Family Pedals: Recent Episodes
Sarah Kopper
Listen as Sarah Kopper chats with families questioning the status quo and living life a little bit differently. From the bakfiets to the bus, families are finding ways to get around without a car and embracing active and alternative forms of transportation. Each episode will highlight one family's experience living car-free or car-lite.
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Doug Dunlop joins me for the final episode of the spring. Many of you may know him from his blog and social media presence where he shares his experiences biking, camping, and adventuring year round in Calgary, Alberta. I hope the episode inspires you and your family take an adventure by bike this summer (or make plans for next winter!). Here are the links we mentioned:
- Cetma cargo bikes
- Frost Bike: The Joy, Pain, and Numbness of Winter Cycling by Tom Babin
- Follow-me tandem
- Kettle Valley Railway Trail
- Cold Bike website
- A recent trip report about a father-daughter bike camping trip
- Handmade pogies to keep your hands warm through the winter
- Find Doug on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook
At the top of the show, you'll hear that this will be the last episode of the spring. I hope to be back in the fall or the new year, but for now I am going to take a step back from the podcast to focus on other creative projects and to enjoy the summer with my family. A huge thank you to everyone who has listened, shared, and supported Family Pedals over the last year.
When I came up with the concept, I wasn’t sure who would listen or if it would resonate with other families; it has turned out to be such a rewarding endeavor. I have loved connecting with both guests and listeners who are passionate or curious about active transportation, biking, and getting outside with their families. Listeners, thank you for being a part of this. It wouldn’t be what it is without you.
If you'd like to be in the loop when new episodes air, be sure to subscribe so you'll see it in your feed and can jump back in to these conversations. Until then, may you have many adventures biking with your family.
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In celebration of Bike Month, I am releasing a bonus episode! Bloomington's bicycle and pedestrian coordinator, Beth Rosenbarger, joins me to talk about how she started bike commuting, her role in the City, and details about Bike Month--both locally and nationally. I hope the episode inspires you to participate in your community's Bike Month and connect with other cyclists. And if you're local, be sure to come to the Ice Cream Ride on the 31st so we can hang out and talk family biking. See the links below for more information about Bike Month:
- 5 E's of bicycling
- National Bike Month
- Bike to Work Day
- Bike to School Day
- Bloomington's Bike Month
If you’d like to support the show, please share it with someone you know and leave a review on iTunes. You can reach me on Instagram or by leaving a comment below. Thank you for listening!
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Gillian Burgess and I chat on Episode 19 all about family biking in Arlington, Virginia. She shares both how she became involved with her city's Bicycle Advisory Committee and how she started hosting Kidical Mass rides. She is a wonderful example of how important (and doable!) it is to get involved in your community. See below for links to all of the bikes, organizations, and resources we mentioned:
- Find Gillian on Twitter
- Bakfiets NL
- Xtracycle Cargo Node
- Bobike Mini front seat
- Biria CitiBike
- Riese Muller Packster cargo bike
- Bicycle Advisory Committee (BAC) in Arlington
- Kidical Mass general website
- Kidical Mass Arlington website and Facebook page
If you’d like to support the show, please share it with someone you know and leave a review on iTunes. You can reach me on Instagram or by leaving a comment below. Thank you for listening!
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Aaron Powell is the owner of Bunch Bikes, formerly known as Urban Tribe Cargo Bicycles. We first chatted in late February, but I held off on releasing the episode until now so he could share the new company name and the reasons behind rebranding. I love that Aaron saw a need for a different type of bike in the American market and went out and created a company to fill that need. You’ll hear how he started biking for transportation, the inspiration behind the company, and where he sees Bunch Bikes fitting into the cargo biking landscape. The new website will be up by the end of the week, but until then you can check out Urban Tribe Cargo Bicycles to find out more about the bikes and company. Other links mentioned:
- Mr. Money Mustache
- Bike Snob NYC and his article on Outside Online
If you’d like to support the show, please share it with someone you know and leave a review on iTunes. You can reach me on Instagram or by leaving a comment below. Thank you for listening!
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Today I’m welcoming my friend Leslie Lilly to the show. She and I met through a group she created in Austin: Babes with Babes on Bikes. Every week, the group would ride to park or other kid-friendly attraction. It was a great way to explore the city and meet other like-minded families. You’ll also hear about her family’s experience spending a year living on the road, exploring the States by bike. If you’re like me, by the end you’ll want to pack up your gear and go on your own cycling adventure.
- Weehoo travel trailer
- League of American Cyclists training
If you’d like to support the show, please share it with someone you know and leave a review on iTunes. You can reach me on Instagram or by leaving a comment below. Thank you for listening!
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Kerry Waldman has been riding and working on bikes for most of his life, and now shares that passion with his daughter through their cargo biking adventures. Last year Kerry created the Cargo Bike Republic Facebook group--a judgement free place to ask questions and share inspiration about family biking. It's a group for everyone in the cargo biking community--the families who ride them, the companies that create them, and the mechanics who work on them. In this episode you'll hear some of Kerry's biking story as well as the inspiration, mission, and evolution of Cargo Bike Republic group.
