#SpokesmamaProTip: How to Use Bus Bike Racks

Practicing #bikebusbike at Broadway Station bus loop

Having the option to carry your bike on a bus is great as a backup plan if you have mechanical issuses, terrible weather, or if you're just starting to commute to work & it's a long distance. Being able to use the bus bike rack makes touring--especially with a kid--a lot more possible, & the bus system can help you get through the various tunnels & bridges & highways around Metro Vancouver that you can't or don't feel safe riding on. Translink bus bike racks accommodate bikes from a 16" wheel up to a 700c. That covers the vast majority of two-wheel bikes out there, even folding & children's bikes.

BUT. Big but. How do those racks work? Am I going to be able to figure one out when I need to, with a bus load of people staring at me? Using the bus bike racks can be a bit intimidating at first. It just takes a little practice, however, & then loading your bike on a bus goes much more smoothly!

Here are my top tips for using bus bike racks:

1. Consider starting your trip at the first stop or a layover point if you can, to make the process more relaxed. The first stop means you'll be the first to load, so the two spaces on the bike rack won't be full already.
2. Pack your panniers or basket so they're easy to pull off the bike or unpack before loading it onto the rack. You're not allowed to leave them on the bike as they can impede the driver's view.
3. Watch this video to see how the rack folds down & how the extendable arm works. Then ride your bike to a bus loop or layover point along a route & ask the driver if you can practice with the rack. There are also two practice racks permanently installed outside Main Street Skytrain Station & North Vancouver City Hall.
4. When you lift your bike, grab it on the front fork with one hand (this prevents the front wheel from flopping around & hitting you in the head with your own handlebars) & the seat tube with the other so you can lift it as high as needed. Put your bike on the back spot so another person can use the front one.
5. Be ready at the bus stop pole before the bus arrives & make eye contact with the driver so it's clear you're planning to use the rack. Once you get on the bus, tell driver where you're planning to get off. Stay near the front, so you can keep an eye on your bike. There's usually a luggage rack area just inside the front door where you can stash your bags. When you're going to get off again, let the driver know, & then get off via the front doors.
6. Don't forget to put the rack back up if it's empty!
7. Once you've taken your bike off the bus, move onto the sidewalk to reattach panniers, etc. Don't stand in travel lane or cross in front of the bus.

Visit the Translink Bikes on Buses page for more information.

I hope these tips are helpful in demystifying the bus bike rack! I put my bike on the bus occasionally as part of my commute to work when I'm travelling farther than I want to ride, or I want to avoid a particularly heavy traffic route. (Check out the hashtag #bikebusbike or #biketrainbike to see pics on Instagram.) We have also used transit to make bike touring more doable when we're hauling children & camping gear.

Have you got any other handy #bikebusbike tips or stories to share? Let me know in the comments below.

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Let's #UnGapTheMap to Make Metro Vancouver Better

Have you ever been riding somewhere, along a lovely separated bike route, then gotten dumped onto a busy highway or narrow footpath? Or had a bike lane just disappear into thin air as you reach a big intersection? Unfortunately, despite the fact that over 40% of Metro Vancouver residents want to cycle more often, they don't because of gaps in cycling infrastructure like this. While the number of people cycling in Metro Vancouver has increased rapidly in recent years, the bike network remains fragmented with tons of gaps across the region preventing people from cycling more often, particularly for transportation, not just recreation.

HUB Cycling--the non profit that I work for teaching cycling education to kids & adults--is working hard to solve this problem. Their UnGapTheMap campaign is focused on identifying, prioritizing & fixing the gaps that--if solved--would increase safety, creating a more connected bike network across Metro Vancouver, getting people to places they need to go.

HUB Cycling’s local committees (click here to learn more & join yours!) have already identified over 300 gaps across Metro Vancouver which are stopping more people cycling. The gaps range from minor ‘spot improvements’, such as adding signage or bike crossings, to building new bike lanes in areas of high ridership like along Powell Street in Vancouver.

In addition to identifying the routes in need of improvement, HUB Cycling is working with municipalities, the Ministry of Transportation & Infrastructure, plus TransLink to highlight the priority gaps & encourage government to implement solutions that will help more people bike, more safely.

One of the solutions that HUB Cycling is championing is cycle highways: continuous paved, lit paths, separated from pedestrians & motor vehicles, suitable for people of all ages & abilities. Cycle highways have proved extremely successful in Europe & could work well on routes such as Vancouver to Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal (getting there by bike is a ridiculously epic journey--read my posts on our Galiano bike camping trip for more on that) & HUB Cycling is asking MLAs to support the introduction of them in Metro Vancouver.

