PHOTO: Bike Friday owner Elle Steele riding with her boys on a Haul-a-Day.
By Raz
Elle Steele pedals through the streets of Sacramento on her Bike Friday Haul-a-Day with her two boys sitting comfortably on the back.
The sun shines down upon another beautiful day as she makes the short trip from her home to pick up her oldest son from school.
As they roll past commercial buildings back to the safety of her neighborhood, Elle asks how his day went.
There’s a give and take of a little chit-chat as the boys enjoy the ride.
“The Haul-a-Day turns our everyday routine into an adventure with my two boys as we immerse ourselves in the sights and sounds and smells of our city,” Elle said, pausing to laugh. “I suppose you could take out the smells to make it sound better, but I think my boys really get a great sense of what the city is really like.
“Like when we ride past a bakery and they are baking fresh bread. There’s just so much to experience when we’re running errands or making a drop-off run to school, and being on a bike allows us to move at a little slower pace instead of just driving through in a car all closed up inside.”
From the Co-Designer of the Haul-a-Day, Shane MacRhodes, to a large number of other parents who have become Haul-a-Day owners, sharing special moments with their children is the ultimate reward of cycling with kids.
“There’s more to it than just riding them around from here to there,” Shane said. “You’re also showing your kids how to ride responsibly and safely. It’s just a great way to spend time with them, outside, experiencing the world.”
KayCee Millitante found her way to the Haul-a-Day after working her way through the bicycle learning curve.
“We sold our car in August of 2013 and wanted to use a bike as our primary transportation,” KayCee said. “I really didn’t know much about bikes and I wasn’t so sure I was going to like it, so I just bought a $100 bike from Target. But then I realized how easy it could be.”
A former teacher, KayCee home schools here two children, and that includes plenty of field trips around downtown Chicago.
“I started looking around and I’d been reading Elle’s blog online,” KayCee said. “I knew she liked a lot of things I like, so when she had good things to say about the Haul-a-Day, I knew I would like it, too.”
She did. In fact, her family now owns two Haul-a-Days.
“For me the most important thing is that I think it really makes us much closer as family,” KayCee said. “When we’re riding around we’re talking and looking at everything. There’s just so much more to it than I even imagined.”
Although it is summer vacation, it’s not too early to plan for the fall and the new school year.
Bike Friday’s production schedule for Haul-a-Days is quickly filling up, and if you would want to take delivery on a Haul-a-Day in September, you need to act now.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Elle and KayCee are bloggers who share a lot of information about family cycling and Haul-a-Days. You can read Elle’s blog “TinyHelmetsBigBikes” HERE and you can read Kaycee’s blog “ChicagoBikeMom” HERE.
