After news spread earlier this month about Oregon House Representative Mitch Greenlick's law proposal that would ban kids six years and under from riding on (or being pulled behind) bikes with their parents, Kidical Mass organizers felt their ride would be a fitting way to demonstrate their opposition to the bill.

On January 15th, despite rain-soaked skies, about 50 people showed up to ride through the streets of Sellwood. Ride organizer Katie Proctor invited Rep. Greenlick to join them but he had a prior commitment (House Rep. Jules Bailey did attend). This month, Proctor once again invited Greenlick, but he has declined the invitation.

Greenlick wrote via email to Proctor that, "I feel I have had more than enough communication with the biking community, without attending this event."

While you won't get a chance to communicate with Rep. Greenlick at Kidical Mass this month, you will get the chance to see a special family show by The Mudeye Puppet Company (whom I still have fond memories of after helping them move-by-bike back in 2006). The ride meets at Mt. Tabor Presbyterian Church (5441 SE Belmont) and the route will loop through Laurelhurst and Sunnyside Parks before heading to the puppet show. You can get a special Kidical Mass discount on tickets by ordering online with the codeword "bicycle".

The ride is set for February 19th. More details at KidicalMass.org.

Moms, dads, and kid-lovers throughout the state have gotten fired up over the family biking legislation that's made headlines this week. Many of them plan to join the monthly Kidical Mass ride which will be held this Saturday in Sellwood. Joining them will be Oregon House Representative Jules Bailey.

Kidical Mass organizer Katie Proctor personally invited Bailey, along with his fellow Representative — and the man who introduced HB 2228 — Mitch Greenlick. Katie reports that Greenlick has a prior obligation and is unable to make it; but that he'll consider attending next month.

Bailey, who represents Southeast Portland, is well-known for his support of bicycling. He was in opposition to HB 2228 and has been working with Greenlick to broker an amendment that would remove the law provision from the bill and instead call for a study of bike safety (if/when it even comes up for debate in committee).

If you've yet to join one of the Kidical Mass rides, consider rolling over to Sellwood this weekend to show your support of family biking, to meet other folks who bike with kids, or just to enjoy a friendly group ride.

The ride leaves from Oaks Pioneer Church (455 SE Spokane) at 1:45 pm. The route will take the Spokane neighborhood greenway, head over to Blue Kangaroo for coffee and hot chocolate, make a stop at Eastmoreland Park and then roll back via Sellwood Blvd with views of downtown and the Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge. The ride will end at Sellwood Park.

Learn more at KidicalMassPDX.org.

Baby, it’s cold outside… and wet, and dark so very early. Brighten up your holiday mood by joining Kidical Mass for a ride (whatever the weather) in NoPo this month! We’ll sing carols (Christmas, bikey, and otherwise) for the holiday shoppers on North Mississippi, and then stop in to Grand Central Baking for some hot drinks and a cookie or three before heading home– note the earlier time, to help us all get home before dark!

Meet at 1:45 under the covered basketball courts in Irving Park (3535 Northeast 7th Ave) – we’ll leave at 2 and plan to be back by 4. Ride is a 2.5 mile loop. Please be sure to bring lights (just in case!) and extra warm layers, so that you and your little ones can enjoy every bikey minute!

See you there!

Kidical Mass made its return to Portland in fine style on Saturday. The turnout was small (just a handful of families), but the group was fun and friendly. We met up under the colorful fall leaves of the South Park Blocks and mingled a bit before being corralled by ride organizer Katie Proctor.

Ride leader Katie Proctor and
her son Jasper.

Katie planned the ride to coincide with Thrill Around the World — a mass zombie-fest where hundreds of people don gruesome make-up and dance to Michael Jackson's "Thriller." We rode to the Pioneer Courthouse Square to check out the event and got good seats to watch the dancing.

After barely surviving our run-in with all the creepy zombies (they were everywhere!), we rode back to the Park Blocks for a post-ride treat.

Hope the kids don't have nightmares.

The cargo bikes got almost as much attention as the zombies.

It's great to know that Kidical Mass in Portland now has a dedicated ride organizer and I'm confident it will grow in the coming months. Katie has fun plans (pie theme next month!) so stay tuned to find out when the ride comes to your neighborhood.

See more photos of the kids, the bikes, and the zombies in the slideshow below:

Kidical Mass rides again! And what better way to make a comeback than a ride to a mass performance of Michael Jackson's Thriller a week before Halloween?!

The popular event (with the catchy name) that started in Eugene and came to Portland via the BTA for the first time in June of 2008, has been resurrected by Portlander Katie Proctor.

The ride will take place on Saturday, October 23rd and will coincide with Thrill The World PDX, a mass zombie dance that will happen in Pioneer Courthouse Square in downtown Portland. "Come as a zombie or in your Halloween costume, and come prepared to dance!" says Katie.

Katie, a self-described "Portland mom and bike geek," sees Kidical Mass as much more than just another ride...