- Cargo Bike Republic on Facebook and Instagram
- Kerry's personal Instagram
- Yuba Mundo
- Tern GSD
- Interbike
- Yuba Flip Flop
If you’d like to support the show, please share it with someone you know and leave a review on iTunes. You can reach me on Instagram or by leaving a comment on the site. Thank you for listening!
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Natanya Bittman joins me for Episode 15. She and her husband are exploring the feasibility of selling their second car and being a one-car family in the Berkshires of Massachusetts. To make that change possible, Natanya is using a bus/bike combination to drop her son at daycare and take herself to work. I love her enthusiasm and determination, and hope you are inspired by her story. Check out all the resources we discuss below:
- Chris and Kelsey Wharton of the Matrimoney podcast
- Listen to Chris's story on Episode 2 of Family Pedals
- Topeak bike seat
- Plaine's bike shop in Pittsfield, MA
- Natanya's website and Instagram
If you’d like to support the show, please share it with someone you know and leave a review on iTunes. You can reach me on Instagram or by leaving a comment below. Thank you for listening!
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Last year the Maceira family went from two cars to one. After a positive experience with that change, they sold their second car and are now living car-free in Roseville, CA. Jessica joins me on the show to share how they are faring one-month into the adventure. We chat about how and why they made the switch, what has surprised her most, and what her three kids think about the new lifestyle. If you've been wondering what the first weeks of car-free life are like, this is the episode for you!
- Jessica's ride: a Trek Transport with Yuba Monkey Bars
- Jessica's Instagram
If you’d like to support the show, please share it with someone you know and leave a review on iTunes. You can reach me on Instagram or by leaving a comment below. Thank you for listening!
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My friend Savanna joins me to talk about biking with her two young boys, how electric assist has changed her biking life, and the work of the Yellow Bike Project--a community bike shop in Austin, Texas. It's where I first learned how to adjust brakes and an amazing place to learn how to fix your own bike. Here are links to all the great resources Savanna mentioned in the show:
- Cetma Cargo Bikes
- Park Tool
- Big Blue Book of Bicycle Maintenance
- Chainbreaker
- Yellow Bike's Instagram
If you’d like to support the show, please share it with someone you know and leave a review on iTunes. You can reach me on Instagram or by leaving a comment on the site. Thank you for listening!
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Yuba Bikes founder Ben Sarrazin joins me for Episode 12. He shares what inspired him to create the company, how the bikes have evolved over the last decade, and his thoughts on cargo biking both here in the States and abroad. I know there are many Yuba owners in the Family Pedals community (my family included) and I hope you enjoy learning a little more about the company and the person who started it.
- Yuba Bikes
- Bicycle Mobility Consultation form
- Yuba's social pages: Facebook and Instagram
You can connect with me on Instagram or by leaving a comment below.
If you’d like to support the show, please share it with someone you know and leave a review on iTunes. Thank you for listening!
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Bill Brodegard joins me in Episode 11 to share how his family's "bike year" is going. Last spring they sold their car and committed to the adventure of a car-free lifestyle for one year. He talks about what he has discovered through the project, whether they will continue once the year ends, and his theory about how life is like slicing tomatoes.
- The Bike Year
- Check out their homemade, duct-taped bike tent!
- Yuba Spicy Curry
- Perennial Cycle
- Surly Moonlander (though sadly not the tricked out one Bill describes)
Be sure to follow Bill's blog and Instagram for more of his family's adventures in Minneapolis. You can find me on Instagram or by leaving a comment below.
If you'd like to support the show, please share it with someone you know and leave a review on iTunes. Thank you for listening!
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Rachel Jonat, founder of the Minimalist Mom blog, joins me for Episode 10. We chat about her experience with active transportation in very different locations: Vancouver, on the Isle of Man, and now in small town British Columbia. She illuminates the unexpected benefits of cycling in a smaller city and the ways in which active transportation is supported differently there. Below you'll find links to everything we mentioned in the show:
- Minimalist Mom
- The Month I Paid $30/mile to Drive
- Getting There is Half--or All--the Fun
- More posts about being car-free
- Five Kids, One Condo
- Rachel's books: Do Less, The Minimalist Mom, and The Joy of Doing Nothing
- Minimalist Mom Facebook page
If you'd like to connect with Rachel, you can also find her on Instagram. Be sure to check out her latest book that just released early this month: The Joy of Doing Nothing.
If you'd like to support the show, please share it with someone you know and leave a review on iTunes. Thank you for listening!
