Cycle Saturdays at the Golden Apple

We just celebrated 10 years in our current location. Not by coincidence, it is also 10 years since I gave up driving and switched to bike-riding for all my transportation (with help from the BART train). I'm a convert, and I have the zealotry of converts of all stripes; I can't believe I was ever addicted to driving, and I can't believe that others don't stop driving as soon as possible!
I'm aware that non-stop preaching is tedious, so I mostly keep my bike life-style to myself, or I try to, but it just pops out because, well, don't get me started...
I do believe that once people try getting around by bike, they will find they like it. I also believe that as more people try it, every day bike riding will gain momentum, and the streets will get friendlier for everyone. I have been quietly slipping bike things into the Golden Apple - Balance Bikes, books about bikes, and anything more we can do to encourage kids to start down the alternative transportation path.
This summer, we're adding Cycle Saturdays. Ride your bike to the Golden Apple and do your shopping and we'll take 10% off your total. It's a fun way to get around, and if you have a good basket, you can load up on toys and save! This little step isn't going to turn Pleasanton into Copenhagen, but every evangelist knows conversion starts with small steps!
So pedal in soon!

Skuut Balance Bikes - a good toy!

We sell lots of toys, but there are a few that I think make a real difference. Science kits, puppets, a first cookbook, there are lines you can draw back through your life to these toys and say "that's where it started". I think our balance bikes are truly a starting point for a lot of kids. These toys give a first taste of freedom. Skuut is the name of one of the two balance bikes we offer, the other is from Prince Lionheart. Both of them allow kids a chance to practice bike skills without pedals. It's a way to bypass training wheels and just go! I think there are more than a few kids that, in twenty or thirty years, will look back over a life of adventure and say "It started with that wooden bike I got!"

Dancing in the Streets!

Tomorrow I will be volunteering for Sunday Streets in the Mission District of San Francisco. Sunday Streets is a tiny step in a world wide effort to reclaim a bit of the public common from the automobile, except only a little bit, and only for a few hours. The city of San Francisco will close a several block area to auto traffic, which will give families, older people, pedestrians, cyclists and everyone else a chance to enjoy the neighborhood without fear of getting clobbered by a car. One activity I have noticed during this year's Sunday Streets is lots of kids learning to ride, or practicing their skills. In a city of steep hills and few empty lots, this is a great time and place to learn. I love to see all the kids on Balance Bikes like the Skuut and Prince Lionheart Balance Bike racing around with confidence (and totally out of control). I hope the plan is to plant the seed in people's minds that streets are public space, and cars, for all their wonderful benefits, take away from that space. With the nice weather it will be a very fun day.