Every Day Adventurers

The temperature is beginning to rise in Tucson. Before long, the temperature will regularly top out at over 100 degrees every day.

As a desert rat, you instinctively learn to seek shade because it is significantly cooler and because it keeps your skin from turning the same color as the Redical Red freeloaders.

People often ask, “how can you ride in the heat?” I tell them, “it’s only hot when you stop.” This summer, though, I have to worry about more than just myself.

Because my wife and I sold our second car — you can read about why we decided to sell it on my blog, TucsonVelo.com — there will be times my daughter and I will be out in the heat. On a bike in the Sonoran Desert, shade can be hard to come by.

I wanted something to provide her with shade everywhere we went. I searched the web for a PeaPod LT cover that provided shade and allowed enough air circulation to keep the seat from turning into an oven, but couldn’t find anything that worked. In the Xtracycle spirit, I decided to create my own. This project will also provide the structure to make the PeaPod rain proof. Yes, it does actually rain in Tucson, but not enough.

Here is how to do it:

1) Pick up a Kelty FC Sun Hood ($34.95). It is designed to work with their backpacks, but works great on the PeaPod LT. Our local outdoor store, Summit Hut has them as does REI, nationally.

2) Purchase rubber grommets from a hardware store like ACE Hardware. I don’t recall the specific size, but I just took the cover in and slipped on the grommets until I found one that was tight, but could still slip on and off. I purchased eight, thinking I would put one above and below the points where it slips into the PeaPod. It turns out the way the structure is flexed you really only need one on the bottom so the poles don’t slip out.

3) Drill holes a little bit wider than the plastic poles from the cover so they can slip in tightly. I drilled mine right outside the gray part of the crossbar in front and just outside the raised half circle on the back of the PeaPod LT.

4) Insert the poles into the holes and place a rubber grommet on the bottom of each pole. The grommets prevent the structure from pulling out, or being pulled out by small hands.

To get your child in and out, just remove the front two grommets and take the poles out of the holes you drilled. You can tuck the poles up into the shade structure to get them out of the way while you buckle and unbuckle your child.

The shade screen does a great job keeping the sun off our daughter’s face and neck.

Making the PeaPod LT rain proof is a snap with the shade structure in place. I just bought a rain cover for a running stroller from Babies R’ Us. The cover has two Velcro tabs on the front of the cover which make it easy to loop around a part of the frame to keep the cover pulled down over the PeaPod LT’s foot rests. The back of the cover has other Velcro tabs that allow you to tighten the part that drapes over the back of the seat.

I think the rain cover might also be a great way to help transport kids in the winter by keeping the chilly air from blowing on them.

We had a freak rain storm last week that allowed me to try the rain cover. It worked flawlessly. My daughter was warm and dry when we got to our destination. I, however, was not.

Michael McKisson runs TucsonVelo.com, a website devoted to covering the cycling community in Tucson.