trips these days are around 10-15lbs, because it's more fun to stick with just my basket.

[KathiCville]

Just back from my inaugural grocery run (ride?) by bike! The distance to the store is just a little over a mile one way, and part of the route is a dedicated bike lane--perfect! (Except for one little section covered with broken glass.) I went mid-afternoon when traffic is low. I didn't buy a lot---probably 20 lbs total---but I sure could feel it on the way home! Even so, what a grrrrreat feeling! Thanks for the inspiration, ladies!

Yesterday I braved frigid temps in the morning to bike 2 miles to an all-day seminar at the university. The parking lot attendant broke into a smile when he saw me coming. "Now THAT's the way to do it!" he said. "No parking hassles!"

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Hey you guys, that's GREAT going!!!

Here is a blog I like that often has entries concerning using our bikes for errands or for hauling stuff around (including kids):
http://carfreedays.com/
It's always got wonderful practical information about 'working bikes'. Some of the past entries are neat to browse through.

Kathi- yes when I had 20 lbs of groceries on my 35 lb bike, I sure could feel it handle differently too. I noticed it the most when getting up my steep hill at the end of my grocery run. On the flats the extra weight wasn't as noticable- I was slower though, and the bike wanted to tip over more easily when stopped- something to watch for.
20 lbs of goods was definitely my limit for now, since it makes for a 55 pound total of food and bike, and my hill is pretty steep. Not going to weigh my own butt, not going to go there.

Since right before Thanksgiving it seems like everything has been conspiring against me to keep me off my bike. It's been VERY cold (like teens and 20's), or else snow/sleet falling, or else high winds like yesterday and today (causing major power outages here), or else I needed large amounts of heavy food, or else I had a work deadline that made the extra time involved undo-able that day, or else.....well you get the picture. I think it's been mostly the unusual cold and sleet though. Decembers are usually in the 30-40's, not the 20's. I am not happy about it.
DH was brave and did an errand by bike today- but he's pretty tough, and fast on his bike. Plus he didn't have to haul anything home.

Now we need a ton more of cat sand, so I'll have to take the car again and might as well load up on other heavy things while I'm at it.

I love to read about everyone else's biking errands though- keep it coming!