Every Day Adventurers

Jessy Clonts, our neighbor in the Bay Area, test rode a Radish for 30-days this spring. This is a journal about her expectations, experiences and feedback. Enjoy!

Everyone talks about living their lives more “green,” and reducing their carbon footprint, but beyond taking reusable bags to the store in the City CarShare Prius and composting the recyclable compact fluorescent light bulbs, who truly walks the walk?

When a friend challenged me to forgo driving for riding an Xtracycle for 30 days, I secretly panicked for a moment, then accepted enthusiastically. Like many Californians, I enjoy an active lifestyle that includes biking for fun.

But this challenge required me to run all of my errands on bike, and the Midwest in me couldn’t imagine hauling groceries on two wheels. I know people do it everyday, but I am notoriously clumsy; my last bike crash was about three weeks prior to the challenge and I’m still nursing a sprained wrist.

I’m determined to prove not only that I can rise to the challenge and do well, but that I truly can modify my lifestyle in a positive, healthy, responsible (and less expensive) way. Anyone can try anything for a month, but I want to want to embrace a bicycle lifestyle permanently.

I don’t expect this 30-day challenge to be easy, but I do expect it to be interesting. And so it begins.

---

Day 1

I have to admit I was nervous to convert from a “regular” bike to an Xtracycle. I worried about the safety, the handling, and whether or not I could be trusted not to crash it. As I took it for a test spin I worried about my turn radius; could I cut sharp corners if I needed to? Could I brake hard and fast? What if I needed to bail off the seat? In the midst of my concerns, I had somehow turned into some sort of danger-wielding stunt master. But once I rode it around a parking lot a couple of times, I realized it actually handled better than my “regular” bike.

For the inaugural trip out, I loaded the Free Loader saddlebags with my heavy backpack, climbing gear, a change of clothing, and a water bottle. I put my U-lock in the handy hidden pocket and off I rode to the gym. Cruising down the bicycle boulevard, I got nods and smiles from nearly everyone I passed. Was that normal? Having rocked a rusted vintage Specialized for the last year, I felt like a million bucks on my shiny new Radish.

Pulling up to the bike rack at Berkeley Ironworks, I worried that I wouldn’t be able to lock up the bike as I normally would. But my U-lock did its job. The back end of the bike protruded an extra 15 inches further than the other bikes, and I couldn’t help but smile to myself when I looked back at my Radish parked alongside the rest of the bikes.

My friends were intrigued. They wanted a ride on the back. We jetted to an empty parking lot where we took turns giving each other rides on the Snap Deck. One friend managed to give both 115-pound girls a tandem ride; the triumph of the evening.

When I got home, my landlord was pulling in the trash cans from the sidewalk.

“Nice bike. It looks like a station wagon!”

“Thanks,” I said. “That’s sort of the idea!”