Moving Day--By Bike!!

Recently I noticed some amazing picture of a friend and fellow bicycle advocate Robb Davis, blogger at Traveling at the Speed of Bike and resident of the City of Davis,  showing him moving entirely by bike!  I am a bicycle activist but this move surprised me.

I spoke to Robb about his move and here is what he had to say:

Our family has not owned a car for nearly 8 years and we try to do all we can to lower our carbon footprint and moving by bike was merely a natural extension of that commitment.  In addition, various friends in the various biking communities here expressed and interest in participating in a "bike move" if anyone ever did one.

We were the first to really try it.  I asked people who helped us "why" and one person said that he thought a bike move might be kind of like a "gimmick" but once he had seen it he realized that it could be as efficient as a move with a U-Haul.  Everyone else answered the question by saying:  "Why not move by bike?"  We all really want to model how we can live differently:  rely less on petroleum, get exercise, be together in community and have fun doing even hard work.  The bike move gave us a chance to do all that.  If you could have seen the smiles on people's faces, the laughter, the story telling--the "being together", you would understand why we did it.  It was a great community event.

We moved an entire 3 bedroom house (no fridge but we did move a washing machine and could have moved a fridge had we needed to) in just over 4 hours.  So it was also very efficient.  We have moved over 20 times and this was the first time I can remember in which NOTHING broke!

The move was 2 miles--so not very far and it was flat.  We stuck to side streets for the most part but took a pretty direct route.  Interestingly, we avoided bike paths because they tend to be bumpy.

We have three bike groups here in Davis:  Davis Bicycles!, Davis Bike Collective and the Davis Bike Club.  All three were represented in the move.  We also had a few friends who are not part of any of these groups come along and help.

All manner of bikes were represented, but the more important thing was the variety of trailers and cargo bikes.  We had a Bakfiets cargo bike, a "Bikes at Work" cargo trailer, an Xtracycle; many Burleys and "blue tops" (I think that is what they are called--blue something); a Main Street Pedicab cargo bike, a BOB trailer and a number of homemade trailers too.  Peter Wagner of Whymcycles had a trike and trailer combo that was amazing.

Bike moves works best over relatively short distances of course.  I would say 5 miles or less would be good.  As with any move it is critical to box as many things as possible.  We also used plastic produce crates that I borrowed from a farmer with whom I work.  These are great because they are strong, stackable and you don't need to tape them up.  The key is to have a few "loose" things as possible.  This is the case for every move but encourages people because they can merely "grab and stack".  Also, you need to make a party of it.  Have food at both ends and bring some music (we failed to do the latter).  Also, have everything positioned in one or two rooms so people can grab quickly and have them stack everything in one place at destination.  Preparation is key.  Get the word out broadly and invite anyone who wants to come whether you know them or not.  Also, have a variety of bikes and trailers.

Wow!!  Congratulations Robb!  What a way to make a difference.  Thanks for your contribution!