Bicycle #jumble sale in #Norwich this Sunday! See you there for the jumble, coffee and pizza.
I'll have a #CargoBike #ECargoBike for sale along with a bicycle trailer and other stuff.
12-5 PM Sunday 2nd November @ St Mary’s Works, 24 St Mary’s Plain, Norwich NR3 3AF
Today I found out about Tricy: a three-wheeled cargo e-bike with tiltable front frame, made in Italy, more precisely in Quaregna Cerreto (BI). TIL: it has rectifiers to keep you vertical even at low speed, and a differential to decouple the rotation of the rear wheels.
#cargobike #ebike #eBikes #ebikerevolution #mobilitatswende #mobilitasostenibile #tricycle #triciclo #tricicloeletrico #eCargobike
I'm building the #eCargoBike store for our sons. Mostly reusing wood from previous projects.
Made my day that a neighbour came over to offer me a job doing some building work for him 😊
On a roadtrip today. Stopped at the lovely Caffi Billy Jeans (just off the A55) to charge and have a late cooked breakfast. Now charging near Nantwich. One more charge before Nottingham.
Going to our sons to finish building a "garage" for the #Bullitt #eCargobike I've passed onto them.
The other day I had to pick the kiddo up from daycare but she wanted to ride her own bike. So I did some googling on how to transport the kid's bike on my cargo. I tried the "Bag and Drag" method of throwing the front wheel into a pannier and dragging the rear. I think it worked out well! Only issue for me was having to take the training wheels off while dragging.
Could you replace car trips with an electric cargo bike? Hire an #ECargoBike for a week or two and try it out! Three designs available in #Norwich booking now for next week onwards #CargoBike https://outspokencycles.co.uk/norwich-family-cargo-bike-trial/
regionalHeute.de: Cargobike Roadshow kommt am Sonntag, 04.05. nach Wolfenbüttel
https://regionalheute.de/cargobike-roadshow-kommt-nach-wolfenbuettel-1746089103/
> Fahrspaß und Vorteile von Lastenrädern können am Wochenende ganz praktisch bei der Cargobike Roadshow „erfahren“ werden.
Baby Got Back! 🍑😏 #yycbike #ecargobike #yubafastrack #gobybike #rideheavybikes
Mit dem Micro hat #YOONIT 2025 ein #eCargobike im Miniformat vorgestellt, welches sich durch eine hohe Variabilität und Belastbarkeit auszeichnet.
📸 YOONIT
Von #RenaultTrucks und #Kleuster kommt das „Freegônes“ #eCargobike für den gewerblichen Einsatz als emissionsfreie Alternative für die letzte Meile.
📷 Renault Trucks
#Pedalpower hat #Insolvenz angemeldet - kann das Unternehmen gerettet werden? (Vor allem bekannt als spezialisierter #Lastenrad- #Tandem- #Fahrradanhänger - Hersteller)
* https://www.sazbike.de/hersteller/insolvenz/lastenrad-tandemspezialist-stellt-insolvenzverfahrensantrag-2947184.html
* https://pedalpower.de
* https://www.t-online.de/finanzen/aktuelles/wirtschaft/id_100581864/insolvenz-berliner-lastenrad-hersteller-pedalpower-kaempft-ums-ueberleben.html
#LongHarry #eCargobike
500 Kilometers
It’s been an uneventful week of vacation with one more week to go. Two weeks of vacation in winter is so different from vacation in summer. In summer I’m out in the garden every morning before 7 and don’t come indoors for three or four hours. In winter, I have nothing to do in the garden and can actually rest.
By Monday I was feeling a bit restless though, I needed some physical activity, so I decided I would take up the Rapha 500 challenge. Rapha is a UK cycling company and every year they challenge cyclists to ride 500 kilometers from December 24th through 31st. It’s all well and good if you live in a place where it’s not below freezing and there’s no ice or snow on the roads. But a couple years ago they began allowing “virtual” cycling miles to count towards completing the challenge.
I’m a cyclist who loves long rides. My longest single ride was 240 miles/ 386 km a number of years ago in a 24-hour alleycat-type race in which I came in second place in the women’s single rider category (you could also race as a team). I would love to do the race again but sadly, the COVID pandemic killed it. All that to say, riding 500 kilometers (310.7 miles) over 8 days is not intimidating. I never took up the challenge because I always had other things going on and no time to fit it in. This year for some reason, I have plenty of time and needed somewhere to direct my physical energy, so decided to finally do it.
I have been on a bike every day since Tuesday and decided to take today off as a rest day. I have 91 kms and 2 days to do it. No problem! Almost all the kms have been indoors on the trainer using Zwift, but I did go out grocery shopping on Friday and that counted too. So convenient when your transportation is an extra bonus. In case you are thinking I must be on my bike all day, not so. Riding the flattest course on Zwift, I am able to do 111 km/ 69 miles in three hours of constant pedaling–when there are no cars, traffic stops or wind I can go pretty fast! I have not done three hours every day or else I would be done with the challenge. A few days have been 90 minutes and grocery shopping day was just the grocery ride. I start riding around 6:30 in the morning and by the time I’m done and showered I still have almost a full day ahead of me. It’s been lovely.