People make over 131,000 trips by bike in Metro Vancouver each day but creating safe, connected routes would help many more people to get on their bikes. Just imagine how increasing that could change our cities: less air pollution, fewer cars stuck in traffic, healthier people getting exercise every day, less vehicle noise through our neighbourhoods...

So what can you do to help ungap the map? Adopt one of HUB Cycling’s identified gaps and explain how that gap is stopping you from cycling.

To find out more visit www.bikehub.ca/ungapthemap.

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Galiano Bike Camping Adventure: Day 2

That is one dirty Yuba Mundo!

Riding off to the ferry terminal, on time no less!

Here is day two of Four Kids, Four Adults, Four Bikes, & Four Days*. (If you missed Day one, go over here & read about our epic trip to Tsawwassen first. I'll wait. ;)


Day two started eeeearly: I was up at 6:30 after a fitful sleep. I'm still used to broken sleep, since Bronte usually nurses at least once during the night. Also, what rest I got made me feel a lot better than the previous evening when I bonked. I felt better but was still a little anxious, since we had a ferry to catch & then some major terrain to tackle on Galiano.

Not about to repeat yesterday's blood sugar nosedive, I choked down a good solid portion of oatmeal in spite of my nerves. We were packed & ready to head out by five after nine--only a few minutes late. The ride to the ferry was uneventful, flat & only took thirty minutes as expected.


There's a lot to like about biking onto the ferry. You're first on & first off the boat. Even when you pay you get priority: the bike lane takes you to a special gate, so we skipped line. Bikes are also significantly cheaper than cars: $2 each. & there's something exciting about standing right on the deck at the front of the boat & watching the staff use hand signals as they tie up the boat & bring down the ramp.

More side-of-the-highway riding, but only a bit

Once we'd paid, however, it's a bit tricky to figure out where to go. The lanes are clearly marked for vehicles & it's obvious where you go if you're walking on, but for cyclists there is very little indication as to where you wait to board & how you're supposed to get there. After asking two separate BC Ferries staff people, we found the right place & it was almost time to board.

On the ferry Brontë was charging around, as usual, & tripped, scraping her hands a little on the non-slip grit of the deck. Linnaeus enjoyed playing in the wind on the front deck & asked a million questions about the lifeboats, lifejackets, & every interesting thing he could see.

Although the kids were a little nuts on the ferry, the stress of watching them is something I'm used to. What was noticeable was once we'd sat down, all the rest of the logistical travelling stress--getting all our gear into the Skytrain, figuring out bike routes, riding on noisy highways, flat tires, skinned knees, catching ferries--just evaporated. I could relax & enjoy the trip. Aaaaaaaaaahhhhh. The sailing from Tsawwassen to Vancouver is only 55 minutes, so it wasn't long before we were strapping kids onto bikes & trailers, then riding off at Sturdies Bay.

Got to jump the queue of cars to pay at the ferry terminal

Lucy & Linnaeus did some blackberry picking while the papas foraged for food, er, grocery shopped for some heavy perishables: meat, fruit, vegetables. We decided to see if the Galiano Bike Shop would have an extra tube for the Yuba just in case, & rode there to check.

The Bike shop was a derelict looking garage on the property of a house just up the road from the ferry. Nobody seemed to be home, so we decided their law would make as good a spot as any to stop for lunch. The bike shop owners never did show up, so we headed out on our way after lunch, making a quick stop for more heavy items: a big bottle of wine & some rum.

Aaaaaahhhhh... Enjoying the comforts of BC Ferries vinyl seats.

The ride from Sturdies Bay to Montague Harbour isn't far: about 8km, but it took us about an hour & a half including many short rests & the liquor store stop because of the terrain. Google Maps tells me the elevation gain is nearly 170m & I believe it. We had to get off our bikes & walk at least three times on the steepest sections, which, I'll admit really sucks with the Yuba. The rear stoker bars & running boards hit my legs unless I walked quite far to the side of it. I discovered the best way to push it was to push the bars with my left hand & pull the seat with my right.

The silver lining to this terrain is the glorious steep downhills to fly on. I really enjoyed coasting down each & every one of those. There is virtually no traffic on the island & the roads take you through tall trees, with occasional peeks through to the water along the way.

Buffeted by the wind on the Queen of Nanaimo Ferry

Getting ready to disembark at Sturdies Bay

We were in Montague Harbour Marine Park by mid afternoon. We easily found our bike-in campsite, & set up the tents on the wooden platforms provided. This is one of my favourite things about camping. I love building things & putting together your own temporary shelter is especially awesome, somehow. Because we had two two-person tents & a 10'x10' platform, there was an extra level of challenge. Pegs weren't really going to work & we had rope, but only two 50' lengths. I came up with the idea of sort of 'sewing' the tents all around the edges with one of the ropes, which worked just fine.

