Head Cases

(UVEX Urban Bicycle Helmet)

(Giro Me2 Infant Bike Helmet)

First things first: The Giro Me2 Infant Bike Helmet is AAA (adorable, adjustable, & affordable).

Sounds good, right? Well, it sucks! It pulls clumps of the baby's hair out.

I had bought her one last year when we got the buggy trailer. I loved the way it looked and it actually fit because there is an adjustable dial thingy in the back. It was love at first sight. The love faded after wearing the helmet the second or third time. The baby hated it and would scream, I don't blame her, the hook and loop inside holding the cool adjustable dial thingy (YES! The only thing hold the shell to the case is Vel-Cro!) was pulling her hair out in clumps!!
Of course, I returned it to the sporting goods mega store I had purchased it from, without my receipt and reluctantly they exchanged it. Everybody's reasoning, including myself, was this was just a bad seed Giro Me2 Helmet and the company is supposed to have a quality product. ( I read some reviews).
This spring we broke out the replacement helmet and guess what? SAME THING! Yes, second or third time, clumps of hair, baby hates it, etc.

It's really unfortunate, because $29.99 for a helmet that can not be worn is not affordable.

UVEX Urban Bicycle Helmet

I picked this helmet up on the REI outlet website. The option to ship to our local store and pick up for free was very appealing to me. It is comfortable, and was affordable at it's discounted price.
A little piece of cushioned fabric is between the strap and my chin for a little extra bit of comfort. And the simple shape fits my always growing dreaded head.

My biggest complaint thus far is that while checking out at the store the cashier suckered me into buying a membership for 20 bucks, therefore bringing the price of the helmet up to full price.

To Market, To Market

We just took our first trip to market (and hopefully the last with our current rig). I had one baby-kid on board. The ride over was pleasant and took about 20 mins. The ride back was a little more difficult. I don't know if it was the load was bigger with all the milk, and frozen meats, etc. Or maybe it was mostly up hill. Could have been because it was the second leg of the trip. I am guessing it's all of the above.
Beatrix really wants to be up on the bike, so I held her on the seat of the bike and we pretended she was riding the bike. Later on while the bike was against a chain-linked fence she climbed her way up to the seat and sat there all by herself. I think she would prefer a rear seat instead of the trailer, I almost think I would too.

My saddle was pretty comfortable during the ride. I didn't have any of the pain in my taint
I normally get, however my tailbone is hurting as I write this blogpost.

My biggest complaint is that my right pant leg was ripped after getting caught in the chain. I must find a solution for that soon.

Maiden Voyage

This morning I took the rig (Specialized Hard Rock Pro and Columbia Bike Buggy) for a spin with two two year old tots in tow.

It was pretty exciting to wear our new helmets and hit the road. We stayed in the neighborhood, visiting the excellent panaderia on S 1st Street and shared some delicious cupcakes. It was very difficult to find a place to lock the bike and buggy in this busy shopping center. I may need to take a solo mission and scope it out for the future. Instead of locking the bike up I did something very careless and left the rig in the parking spot in front of the bakery. This was a really bad idea because: A) a car could have pulled in and crushed it, B) anybody who wanted to could have got on and rode off.
Next stop: we headed east to S Congress to pay a visit to our friendly neighborhood coffee roaster to pick up chaff for our chicken coop. It was a lot easier to "park" this go. So now I had two bags of chaff to haul along with the babies in the buggy. I put the bags at their feet. They were okay with this for about half the trip home (read: 5 mins) when I started to hear yells of protest behind me.

I am really curious about a couple of things:
1. Tricks that other MoBsters use to haul precious cargo along with their not so precious cargo.
2. Streamlining the lock up and unload with kids on board in a busy area.

Tips always welcome - utilize the comment box.

Filling A Void

I have been searching the interwebs for information about going car-less with young children since the baby was born... two years ago. There is some great information out there when you dig , I thought I would add my two cents as I take the plunge into carless motherhood.

I bought a five year old Specialized Lady Hard Rock Pro off craigslist.org with the intention to transform it to a human powered mini-van. I will document my progress here and I hope other MoBsters will chime in with advice and comments.