As I mentioned, some of my kms came from grocery shopping. I got my cargo bike back from the bike shop on the 23rd, repaired and good as new. My bruises from being doored are still healing, but don’t bother me for the most part. And the driver’s insurance company has already accepted my receipts for bike repair and new rain pants and sent a direct deposit to my credit union. So that ordeal is all done. And when the bruises are finally gone, I can forget about it.
We’re having a big thaw at the moment and after almost 24 hours of light but steady rain, the snow melted away except for a few stubborn patches. It’s currently a warm and foggy 37F/ 3C. We’ll be back below freezing Monday night with the temperature getting colder and colder as the week progresses.
Meanwhile, I’m putting the final touches on my seed list and will probably start ordering in the next day or two. Well at least order from FedCo since I’m getting onion seeds from them and need to be sure to have them to start indoors on February 2nd. Last year I waited until the second week of January and ran into back ordered trouble. I ended up getting the onion seeds in time, but not without a bit of stress. So no stress this year! Most of the seeds I am ordering are herbs and flowers. I am excited about incorporating them in with all the vegetables. More to come on all of that soon!
In the meantime, I hope everyone has a happy New Year! Resolve to grow something next year whether it is vegetables, flowers, or some herbs on your balcony or windowsill. Nurture some seeds and bring some life into the world.
Reading
Quote
“‘But industrial civilization is only possible when there is no self-denial. Self-indulgence up to the very limits imposed by hygiene and economics. Otherwise the wheels stop turning.’”
~Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
Listening
Watching
James’s Kitchen Wizardry
We don’t buy fresh tomatoes this time of year but we’ve never thought twice about buying tomatoes in cans for some reason. But, as we continue to learn more about plastic in food and how it gets there, canned tomatoes are a giant problem because the cans are lined with plastic and tomatoes are acidic and the plastic lining leaches into the tomatoes. My food co-op sells tomato paste in a jar and also sells a jar of tomatoes, but these are almost twice as much as the canned. So, we are limiting our tomato intake as our frozen garden tomato sauce dwindles to almost gone. But sometimes you just want pasta. We are exploring different pasta recipes that don’t have tomato. This week was Spicy Asian Noodle Bowl. Since we can only get Asian noodles of any kind in plastic, we used regular spaghetti noodles that come in a box. And it was really good! We added mung beans sprouts we sprouted ourselves and some peanuts for some extra crunch. There are leftovers, and James will probably add some tofu to the second meal to make it a little different.
Doored
A quiet week on the garden front. After my seed catalog binge I’ve calmed down. It’s time to be fallow for a little while, well, at least until after Winter Solstice. Then I will be eager to order seeds and make my seed starting calendar. That’s always fun.
I mentioned last week about my neighbor cutting down the lilacs that shade the fence line and having to reconsider my shade planting plan for the area. Well, problem solved! Because James wanted plants for night moths I was having a bit of conundrum of where to plant these mostly sun-loving annuals. Guess where they will be going? I suddenly have lots of room for moth flowers and some annual medicinal herbs. And the shady prairie plants I had been planning to put in that area will now go up next to the back of the house in a shady-ish area and in the front yard shaded by the apple trees. It’s like garden Tetris!
Remember that old video game? My sister and I had an Atari when we were kids and it was one of my favorite games. Who knew the skills I learned in that video game would come in handy in real life one day?
It was a cold week. On one morning’s bike commute the temperature was -5F/-20C with an even colder windchill. And yet I arrive at work sweating. People think I’m out there freezing, but an exercising body generates heat, especially when it has to work extra hard to pedal a heavy winter-sturdy bike into a roaring headwind. Also, there is an art to layering, and I’ve gotten pretty good at it. Biking out in the cold is completely doable and even fun. Though it does take more energy than biking in summer, it gets me fresh air and a good night’s sleep.
There was a little cycling accident Saturday, however. James and I cycled to our food co-op for groceries. It was a bigger than usual shop because we not only got two week’s worth of groceries, but also all the special ingredients I need for next weekend’s Winter Solstice meal. For grocery shopping I ride an e-cargo bike, a Tern GSD. It is our car replacement (2 1/2 years car free!), big and heavy, and even heavier when loaded up with all those groceries.
So Saturday afternoon we are approaching a four-way stop five blocks from our house when a man, who must have been sitting in his car for some time because he didn’t pass us on the street and I did not see him park and none of his car lights were on, opened his car door and hit me with it. In cycling parlance this is called being doored. Sadly, it is not uncommon. It has never happened to me before, and is something I am super careful to avoid by keeping track of cars and people and staying out of the “door zone.”