"Family biking needs real support in Portland — having supportive shops like Clever Cycles is an important piece of the puzzle, but I think genuinely kid-friendly events that let kids get excited about getting around by bike, and let parents check out each other's family-hauling rigs, chat about barriers to riding more, etc., are needed."

I rode the first Portland Kidical Mass, in downtown, with my girls and then another one in North Portland a few months later. We had a great time and I strongly encourage any and all biking families to give it a try. If any group needs support and advice from the community, it's people who ride with kids.

The ThrilleRide meets at 2:45 on October 23rd at the intersection of SW Park & SW Mill. More details at the KidicalMassPDX website.

— Get lots of tips and learn more by browsing through our Family Biking story archives and see photos from past Kidical Mass rides below..

This morning on my way to the office, a sign at the corner of North Michigan and Alberta caught my eye; it read "Beach Bike Train meet up spot - 8:30 - Join Us." It was about 8:25, so I decided to wait around and see if anyone showed up.

A few minutes later I saw a line of kids and parents pedaling toward the spot. One of them was Laurie Paulsen, a Beach parent who I'd met last summer at a nearby farmer's market.

As kids (and kid-like parents) zoomed in circles around a parking lot waiting for others to show up, I chatted with her for a minute.

All aboard!

Beach parent and bike train organizer Laurie Paulsen.

Paulsen said they've been doing the bike trains for about a month and word-of-mouth has helped them grow in popularity. This morning they had about 6-7 kids and Paulsen reports they've had as many as 30 people total in the past. The idea is simple, meeting and riding together gives support to new riders and it's more fun for the kids.

Paulsen has worked hard to promote biking to the school and is excited for this Friday, when she hopes to have 50 people meet in various parts of the neighborhood and then bike to school together.

According to other parents I know who have kids at this school, it has undergone quite a transformation in terms of bike-friendliness in recent years. Stay tuned for an article about how they've done it by contributor (and Beach parent) Chris Sullivan.

A few weekends ago my girls and I, and several other families, planned to attend a local event. Since it was a sunny day, the location of the event was fairly close, and we all tend to bike frequently anyways, it turned into an impromptu group ride. There were kids (youngest was age 7) riding bikes on their own, kids in tag-alongs, and adults with various types of family cargo bikes. There were about 13 of us in all.

While I enjoyed the company of friends and the pleasant ride, being the bike geek that I am, I also couldn't help from noticing a few other things.

The first thing I noticed is that a group of families riding together really catches people's attention. In Portland, 10-15 people riding a bike is no big deal (especially during the morning and evening rush hours), but when there are little kids in the mix, people really take notice.

I kept thinking how cool it was that this wasn't an organized ride, it just so happened that we all decided to ride our bikes to the same place (I hope someday seeing a bunch of families on bikes doesn't draw so many stares).

Standard bike lanes can be a tight
squeeze when riding with kids.

It also struck me how inadequate standard bike lanes are when riding with kids. Why? At just four or five feet wide, it's nearly impossible to ride next to a small child -- which, as a father of a 7-year old who is just learning to mix with traffic, is something I feel compelled to do. With parked cars on one side and traffic going 35 mph on the other, there was sort of an evolutionary magnet pulling me alongside my daughter as if to create a little cocoon of safety around her (see photo at right).

Sensing safety, the kids pedaled ahead.

Which brings me to my next observation. Once we got off the main "residential" street (Rosa Parks Way, which has a 35 mph speed limit and a parking lane) we rolled onto the backstreet bliss of NE Holman. Holman is a key east-west street in the area (an excellent alternative to Ainsworth -- another "bike route" on city maps that is very inhospitable to bike traffic) and is slated to be a bike boulevard some day. As we got onto Holman, the kids naturally left the safety cocoon of their parents and rode out in front of us. Sometimes three or four abreast, they just pedaled along without a care in the world (until they came to an intersection of course).

Back in the '90s, when PBOT began to build our bike network in earnest, bike lanes on major streets were the bikeway du jour. Thankfully, bike lanes have fallen out of style and taken a back seat to other, larger bikeway treatments like bike boulevards, buffered bike lanes, cycle tracks, and so on.

And that brings me to my final observation (for now). Like this short neighborhood trip illustrates, bike boulevards are great, but they usually don't go all the way to desired destinations. Until we create safe, comfortable, and family-sized bikeways that go all the way from A to B, a group of families biking to a neighborhood event will continue to be the exception rather than the rule.

My seven-year old daughter Eleni is the proud owner of her first city bike; meaning it came with fenders, a rack, integrated light, and more.

It wasn't easy to find a well built kids city bike in local bike shops. Most kids bikes are just mini versions of adult bikes that aren't really functional for getting around, riding in traffic, carrying stuff, and so on. When I saw this gorgeous, 24-inch wheeled, three-speed Batavus, I was immediately impressed. Eleni likes it too. Here are a few highlights:

The rear rack has a large platform, is very sturdy, and came with a high-quality strap:

The front light is integrated into the steerer tube and it's turned on-off via a twist shifter (it also has an integrated rear light):

As a security measure, the bike comes with its unique serial number cut directly into the downtube (it also has a rear wheel "cafe lock"):

The pedals have six little LEDs (three on each side) that light up when they move:

The chain is fully enclosed:

The fenders are metal and painted to match:

And here it is in action!

