LA
Bike
Dad

Our Workcycles FR8 wearing proof of our muddy adventures.
 

"You're not made of sugar."

I have been told, or read somewhere, or once imagined that the Dutch say this to their children, so it must be true.  Anyway, my impeccably sourced quote is supposed to signify that going out in the rain will not make our children melt.  Therefore, they need to quit bitching and head outside where they might get a little wet.  Since I have been a resident of a city renowned for its fair weather, sunny days, and crippling droughts for over two decades, it is incumbent upon me to explain to the rest of you how to bike in the rain....

In truth, I have generally avoided biking in the rain in LA.  As someone who has lived in both the midwest and the northwest, I can attest...

 Not the actual bus, but an identical one.
 

I promised myself that I wouldn't go the entire year without a post, so here it goes.  

This year the biggest transformation in how our family travels is my six-year-old now bikes himself most places.  When he outgrew his single-speed Islabikes CNOC 16 this summer, we upgraded him to a 20" Islabikes Beinn with seven gears (bought second hand off Ebay).  The addition of gears drastically increased his range and speed in our hilly neighborhood.  He now pedals himself exactly two miles to school every morning.  There have only been a handful of days that we have driven him due to inclement weather or work commitments.  I'm proud of him and us.  My relentless brainwashing has inculcated in him the expectation that if he wants to go somewhere to d...

Recently, a close friend of my sister's was wrongfully evicted from a rent-stabilized apartment in Echo Park.  Due to his subsequent sub-standard living conditions, he caught pneumonia.  Then he suffered a heart attack as a complication.  A preschool teacher at my child's former school was homeless earlier this year.  Then a second teacher, who was plowing 100% of her teaching salary into rent (she covered food and the rest of her bills by babysitting in the evenings) lost her apartment.  I could write another ten thousand words of housing crisis anecdotes... 

The GoFundMe asking parents & alumni to donate so two teachers, who live in separate households, don't go homeless.

   
How did this happen?

According to the state of...

LA Bike Mom skipping the school carpool drop-off line on the Urban Arrow.

Should you buy a really expensive bike with a big bucket in the front and an electric motor that helps you pedal?           

First, answer these questions:

1. Where are you planning to ride and for what purpose?

2. How many kids do you have & what are their ages? 

3. Do you like sweating? 

4. Do you have a car or could a bike replace it?

Second, check out humofthecity since she has the most comprehensive, unbiased reviews of cargo bikes on the interwebs.  Then filter her opinions through the differences in her family’s needs and your family’s needs. 

Now do the same with me.  My answers to the preceding questions are:

1. 95% of my bike trips with kids a...

Prior to a few weeks ago, if someone playing the word association game with me had said, "San Clemente;" I would've answered, "Nixon."  (His house in San Clemente was nicknamed the "Western White House" pre-Watergate.)  I don't think I'm going out on a limb when I say that most people don't associate Richard Nixon with FUN.  Thus, when our good friend recommended San Clemente for a keep-the-kids-occupied-so-they-won't-bother-us outing, I was understandably skeptical.  Where was he going to suggest we play next?  The Reagan Library?

Yet, my friend had already earned some serious street cred.  Last year he organized a METROLINK train trip to visit the petting zoo in San Juan Capistrano.  That adventure was a HUGE SUCCESS:

^ Two children no...

Did you catch the word FREE in the title?

With the exception of bikes, I am a notorious cheapskate.  Evidence of this includes the fact that I have shoe-horned my family of four into a home that would easily qualify as part of the "small house movement."  When it was built in 1924 it was simply called a "bungalow," but now apparently we're part of a "movement."  I love living in a small house because it forces me to get rid of my wife's stuff that I don't really need.  It's called simplifying.

Anyhow, my miserly heart flutters on Sunday mornings because there is a FREE art class in Los Feliz from 10AM to noon at Barnsdall Art Park (check the schedule).  Every week the class explores a different theme based on art from around the world.  As a...

Okay, try not to laugh, but I started this blog because I wanted to change the world in my free time.  With a wife in residency and a newborn at home, I no longer had the bandwith (I love the term “bandwith” – it’s self-important/slightly douchey - just like me) to make films.  Yet, like moms throughout the ages, I still wanted a purpose outside of the home without it conflicting with my purpose inside the home.  Hence, a blog devoted to getting LA parents out of their cars and into awesome adventures with their kids.  

I was inspired by the history of Amsterdam.  As the Netherlands recovered from World War II, more and more cars filled the city’s streets leaving less and less space for families.  In 1971, four hundred of Amsterdam’s kids were killed by cars.  The moms rebell...

Using a conservative estimate, I have driven at least 220,000 miles in LA traffic.  Assuming that I averaged 30mph (Yeah, right), I have spent approximately 7,333 hours in driving purgatory.  That is 183 full time (40 hour) work weeks stuck in traffic.  I have thus far lost at least 3.52 YEARS of productivity inhaling the exhaust of the car in front of me while listening to CD's from the nineties that still sound new to me.  Until I did the math this very minute, I had no idea the 10 Freeway et al had claimed that much of my life.  

I wrote that paragraph while riding the EXPO Line.  Please tell me again how public transit or biking takes too much of your time...

Now that the stork had dropped another baby in our laps, it looked like I was going to have to sacr...

The Little Dictator pre-gaming the Crash the Marathon ride.

The Crash the Marathon ride began as an anarchic middle finger to "The Man" back in 2010 when Don Ward, of Wolfpack Hustle fame, organized an unsanctioned bike race on the LA Marathon route in the middle of the night.  In the ensuing years, as the Crash the Marathon ride became an annual tradition, the authorities threatened Don and the participants with arrest.  Which still did not dissuade them.  This year, the LAPD approached Don and asked him to organize a ride.  If you can't beat 'em...

How do you get a preschooler to wake up at 4:30AM for a bike ride?  

Step one:  Have his mother deprive his palate of any joy from birth through the present day.

Step two:  Promise the child waffles next t...

Following the emergency C-section; waiting for confirmation that my wife and baby had survived the surgery; scrubbing into a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit; meeting a 29 week preemie who appeared far too fragile to be long for this world; my day shifted gears yet again to preschool pick up duty.  My highest priority transformed from keeping our newborn alive, to pushing the playground swing the "right" way, so that our four year old didn't get mad at me.  

The next day the doctors let us know that our baby could be blind, mentally disabled, or may not survive.  Then I picked up our eldest from school and read a National Geographic kids book about snakes for the 4000th time:  

"Yes, that's a constrictor...No,...