Only with the big cargo bike loaded with groceries I am very wide, so was a little closer to parked cars than usual. Fortunately, I did not bike head-on into the open door and flip over my handlebars. I was passing the car when he opened his door into the rear end of my bike. It knocked the back of my bike out from under me. I went down onto my right side and slid across the icy pavement to a stop at the curb in front of the parked car. I was also lucky there was not another car parked in front of this one.
You may recall a year ago about this time, James and I were coming home from getting groceries, I hit some ice and fell and fractured my collarbone. I sat up on the icy street doing a mental body check, feeling cursed, and hoping like hell I didn’t break anything. Since I went down on my right side and slid, my right knee was hurting and my right arm. James came rushing over to make sure I was ok. The man apologized saying he had looked but hadn’t seen me, but since he opened the door as I was passing, he clearly had not looked.
I continued to sit in the street next to the curb while James got all of the man’s insurance information. Nice people at the corner coffee shop ran over and wanted to help me up, but I told them I just needed to sit there for a bit. Finally, I was ready to stand. My knee was throbbing but I could bend it and walk on it. It felt scraped and bruised. My arm was also throbbing but my hand, wrist, and elbow were all fine. Nothing felt broken, but then my collarbone hadn’t felt broken either.
My bike was damaged and will need repairs. The right brake handle was snapped right off and dangling from the handlebars by the cable. But I could still ride it home. So we made our slow and careful way the five blocks to our house.
At home I could remove all my layers and look at my knee and arm. My knee was scraped and bruised and my forearm had a big goose egg swelling on it that made me really worried.
Comfrey salve and rest has brought the swelling down on my arm so it’s almost back to normal, though because of the bruising, tender. And my knee is bruised and a little sore but not painful. I will continue to keep an eye on them because sometimes after accidents it takes a little while for things to develop.
James called the man’s insurance company and opened a claim. They will pay for the bike repairs and if I need medical attention. They should also pay for my waterproof Patagonia pants that now have a tear in them.
In spite of everything, there was still much joy this week. Getting all the ingredients for the Solstice meal, which I will tell you all about next weekend, is always fun. There was also fresh snow earlier in the week and biking in fresh snow is magical. I have lights around the wheels of my bike that change colors and this makes me happy and other people happy too. Drivers at traffic lights roll down their windows and tell me they love my bike. People on the street shout, “cool bike!” as I go by. And one person this week wished me a merry Christmas.
It’s the middle of law school finals and Thursday a first year law student came to the desk to ask “for a friend” whether the librarians had any favorite treats. I said we never say no to chocolate. No treats have yet to appear, but just the asking was a joy. My boss has a large Dickens Village collection and went all out in setting it up in the library this year. He set it up in front of an area of the library that is all glass and looks out onto the atrium of law school so you don’t even have to be in the library to enjoy it. It is delightful! And the students love it. I make sure to pass along all the oohs and ahhs I hear, which brings my boss great joy, and of course, there are few things as joyful as sharing joy with others.
Dickens VillageWinter bike with glowing wheels that change colorReading
Quote
“Rivers are fluid bridges—channels of communication between separate worlds. They link one bank to the other, the past to the future, the spring to the delta, earthlings to celestial beings, the visible to the invisible, and, ultimately, the living to the dead. They carry the spirits of the departed into the netherworld, and occasionally bring them back. In the sweeping currents and tidal pools shelter the secrets of foregone ages. The ripples on the surface of water are the scars of a river. There are wounds in its shadowy depths that even time cannot heal…
Water has memory.
Rivers are especially good at remembering.”
Elif Shafak, There Are Rivers in the Sky, page 432
Listening
Watching
James’s Kitchen Wizardry
This week James made delicious cinnamon rolls for a special breakfast treat. He also made a root pizza: shreded beets, radish, potato, with garlicky butternut squash sauce, homemade “sausage,” and homemade “cheese.” Colorful and delicious!
#carFree #cold #DickensVillage #doored #eCargoBike #wheelLights
Ich lese #Contraste und gleich in der Bildunterschrift steckt schon voll viel drin:
" #TobiRosswog mit dem #eCargoBike aus der besetzten #GKN-Fabrik bei Florenz" .
Freu mich aufs Lesen!
#ecargobike "#Norway’s #InfiniteMobility, a startup developing lightweight electric vehicles, is shipping prototypes of its first PV-powered two-wheeler cargo bikes to selected bike stores in Europe.
The 1st model is an electric 2-wheeler, dubbed #Inga. It has a top speed of 25 km/h, with 160 W of semi-flexible PV and an integrated 36 V lithium-ion battery. It supports a 250 kg maximum load."
https://www.pv-magazine.com/2024/05/10/nowegian-startup-brings-pv-powered-cargo-bikes-to-market/
When I write about my cycles, 90%+ of the time I mention my unicycles or my penny farthing but I do also absolutely love my #UrbanArrow Family #eCargobike.
The fact that you can move around relatively large stuff so easily is always so satisfying. 😍
