Cargo Bike Gang

Too many characters ride in the cargo bike:
(Not one of my better drawings, but definitely the most characters on one napkin ever)

We've been taking a cargo bike to school and camp, more or less every day for five years.  During that time, the kids have gained something close to 100 pound combined, and I have aged at least 20 years.

Starting in the fall, the kids will no longer be at the same school. One will be traveling beyond reasonable biking distance to the upper east side of Manhattan. Therefore, as we finish up these last weeks of summer, we are making the daily bike trip to downtown Brooklyn for the last few times.

I have mixed feelings. The daily routine of biking has been mostly a good thing.  The excessive exercise has probably kept me from completely falling apart physically and mentally. It has certainly kept me from abandoning my misbehaving sons on a subway train. But it has always been a slightly anxiety-inducing daily grind: The weather is most often too hot or too cold. I am rarely not dangerously sleep-deprived. And many pedestrians and motorists seem to hate me for the outrageous decision to bike my kids to school and are happy to shout their opinions at me from their car windows or often, their position standing in front of us in the bike lane.

I am very pleased and overwhelmingly thankful that, besides the frequent verbal hostility, we have made it through thousands of miles without an accident or an interaction that left physical marks.

It is probably time to stop anyway, given the kids' increasing size and heft. If you are one of our few readers who is not my mom, you are probably wondering why my sons are not riding their own bikes to school by now... Well, while I had often fantasized about that happening eventually, the trip is 5 miles, mostly around the very windy Brooklyn Navy Yard, and culminates in a rather nasty stretch of riding in traffic in downtown Brooklyn. And my kids have never been very interested in self locomotion.

At any rate, since we were approaching the end of the cargo bike phase, it seemed like there should be some sort of commemorative napkin. The kids came up with an endless list of characters that have appeared on the napkins over the last five years that they thought should be riding in the bike. They argued over who should get to sit on which character's shoulders. And they berated me this morning for failing to somehow work in Doctor Who's Tardis.

I had to draw the line somewhere.

(You can see a photo of us on the bike on a rainy day in 2012 on this bicycling photography blog: gudphoto.com)

Giant Pet Rat

Unsafe At Any Speed:  Biking and Giant Pets

Biking is always a sore subject in New York, and recent tragic events in Central Park have not made people who don't bike feel any better about bikes and the people who ride them.

Not only am I a person who endangers myself and the general public by cycling a couple of hours every day, I am particularly culpable because I put underage children at risk by schlepping my sons back and forth to school in a cargo bike.  I find that motherhood generally offers unending opportunities for both self inflicted guilt and public judgement. Something about the combination of biking and motherhood, however, stirs hostility and disapproval like almost nothing else. People are so concerned about my kids' safety that they feel compelled to scream profanities at me as we pass.

So what could possibly be worse than biking one's kids around the city?....Perhaps doing so with them seated in the lap of a giant rodent? (Visibility would definitely be obscured, but at least they are wearing their bike helmets)

My younger son is terribly pet deprived. Since there are some dog allergy issues in the family, during the quest for a furry pet, the idea of a rat came up. Earlier this week, he and I had discussed whether a small well trained pet like a dog....or a rat....might be able to ride with along in the bike on the way to school....And since there was a giant pet dog on the napkin yesterday, why not a giant pet rat today?

So there you have my excuse for this drawing. Ansel was not convinced.

You can see several napkins related to biking in the 24 hour comic series
The kids in the actual bike, without any pets:

Napkin Not For A Lunchbox 13

From the 24 hour series: this is 8:50 am, the 4 1/2 mile  bike ride home after successfully leaving both children at school.  During the winter, I'm always a little colder on the way home without the 120 pounds of kids to push.

 (You can see the whole series so far at this link. )

Napkin Not For A Lunchbox 12

This image from the 24 hour series is 3:30 pm:  our ride over the Manhattan Bridge for an after school therapy session.

With the exception of the very unpleasantly steep entrance ramp,  pushing 200 plus pounds of kids and bike to Manhattan over this bridge is not too physically painful. 

But it is a slow trip, and I do have plenty of time to quietly contemplate the Kubrick-like single point perspective.  The kids, however, are not much interested in the view, or in conversing with me.  Although  I do get the occasional obscure weapons related spelling question from Archer.


(You can see the whole series so far at this link. )

Napkin Not For A Lunchbox 11

From the 24 hours of dysfunctional parenting series: this is 6:15 pm, our commute home to Brooklyn over the Williamsburg Bridge.  Since I started this series on Hourly Comic Day on February 1st, it's completely dark at 6. 

For those who already disapprove of my use of the cargo bike to move my kids around NYC, you can add my children's use of electronic devices to the list of my parenting sins.  I used to insist on the reading of books (and still do on the inbound trip to school) but books do not work as well in the dark inside a sleeping bag.  And yes, I am aware of the existence of flashlights.

Archer would like me to issue the disclaimer that Ansel is the one who usually needs to pee in the middle of the bridge, not him. But the word balloon just didn't work on the right side.


 (You can see the whole series so far at this link. )

Napkin Not For A Lunchbox 8

From the 24 hour series; this is 3:40 pm, our commute by cargo bike in Manhattan.

Helpful pedestrians express concern for my children's welfare.

Bikes are certainly a controversial topic for some in NYC.  And then there are always people on the lookout for opportunities to spot and condemn what they perceive as bad parenting.  A woman pedaling her kids on a city street is like a double Yahtzee moment for the self righteous.  

In my own defense, the vast majority of our trip is in separate bike lanes, and on the rare occasions that we do ride with traffic, it is generally so congested and slow that no one could run us down if they wanted to.  

This does not stop strangers from expressing their disapproval at my parenting/transportation choices.  I've quizzed the few cargo biking men I have met about whether people shout obscenities at them as they pass.  I'm developing a theory that people harass me because they think they can get away with it as there is a slim chance that a mom with two kids is going to say apply her bicycle pump to a man's skull just because he yelled " You F#%&*ing C#+@*!" at her in front of her kids.

(You can see the whole series so far at this link. )

Napkin Not For A Lunchbox 7

Another non lunchbox napkin from the 24 hour series. 

This one is 7:40-8:15 am: our morning commute to school, when we have the opportunity for meaningful parent/child conversation.

Napkin Not For A Lunchbox 6

Ansel took an older napkin today, so I went back to the hourly comic series.
This would be 7:40 am, about ten minutes after we should have left for school.  After I have finished stuffing them into the sleeping bags and blanket in the bike while complaining about how late we are, Archer is happy to offer me some advice.

(You can see the whole series so far at this link. )