Fiets of Parenthood: how we roll
Posted 14 June 2010 | Filed under Bicycling, Car-free, Parenting, PortlandAfter a long, cool, wet Spring, finally the sun came out in all her fierce blazing glory to bless the first inaugural Fiets of Parenthood Pedalpalooza event Saturday, along with everybody else on a bike this weekend in Portland.
All during Pedalpalooza, there are multiple bike events going on at almost all hours, light and dark. Conflicts are inevitable. The problems we have, right? The fact that FoP conflicted with the the established family ride portion of Cirque du Cycling disappointed a few. 
This was an accidental oversight. But if it wasn’t, FoP would differ from other events in its tight focus on Portland’s growing everyday normality of raising children on bicycles, for all the ordinary, non-freakish tasks of getting from A to B as a family, hauling stuff, without a car. As a shop, as parents and citizens, this cuts close to who we are. That’s why we were especially proud to host this event. Lots of people contributed to the realization of Totcycle’s vision, but everybody knows that our customer Sarah Gilbert did more than anybody else — maybe everybody else combined — to make it happen. Thanks Sarah!
There are several great Flickr sets up documenting the event. I made a gallery of my favorite shots from three of them:
- The lovely and talented Shetha’s
- The estimable and tall Seattleite carfreedays’
- The hardest working man in biketown, Jonathan the Phenomenon’s (Bikeportland.org)
This, too, from Team CarFreeDays, in which no children or animals were harmed (do note evidence of training at 1:24):
June 14th, 2010 at 19:57
Hey! That’s my bike! And that’s me! And you, Todd! And Riley! Where the heck is Maddie?
So glad we could join you.
June 14th, 2010 at 23:20
[...] more fiets of parenthood coverage, check out Sarah’s ride report over at Bike Portland, Todd’s report and the rest of our photos [...]
June 14th, 2010 at 23:37
Thanks again for everything. And thanks for pointing out the 1:24 head duck move. I’ve never noticed him doing that, but I bet he picked that up over the years.
There’s no substitute for hours on the bike for making self-preservation second nature.
June 16th, 2010 at 15:39
THANK YOU Portland!!! We had such a great time, and did nothing to help … but I’m excitedly drawing up a course for the Seattle event, and thinking about moving it up to July. Let us repay you by hosting one up here. What Sarah and you and co. pulled off was a mighty inspiration.
If I can swing it, I might add a surprise Veronica Moss-esque Escalade-driving competitor to the family obstacle event. I think’d it’d be in stark contrast to the nimble/quick family cyclists. And fun for us all to whup her time around the course.
June 17th, 2010 at 10:54
You could decorate a shopping cart with card board and push it in the way of the cyclists….