While we were setting up, Lisa took kids on a "nature walk" in the immediate vicinity of the campsite. The campground is full of huge firs & cedars, but there isn't really that much undergrowth, so it's easy to walk around between campsites & the sight lines were great for the kids to range around. Which they did for all the time that we were there--it was so lovely to see our little city kids running around playing with rocks & sticks in the dirt all day.

I also set up our cheap old hammock, plus a food cache so we could hang up the groceries at night. We'd been warned that the raccoons were quite aggressive, so I came up with a way to use the second 50' length of rope, a rock, two trees & our trailer to secure one of Oli's weatherproof panniers up high.

Preschoolers are already going feral & foraging for berries

Once we had our camp set up, we all walked down to the lagoon for a little crab watching. It's so full of tiny green crabs that the bottom seems to be moving when you look into the water. The kids loved looking at the critters & Bronte was completely unafraid of the water, wading in, shoes & all, not once, but twice.

Camp Cook Dan made a delicious pork & pasta dinner, while Oli rode off to the store to buy me some bug spray--I had dozens of bites already, but I'm fairly sure the spray prevented me from getting any more.

After dinner we went down to dock & beach again--it's such a quick walk from the campsite, that even little B could get there on her own steam. When we we returned back to the campsite, Bronte went to sleep almost instantaneously in 'the girls tent'. Linny stayed up with the adults for a while, chatting at the picnic table around mugs of hot chocolate.

My view for most of days 1 & 4 of our trip.

Next we chased off a couple of groups of raccoons. They're really fearless, so I hoped that yelling at them & throwing pinecones might convince them that the should try raiding someone else's campsite.

Once all four kids were asleep, we took turns heading down to the water for stargazing. I can't remember the last time I laid on my back on a dock looking up at the sky. The sky was so clear that we could see the Milky Way. & though we were a few days past the peak of the Perseids meteor shower, I still saw quite a few of them shooting by.

We're here! Montague Harbour Marine Provincial Park Campground

Four Kids, Four Adults, Four Bikes, & Four Days*

What I was carrying on my Yuba: some of the lighter camping gear, assorted toiletries & electronics, plus 70 lbs of kids

Aaahhh... hammock. It's quite old, so the strings started to break right after this. Oops.

The lagoon was a short walk from our campsite.

We made it back to the lagoon just in time for sunset.

Watch for the next installment all about day three on Galiano!


*Full credit goes to Lisa M for coming up with the name for our trip: 4 Kids, 4 Adults, 4 Bikes, 4 Days.

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Fall in Love With Vancouver Again... By Bike

Going over the basics with Josh before our Cycle City Tour.

Playing "tourist in your own town" isn't a new thing. The portmanteau "staycation" has been around a while now. But have you actually ever done it? Taken a tour of Vancouver, like a guided tour, with factoids about local history & points of interest? I got the opportunity to do that on Monday with Cycle City Tours, who put together a sampler tour for journalists & bloggers to see first hand what they do.

I admit when we set out, I wasn't expecting to learn too much--I've lived in Vancouver for over 25 years now & I'm a bit of a local history buff. I was in it for the beer tasting at the end. During the tour, however, I really enjoyed myself & learned a thing or two about our city.

We rode from Cycle City at 1344 Burrard Street, down to the waterfront path at the foot of Hornby Street to get a great view of Granville Island across False Creek. Our knowledgeable guide Josh, refreshed our memories about Granville Island's origins & industrial history. He also mentioned a project he was involved in implementing right in the waters of False Creek, wrapping the creosote-soaked pilings in a plastic layer to provide a better egg-laying habitat for herring. This project actually started in Squamish about a decade ago & may be the reason that large marine mammals like dolphins, porpoises, whales are returning to the waters of Howe Sound & around Vancouver.

Palm trees, 1960s architecture, & public art.

Our next stop was at First Beach on English Bay. I ride through here several times a year, but rarely stop at the beach. Standing there facing the palm trees & the vintage high rises, I was reminded of some of the reasons I love this city. Josh told us a little about the hidden political meaning to the public art piece across the street from us, & spoke about public art in general here. Public art is a natural fit with biking, as so many of Vancouver's pieces are along the seawall & bike paths of the city. Cycle City Tours is planning to lead regular public art tours in conjunction with Vancouver Biennale this year--contact them for further details.

Onward we rode in the hot sun toward Stanley Park. But instead of riding around the seawall, we turned into the trails that criss-cross the centre of the park. In the shade of the towering trees, the temperature dropped to a manageable warm summer afternoon & we soon stopped at the base of a gigantic old-growth Douglas fir.

An old timer fir that escaped the saw in the 1900s.

Josh painted a picture of Vancouver in the last decades of the 19th century, pointing out the cuts in the tree where the loggers likely installed a springboard in an attempt to cut this behemoth down. For unknown reasons, they didn't fell the massive fir, so it remains more than a hundred years later, scarred now with animal burrows & laced with spiderwebs between its gnarled skin.