This bike retails for $700 and we found it at Clever Cycles in Southeast Portland. Hopefully, someday bikes like this won't be so hard to find.

For more on kid's bikes, read The best kid’s bike might be one you build yourself and a full rundown of options from our Family Biking columnist Marion Rice.

[Publisher's note: This family biking profile comes to you from our newest writer, Alaya Wyndham-Price. Stay tuned for a bike-friendly business profile and other stories from Ms. Wyndham-Price.]

"We bike whenever we can," Hau Hagedorn said. I sat with her and her husband Joe discussing their family’s commitment to bike commuting over tea this week. Hau and Joe are both professionals with jobs in downtown Portland, and are also parents of three young boys; Carter, age six, Cole, age four, and Hendrik, just 9 months.

This is the story of how they became a biking family.

The couple began easing into bike commuting about two and a half years ago, after Hau decided to participate in the Low-Car Diet by giving up the keys to the family car for two weeks while Joe was on a business trip. At the time, it meant balancing the schedule of her two older sons, her job, and doing regular errands by bike.

One of the many configurations the Hagedorns can put to use.

The challenge was daunting without Joe, but once rolling, Hau realized how much more biking the family could do. When he returned to town, Joe began riding to work as well. Slowly but surely, the Hagedorns began to make regular bike commuting a goal, realizing that their neighborhood (Overlook in North Portland) was ideal for the transition because everything they need -- grocery store, library, restaurants, and schools -- are within a couple of miles.

According to Hau, it’s often a better option to load the kids on bikes because they are either active or at least entertained (depending on the setup they use) as opposed to being bored and fussy in the car. The older boys like being able to pedal and feel like they are a part of the family’s commute.

Hau bundled up the kids for
a below-freezing excursion last week.

Let’s face it, kids like to move, and bike commuting is the perfect solution to expending extra beans. (And with three boys, Hau and Joe can tell you: there are plenty of extra beans.)

One thing that really helped them commit to bike travel, explained Joe, was building a ramp and a storage area in their yard (complete with a cemented in, industrial-strength bike rack), which makes bike access super easy -- and most importantly, just as easy as hopping in the car.

Friends and neighbors have also been key to keeping the Hagedorns motivated to ride. "We have some good family friends that have been an inspiration, and who have helped us take it to the next level," Joe explained.

Hau finds the Xtracycle
deck makes a nice
changing table.

The recent cold weather has posed the greatest challenge for the Hagedorns, who also admit that the total daily commute for the entire family by bike can be overwhelming. From home to Carter’s school, the ride is an easy mile, which Carter looks forward to. From there to the younger kids’ daycare and then on to Hau and Joe’s workplaces downtown, it’s another five and a half miles. This distance can be complicated to navigate, but doable in nice weather. But when temperatures reach down below freezing, it becomes much more challenging to appease the younger kids for the long distance.

"We definitely need to work up to getting braver in the cold," Joe said. But understandably, when the kids are along for the ride, they aren’t warming up like Hau and Joe who are doing the pedaling. So how do they get to work and school when not riding?

"We’re a multi-modal family," Hau said. In addition to bikes, they go by bus, train, foot, and yes, occasionally they take the car (although they sold one of them last summer). Often they use a combination of several of these modes of transportation during one commute, but bikes are used at some point most days.

Speaking of bikes, the family’s collection is worth a nod (family-friendly bike nerds beware, you may drool a little). Here's the full list: The Hagedorns own an Electra Townie with an Xtracycle extension, a Madsen bucket bike, an Adams single trail-a-bike, an Adams tandem trail-a-bike, a Chariot bike trailer, a Bobike mini seat, a Bobike maxi seat, two kids bikes, a Skuut, plus two adult commuter bikes and two adult road bikes. Pfew!

With all of these options at hand, their own custom storage system, and supportive friends, the Hagedorns will be riding in snowstorms before we know it. And even if they aren’t, we still think they are pretty awesome the way they roll right now.

"I thought you might get a kick outta this bike I grabbed for Oliver at a garage sale for $20. He's never been into BMX or mountain bikes, so it was timely. Probably 70s gaspipe hi-ten frame, but it's lugged! Crappy components as expected on a kids bike. Swapped out the extinct 451 steel wheels for BMX 406s, and hit City Bikes and CCC for used BMX calipers to reach down and a bash guard. At each shop, the technicians were all over it, because it's so tiny. The cottered cranks are gonna stay. New cables, brake pads, and Conti tires which cost more the bike itself. He likes the drop bars and suicide levers, so all we have to do is wrap and cap. It takes everything in me (and the lack of funds) to not throw a bunch of pricey components at it, but Ollie just wants to ride ride ride, fast fast fast. And he does..."