Bike Errands

[Kmp2]

Ok, I can’t believe we don’t have a current bike thread going… so instead of the commuting version I’m sharing my errands by bike badassity!

Edit: ok I missed the new bike commuting thread, but I think this is different enough!

I um signed the kids up for way to many activities this spring… but I did make sure they were close enough to bike to :D

So here’s our weekly biking errands:
Preschool
Guides
Soccer (including coaching gear, balls/cones/clipboard)
Tennis lessons

We are pretty much guaranteed a bike each day m-f, and have a weekly mileage of 50km (~30Miles) Woot!
Note we did buy an ecargo bike when we dropped down to one car… but I mean a 500Wh battery charge (~12cents) gets us 70km alone, or 35km loaded with kids/groceries.

Today DS and I biked for a buttload bike load of groceries (a cargo bike full and enough for a weeks worth of groceries - although my kids aren’t teens yet…)

Since my bike commute has kind of permanently been put on hold because of work-from-home arrangements/career changes I’ve mostly switched to biking for errands. I struggle to bike *just* for fun, I always want a destination, although ice cream, growler fills work well for incentives.

What’s everyone else getting by bike these days?

[mspym]

My groceries! I can get several days of groceries in two small panniers, a front basket and a small backpack and it makes me feel like a complete badass.

@Kmp2 that’s a really impressive set of bike activities you have.

[Kmp2]

@mspym hurray for groceries by bike!

[MustachioedPistachio]

I bike to my doc appointments. I have an appt once a week and another once a month. It's about 1.5 hours round trip, and 80% is on paved trails.

Otherwise I bike or walk for the usual grocery runs and other miscellaneous outings.

[Weisass]

Let’s see….
I bike to work (11 miles each way), grocery shopping, preschool drop off, doctor and dentist appointments, and pretty much anything under 3 miles.

[Gerard]

I guess I do most of my errands and local fun (groceries, museums, birdwatching, doctor visits) by bike. 2 or 3 km walking with a backpack of groceries is a chore, for me at least, but on a bike it's a breeze.

Now I need to remind myself to replace big stock-up shopping expeditions in a taxi with three or four mini-stockups by bike.

[Kmp2]

I guess I do most of my errands and local fun (groceries, museums, birdwatching, doctor visits) by bike. 2 or 3 km walking with a backpack of groceries is a chore, for me at least, but on a bike it's a breeze.

Yes! Whenever anyone exclaims 'You BIKED here?', I always reply 'Of Course, I'm a lazy walker' , or occasionally 'It's faster than walking' :D

Our air quality tanked today because of forest fire smoke, so any bike/walks (or anything outside actually) will be kept short and done today with a mask on.
Hopefully, soccer will be cancelled...

[HenryDavid]

At one point after a self-funded sabbatical from a well-paid job, I did a savings binge in a low-rent place with no laundry. Biked a couple k in the snow to the laundromat with clothes in a backpack.
Ended up getting a great deal on a guitar from the bulletin board at that place. Had wanted one a long time.

You can do most things on a bike. In most weather. If not, rent a car for a weekend.

[Just Joe]

I like to go pay bills. The mortgage and the water bill specifically. Both are normally bills we pay on the way home but I've taken to doing them during a lunchtime ride. Everything else is on auto pay.

[Jakestersquat]

My work just moved to a yard close enough for me to e bike to work (25 miles each way) and we have a cargo e-bike which I or DW will take the kids in to go to the library, the park, church and getting groceries. Kids love it. Parents love it and it seems like the more we do it the more other random people love it.

[ToTheMoon]

Our town is only 5km across, so most in town chores/activities are done by bike.

We used to have a Chariot bike trailer which was fantastic for not only pulling the kids, but for grocery and beer store runs. Once the kids grew out of it, we sold it and replaced it with a Wike bike trailer https://wicycle.com/products/bike-trailers/heavy-duty-flatbed-bike-trailer.

The Wike trailer is much smaller to store, but still works fantastically for big grocery runs, toting big dog food bags, hardware store runs, and we have even been bike camping along rail trails...and toted all of our camping gear. We have had ours for well over 6 years and it's still going strong. Highly recommend!

[Kmp2]

@Just Joe That's a great idea, all our bills are autopay, but I love building a bike trip into something reoccuring like this!

@Jakestersquat Hurray for e-cargo bikes! We've been getting so many comments on ours this last week as we've been biking our kids to/from swimming lessons. I finally convinced another family to let me do carpool on it, so I had two 10 year olds happily chatting away. They are getting a little heavy to roll off our kickstand though, I had to get DD to put her feet down and stand a bit to get off the kick stand - eek. We also picked up groceries and a big pot of mums, which our 5 year old had the very important job of holding on to so it didn't tip on the way home. He was thrilled!

@ToTheMoon Bike trailers are fabulously useful, I've always wanted the burley travoy, because you can unclip it and take it into the grocery store with you and pack it up at the checkout, then just reclip it to your bike. We used our chariot like that (pre-cargo bike), it was great! But kids definitely grow out of those well before they're able to keep up with us safely on the roads we have to ride.

Cheers to more errands by bike :D

[moof]

I've slacked a bit lately, only doing about half my recent grocery runs by bike due to laziness and heat.  Gotta get back to it.  I roll with a Salsa Blackborow cargo bike that can handle a solid grocery cart's haul.  4 panniers, a milk-crate type basket, and an overflow stowable backpack for crushable items like chips/bread.  About 7 miles round trip to the cheaper grocery store.

Less slacking needed...

[MustachioedPistachio]

My work just moved to a yard close enough for me to e bike to work (25 miles each way) and we have a cargo e-bike which I or DW will take the kids in to go to the library, the park, church and getting groceries. Kids love it. Parents love it and it seems like the more we do it the more other random people love it.

25 miles...each way?! Wow. Does your bike even hold enough charge to get back?

[Just Joe]

I have an early morning activity one day a week. Rather than pay for parking nearby, I park elsewhere in town for free and pedal to the activity. Only costs me 10 minutes more. And makes me happy.

Working up to just bicycling to town for that activity but it would have me leaving home in the dark on curvy/hill country roads. Not sure I'm that brave. NOBODY will be expecting a bicycle on the roads at that hour.