Riding through the trails of Stanley Park, I realized that this might have been my first time there on a bike. I walked them in the past, but have never ridden through. I resolved to bring the kids there soon to escape the sounds & heat of the summer city.

Next stop involved two firsts for me: 1. I'd never actually been to CRAB Park, which we accessed via the Coal Harbour section of the seawall. 2. We took a 'secret' tunnel that runs under the new convention centre. We emerged back into the sunshine between the helijet port & the train tracks--another sight I think the kids would like to see. Our guide told us of the local activists who fought for access to the waterfront on the East Side, resulting in the official city park that nestles in between Seabus berths & the giant gantries of the port.

Postmark beer bat, awaiting my taste buds.

We biked another few blocks into Railtown to Postmark Brewing, our final stop. After a brief tour of the facility & a primer on brewing in between the mash tuns, fermentation tanks & bright tanks, we returned to the tasting room for a flight of Postmark beers & a snack of some truly beautiful pizza from Belgard Kitchen. I will definitely be returning to Postmark to get a growler of their dry Irish stout & their India session ale soon.

If you want to play tourist in your home town, or maybe you have family & friends visiting, you should definitely try a Cycle City Tour. Bike tours are an eco-friendly way to get around, but also allow you to really experience the city through your senses all along the way. Even on a stinking hot day like Monday, we made our own breeze as we rode along.

Cycle City offers in depth tours of Stanley Park, Vancouver's Craft Beer scene, or the whole city, ranging from three to five hours, $39-90, depending on the tour, & if you have your own bike or wish to rent one of theirs. More information on Cycle City Tours here. By the way, Cycle City rents youth size bikes, child seats, trailers, & trailabikes as well.


Disclaimer: I received the above mentioned tour & beer tasting to facilitate this review, but was not otherwise compensated for this post.

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Ten (Mostly Bikey) Links to Check Out

LOVE this jacket!

Thought I'd share with you some of what I've been reading online lately. Yes, it's a bit bike-heavy, but it's varied: from how bikes affect our brains, to bike clothing that actually doesn't look dorky, to kids on bikes, to why bike infrastructure is good for us all. With a little sewing & semantics thrown in for good measure.

Here are my last ten bookmarked pages:

1. One of the reasons I bike as much as I can is because it makes me feel good. Reading this article in The Independent gave me some insight as to why, as well as how cycling may be part of the solution for the treatment of ADHD, Parkinson's & even the prevention of Alzheimer's disease.
2. Whenever I post a list of great links I've read, Annie's blog, PhD in Parenting is on there. Her post about the term 'mompreneur' is an interesting read & it's definitely worth reading through the comments too. What do you think about all the terms that have 'mom' attached to them, like mom blogger or mompreneur? 
3. I'm reading Elly Blue's Everyday Bicycling: How to Ride a Bike for Transportation (Whatever Your Lifestyle) & discovered that she's got a project on Kickstarter at the moment. It's to fund the production of "Disaster!", the latest issue of Taking the Lane's quarterly journal. a collection of empowering nonfiction articles on bicycling.
4. I also found this skirt on Kickstarter--can't remember who linked to it somewhere in SocialMediaLand--& since then at least three people have sent it to me. So I'm telling you about it: it is a pencil skirt that transforms into something practical for cycling. Check out the Iva Jean Reveal Skirt. I think I'm going to have to order one when they come out in April...
5. A lot of people seem to think cycling infrastructure is wasted money because the majority of people still drive or use other forms of transportation. However, improving our roads for bike riders benefits everyone, as explained by this Yes Magazine article.
6. Reading about this family's short cycling tour made me want to take a bike trip with Sprout ASAP. It's a personal story with some handy tips for riding with kids. 
7. Speaking of tips for kids, check out this tutorial on how to take a shirt from stained to adorable with reverse applique on This Mama Makes Stuff.
8. After seeing this 100% recyclable Loeka jacket on Let's Go Ride a Bike, I now covet it. (in red, of course).
9. You've heard of a "walking schoolbus" or a "bike train", maybe? Well here's an actual schoolbus that's powered by children, as well as a few other innovative ideas around cycling like the world's largest bikeshare in China & a public bike repair station.
10. I'll finish off with something inspiring: meet Toby Field, a morbidly obese man in the UK who started cycling to work with on a bike bought through a government tax incentive plan. (WHY DON'T WE HAVE THIS IN CANADA??) I'll let you read the article & watch the embedded video there to see what happened over the next two years.

What have you been reading on the ol' interwebz lately? Found any gems you'd like to share? Add them in the comments below!





Nothing says “best gift ever” like a caribou!
 
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