Full Ride

30 Days of Biking 2018 Mileage Total: 137.3

For the most part, things did indeed get back to normal today on day 9 of 30 Days of Biking, to the tune of more than 30 miles and hundreds (thousands?) of pounds of laundry. The strange thing about Mondays (at least for me) is that it's the only day where I start out with a mostly empty trike:

Save for one or two clients that have recurring daily appointments, I don't have much in the way of actual deliveries on Mondays. Most of my appointments are pick ups. Today, I had a few of the larger than expected variety, resulting in two overflowing trips back to the laundromat:

Don't let the stack job fool you. Both of those bins weigh far less than all of the soiled janitorial supplies I had picked up earlier in the morning, which didn't even come close to filling the carrying capacity from a volume standpoint. The weight from one bin of dirty floor mops may have exceeded both of those combined (I'm not really sure, but that's how it seemed anyway). I was especially glad to have this kind of workload today because it was absolutely freezing when I left the house, and even the mid-day sun was only a modest improvement. There's no better way to get the blood moving than by moving copious amounts of laundry.

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I finished the day by meeting with some students from the University of the Arts who are working on cargo tricycle designs for one of their classes. We've been collaborating for about a month or so, and today was one of the final meetings to see the progress they've made before final presentations at the end of the month:

I was pretty floored to see this mock-up (or sketch model) they came up with by piecing together a bunch of found materials. It's still a work in progress, but it's a great start, and impressive considering they knew nothing about this sort of design about a month ago:

This was developed out of hundreds of ideas and sketches, not to mention countless hours of research (and some of my photos from the Wash Cycle Instagram account):

We discussed what works and what doesn't with the initial design and they're going to get back to work. We're scheduled to convene again next week to fine tune as they get ready for their final presentation. Side note: I plan to write up a whole account of this experience on the Wash Cycle blog after its completion, so don't think I'm intentionally brushing this off in such short order. Who knows? I may even pitch the design to my boss if it's solid.

3 weeks left in 30 DoB and I'm just getting warmed up. I'll have a long day on the bike tomorrow, so here's hoping that the weather cooperates. Don't you dare mention that 4-letter "S" word...

#30daysofbiking