SDOT installs my requested bike rack

Months ago I went through the process to request a free bike rack from the City of Seattle [here]. Today it was installed on the sidewalk in front of our apartment. Love it. Thanks City of Seattle!

Drag Racing: Cargobike vs South Lake Union Trolley

Most assume a Dutch cargobike makes a poor drag racing vehicle. On Monday morning I proved otherwise. I went by the South Lake Union Trolley just as it was beginning its route at the Westlake Center. I stayed consistently ahead of it until it turned direction and left Westlake Avenue. It was thrilling.

A little context mayhelp explain my victory. This light rail is on the street, so it stops at stoplights. It would catch up to me at stoplights, and I would out pace once we got a green light. Key to my victory is an ever so slight a downhill grade, not truly a downhill, but a small loss of elevation, which helps the cargobike move forth like a jet fighter.

A family and their "car"

My son playing around the cargobike

Beer and grocery run for the holiday weekend. A Shiner Bock bakfiiets holiday weekend.

Looking for local Metrofiet owner

Anyone in the Seattle area who uses a Metrofiet [link] want to engage in some good natured competition with my Bakfiets? No, not drag racing or a Tour De Seattle. I think it'd be fun to make a series of Youtube videos with them side-by-side and their respective owners bantering about what their bike does well or not so well.

Contact this.is.lance.miller@gmail.com if interested. I should add I'm not a bike shop owner or in any other way invested in the bike industry other than as an owner of my cargobike. So this is just a sincere quest for fun.

Gears

I'm riding in the top (8th) gear now. I've had my cargobike for a month and half now. The first several weeks I rode it on flat grades in 4th ot 5th, never above 5th other than while cruising downhill.

As you can see from my last few postings, I'd gotten fixated on testing and training myself on hill climbing. The grades were 2-7° and a little over 300 foot climb. I did this daily for the first 5 weeks of owning the bike.

I credit the intensity of the hill climbing for transforming my flat ground riding : in 8th and fairly fast. With this new speed capacity for my legs and lungs my casual runs to the store, on the flat Burke-Gilman trail, are now enough of a workout.

....and exhilaratingly fun.