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Dave Cohen, the founder of Vbike, joins me for Episode 9. We have a wide ranging discussion that covers Vbike origins and role in the community, how electric bikes can help mitigate poor infrastructure, ways bike shops can cater to a wider clientele, the dangers of automobilism, and how biking can engage our senses and create a deeper sense of connection to the world around us. If you are interested in hearing more about the concepts behind automobilism, check out this New York Times Magazine article Dave recommends. Here are links to everything we discussed in the show:
- Pedal Express
- Vbike
- Winter biking guide
- E-assit primer
- Local Motion
- The Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv
- Bar Mitts
- Bafang electric kits
- Yuba elMundo
You can email Dave at dave (at) vbikesolutions.org or follow Vbike on Facebook. You can find me on Instagram @familypedals.
If you'd like to support the show, please share it with someone you know and leave a review on iTunes. Thank you for listening!
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Lindsay Bayley is a planner for the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning. She joins me on the show to talk about how she became car-free, how parking policies affect livability, and how to get involved at the local level to support active transportation policies. See below for all the resources we discussed in the episode.
- The High Cost of Free Parking by Donald Shoup
- Victoria Transport Policy Institute
- Charles Marohn from Strong Towns, who also has a podcast
- Gabe Klein
- Workcycles Kr8 Bakfiets
You can find Lindsay on Twitter and me on Instagram. Thanks so much for listening!
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Elsbeth is back for another episode, this time talking about her business--Four Star Family Cyclery. She shares what they do (cargo bike rentals! mobile service! no mansplaining!), why she started the business, and what it's like to be a woman in a male dominated industry. Be sure to listen all the way to the end to hear her thoughts about the freedom her family's gained from the limits of life without a car.
Check out the shownotes to find all of the links mentioned in this episode.
And a special thank you to everyone who has rated and reviewed the show on iTunes! I've had a lot of fun launching this project and I appreciate knowing you are out there listening and enjoying the show.
Elsbeth Cool was car-free for years in Chicago before becoming a cargo bike enthusiast and now owner of Four Star Family Cyclery. In this episode she shares how she went from walking and using public transit to riding all-year round. We have a great conversation about the evolution of her biking set-up, her advice for biking through the winter, and how she handles the curiosity and judgment that comes with biking as a family. Tune back in next time for part two where she shares more about why she started her business, what they do, and what it's like being a female entrepreneur in a male-dominated industry.
You can find links to everything we mentioned in the shownotes. I'm on Instagram and Elsbeth is on both Instagram and Twitter.
Lisa Corriveau--aka Spokesmama--joins me for Episode 5 to talk about living car-free in Vancouver, British Columbia. She shares how she started cycling, how her family uses car-share, which cargo bikes she prefers, and how she advocates for active transportation both through her work teaching cycling classes and as a member of Vancouver's Active Transportation Policy Council.
To find links to everything mentioned in the show, head over to Family Pedals for the shownotes. You can find me on Instagram @familypedals, or send me an email at familypedals@gmail.com.
Mark Stosberg joins me for Episode 4. He lives a car-lite life in Bloomington, Indiana with his wife and two kids. In addition to riding all over town, he regularly goes bike camping with his family, including a ten-day tour of Southern Indiana in the summer of 2016. He is writing a book called Let's Go Family Bike Camping that will include stories from his many trips, detailed gear explanations, and tips for making these adventures a success.
To find links to everything mentioned in the show, head over to Family Pedals for the shownotes. You can find me on Instagram @familypedals, or send me an email at familypedals@gmail.com.
My friend Caitlin Macklin joins me for Episode 3. She is a parent, teacher, and active transportation enthusiast living in Austin, Texas. We discuss how she's learned to be flexible and creative when facing physical injuries that have kept her off her bike, how she created a car-sharing arrangement with another family down the street, and how she moved her schoolhouse to its new location via bicycle.
I would love to hear your feedback on the show! You can find me on Instagram @familypedals, or send me an email at familypedals@gmail.com.
To find links to everything mentioned in the show, including videos of the schoolhouse move, head to Family Pedals for the show notes.
In episode two I interview Chris Wharton. Chris and his family live in Gilbert, Arizona--a suburb in the sprawling Phoenix metropolitan area. A few years ago he sold their second car and began incorporating more utilitarian cycling into his everyday life. We touch on a variety of topics including:
- How and why they became a one-car family
- How he travels with his two kids by bike
- How he has fostered a love of cycling in his children
- The biggest challenges of being a one-car family in Phoenix
- How he survives biking in extreme weather conditions
- Recommendations for family's considering incorporating more active transportation in their lives
Chris brings an interesting perspective as a professor at Arizona State University who studies behavior change, healthy defaults, and voluntary simplicity. If you want to read or hear more from him, you can follow his blog Practically Awesome or listen to the personal finance podcast Matrimoney he hosts with his wife, Kelsey.
You can find links to everything we mention in the show notes.
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In the first episode of Family Pedals, I interview my husband Neil Kopper. I thought it would be a good place to start so listeners can get to know more about our family, how and why we ended up selling our car eight years ago, and how we where we need to go with two young children in tow.
You can find the show notes for the show here: http://www.familypedals.com/2017/08/08/podcast-neil-kopper/