Each week Madi Carlson shares insights and adventures gleaned from raising two kids on two wheels.
This content is made possible by Clever Cycles, a family-oriented bike shop located on SE Hawthorne at 9th.
Happy Pedalpalooza! My kids and I joined over a thousand others on the Pedalpalooza Kickoff Ride on Saturday and we’re excited for more bike fun! Hundreds of rides with all sorts of themes for all sorts of people will take place this month and a lot of them are kid friendly.
Front, back, side by side — these are all good ways to ride with kids! Different circumstances might call for different positioning during each ride, but I’m curious which configuration is your favorite and why. Non-family bikers, you can play, too, and share your preference(s) for riding with another adult.
Last week I took the corner into my backyard too slowly, caught my front wheel on a flagstone, and slowly tipped sideways against the side of my house. As time slowed down and/or my brain sped up in the heat of the moment, I thought about my crashes of years past.
Thanks to my bike I still feel now as I did back when my kids were little: capable, strong, and free.
As much as I love Portland proper and could happily spend all my days right here, I adore visiting the Columbia River Gorge — the waterfalls, the mighty Columbia, the trees, the flowers, the expansive views!
National Bike to School Day is Wednesday, May 8th. Here in Oregon that falls on the May 8th Day of Action, a teacher walkout that has led to a decision to close Portland Public Schools.
Our Family Biking column is sponsored by Clever Cycles. ➤ Read past entries here. With the Easter bunny hopping onto the scene so has arrived biking season! Like myself, you may feel that biking season never closed to begin with, but I still like celebrating the first big Kidical Mass PDX kids-of-all-ages family bike ride … Read more
Flowers are blooming, the rain feels a bit warmer, and bike shops are off their winter schedules. That means Kidical Mass PDX is back, too! Our “season” typically starts on Easter Sunday with our annual Kidical Mass PDX Easter Ride and Egg Hunt:
Visiting the cherry blossoms by bike on Sunday.(Photos: Madi Carlson) On Sunday, my boys and I had the same idea as a lot of other Portlanders: visit the cherry blossoms in the Japanese American Historical Plaza. Then while biking home I realized Waterfront Park is incredibly family-friendly to reach by bike from the deepish southeast … Read more
A great bike for human haulers and cargo haulers alike.
Shout out to all the fair-weather family bikers! Rumor has it the gorgeous weather won’t last, but it’s lovely out right now and my kids’ bikes have lots of new company at the school bike racks. Our Family Biking column is sponsored by Clever Cycles. ➤ Read past entries here. Have you ever excitedly greeted … Read more
Can this thing replace the bus?