Sprocket Smoothies.]
I first met Kyrstin Westwind at a Share the Road rally in Beaverton back in September. We shared a ride home on the MAX and her spirit and enthusiasm for biking left a lasting impression.
She shared the challenges and triumphs of being a carfree single mom. Kyrstin and her 11 year-old son Leo live out at SE 82nd and Glisan, and she commutes by bike to Portland State. With classes that start at 9am, that means she’s up by 6 and on the bike by 7.
These days, I keep up with Kyrstin’s adventures on her Wheel Revolution blog where I recently read about the arrival of her B3 bicycle blender.
Kyrstin hopes to turn her B3 Blender-equipped XtraCycle bike into a pedal-powered smoothies business. She wants serve up healthy drinks at community events and farmers markets this summer and peddle/pedal her “Sprocket Smoothies” into a way to help pay for college,
“…by hiring out as a bike-based bartender, whipping up margaritas and other mixed drinks at private parties. I figure, at the very least, I will be a very popular guest and have a lot of fun.”
She gave the system a test run over the weekend by dropping in on volunteers at the BTA. She said the drinks made “quite an impression.”
Good luck with the smoothie-mobile Kyrstin! Can’t wait to see you and your blender at more events soon.
Thanks for reading.
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Glisan runs through NE….
So, does the bike wheel have to be moving to supply the power to the blender? Or is she using some sort of nickel mescal hydride battery to store the energy from the trip over? I guess she should be looking for some sort of bike-mounted remargaritive-braking device to help her out, eh?
Turn your hybrid into a highball,anyone?
Oooh, Kyr, that is so cool! Some day no bat mitzvah, wedding, and sweet 16 party will be complete without a DJ *and* a blender bike. Do you have your rates worked out yet?
Many thanks, Jonathan, for the lovely write up.
To answer the question about how it works: Although it is quite possible to make a smoothie on the go (e.g. while riding to school) for stationary smoothies, the B3 set-up comes with a stand that lifts the rear wheel up off the ground. Really awsome!
And yes Elly, I have rates just about worked out now, though of course for events like CarFree Day, if you supply the ingredients, I’ll supply the bike!
I attended the EarthDay volunteer meeting last night, and suggested that Krystin’s XtraSmoothie might be a really amazing booth for the event . . . pray for warm weather, that was always key with the SHIFT Pedal-Powered Smoothies.
Anyways, they may be contacting you directly, but if not you can always visit cityrepair.org and sign yourself up. They have a vendor providing the corn-based cups and other service items, so your costs would be even lower.
You ROCK Ethan! We are still working on the website/email for Sprocket Smoothies, in the mean time westwind(at)aracnet.com works. Thanks for thinking of us!
Kyrstin,
What\’s your availabilty and cost for an event?
I echo Bicycleface’s question. are you still available?