Kidical Mass Tacoma 3: Share, Snack, Play, Crash

Kidical Mass #3 took place on Saturday July 13, starting and ending on the beautiful campus of the University of Puget Sound. We had 42 riders including Jeff's Ice Cream and several kitted members of the Tacoma Wheelmen's Bicycle Club who not only came along for the ride, but also offered mechanical support and TWBC tattoos!

Once the kids were inked and their bikes were decorated, we had a brief safety message to emphasize Stay on the Right and Don't Bunch at Intersections. These have been key concepts to emphasize while we are on the road as well.

We made our way south to our first stop, the Central Tacoma Free Radical Media Exchange. It's the largest of several Little Free Libraries in Tacoma. Because it's located down a loose gravel alley, we dismounted and walked down to check it out. 

The pocket library concept seemed new to most folks, but the kids quickly jumped right in to hunt for books and pick a few fresh raspberries. Many thanks to library curator RR Anderson for showcasing a great way to creatively re-use materials and share with neighbors.

Now loaded up with books, we took off for Franklin Park. On the way we had our second minor crash that resulted in a flat 12" tire. A few folks stayed behind to try and patch the tube, while the rest of the bunch continued to the park for a longer break. Ultimately, the young rider's dad had to go back for his truck to give him a lift to the finish. There's always free ice cream at the finish and he had definitely earned his ice cream.

Just a few blocks from UPS, a third rider went down. He was ok, buck shaken up. Thankfully, his mom was willing to give him a pump back to campus and a cargotrike dad was able to carry the young rider's 12" bike to the finish. Teamwork!

Interestingly, when we pulled over to make sure mom and son were ok, several of the kids noticed we were stopped next to another little library! It was a surprise to me, too, since this one isn't registered on the LFL website. Look for it north of 6th on Puget Sound Ave.

Back on campus, the kids enjoyed made-in-Washington ice cream bars from Jeff's Ice Cream and raced bikes around Jones Fountain. My helmet is off to all of the pedal parents and kid riders who persevered on this rather rough ride. The street surfaces of Central Tacoma are in the poorest condition of any that Kidical Mass Tacoma has ridden so far.

This was also our longest and most involved ride yet. Our average speed of 4.5mph has been quite consistent on our three rides and is based primarily on a single-speed rider with 16" wheels. I don't want to discourage riders with 12" wheels from attending Kidical Mass, but parents should be aware that Tacoma's road conditions don't always play nicely with wheels that small. Potholes are the bullies of neighborhood family bike rides.

As always, your feedback and comments on the ride are always appreciated. I'm still ironing out the route details for KM #4 in August, but it will likely be a South Tacoma route. More details to follow soon!

Kidical Mass Tacoma #3: Central Tacoma

Our previous Kidical Mass Tacoma rides have taken us to Proctor and Hilltop. In July we're heading for Central Tacoma.

There's been some great discussion lately about the University of Puget Sound and its relationship with the surrounding community, so we'll be starting our next ride from the big campus fountain near the student union building.

Our destination is Franklin Park, which now has a sprayground, where we'll take a break and play for a while. Along the way, we will also make a stop at Tacoma's largest Little Free Library. Expect a brief lesson on the importance of sharing.

A more detailed route map is below. 

View Kidical Mass #3: Central Tacoma in a larger map

As always, we'll be riding in the street, because kids are traffic, too.  We always ride together as a group and volunteers will be helping us with some of the larger arterial crossings. Our good pal Jeff's Ice Cream will have free ice cream and fruit bars for the riders at the finish.  

Kids, tell your parents you want to ride in the street! And feel free to share the link or print and post the flyer above. See you there.

TBR does SLC

I had been to Salt Lake City a few times, but was never able to take in much of the culture and nightlife on those trips. But if you have even just a half-day, you can find many ways to get around and check-out this beautiful town. The TRAX light rail, UTA busses, bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure everywhere. One of our favorites were these buckets of "lollipops" that you can use to cross busy streets in marked cross-walks.

There is a bucket of flags on either side and you just grab one before you cross, so you'll be that much more visible to motorists.

One would also think that bicycles are taking over the city with as much attention and publicity they seem to get.

Bikes were to be found parked on nearly every block. This hitching post was outside the County City Building.

After visiting Madsen Cycles on Friday, our destination on Saturday was the Main Library.

The building is a beautiful structure of glass and stone that feels like a modern-day coliseum. We discovered displays of art and knowledge at every turn, from posters describing the lives of peace leaders like Ghandi and Martin Luther King, Jr. on the lower basement level, to a selection of Thoreau books on the 4th floor that included a children's adaptation of Walden Pond called "The Trouble With Henry".

By the time we reached the roof-top deck, we had already walked through the Live Green Expo that was going on in the courtyard below.

This was completely coincidental, as we had no idea that this event was taking place until we stumbled upon it. First we found the booth of an electric scooter and bicycle company that had an A2B that caught my eye. I liked the part spec, especially the 20"x3.0" tires and Avid mechanical disc brakes.

There was a huge solar panel array powering a Squatters Brewing beer trailer (cooling beer with the sun...awesome) next to the Stick Dog Pedicabs booth, where we ran into their fleet of Madsen bucket bikes. One was decked out with a custom vinyl cover that I admired.


After running into Jared Madsen in the crowd, we spotted members of the band Shake your Peace setting up for a bike-powered concert that we unfortunately couldn't attend later that afternoon.


The rest of the day included a stroll through Liberty Park, authentic Napoli pizza at Settebello (two thumbs up for the pizza lasagna), a ride on the TRAX, and a pint of Wasatch Evolution Amber Ale. What a great city.

In fact, I kept asking myself, "Why don't I live here?" And the answer was air quality. My sister says that the inversion haze can block the view of the Ocher Mountains from the opposite side of the valley on really bad days. At the Live Green expo I saw how many ways Utahans are trying to improve that situation, so perhaps one day SLC will make it to the top of my list. For now, it's a great place to visit and I look forward to going back.