Day 22: Another rest day and an explanation of how we carry it all

We had another rest day today, Brittany has had a bad cough and could use the rest, and another family in our party wasn’t feeling too hot either. We asked a few of the kids what they wanted to do, and it was an easy decision to stay here another day.

We did a run to the grocery store, then hung out, adjusted bikes, and swam all day.

Here’s an overview of how we carry all our gear. It’s 10:40 at night, so I don’t have too much time to add a lot of detail, this is a post I will add to later on, possibly after the trip.

Two of the kids ride in this Weehoo. The child in front of can help pedal. Some kids are better at actually pedaling than others.

We like the Weehoo because it lets the kids be more free, less contained than in a trailer, also more streamlined. The downside is it’s a bit more wobbly than a trailer, and if you tip over or crash the kids are more exposed. That fact alone makes the Weehoo better for shorter distances. Touring all day can make you tired and more likely to crash or tip over.

Brittany pulls our two-year-old in a chariot cougar 2 (unlike in the picture above, every once and a while she’ll get a ride in the Weehoo.). We also carry food in a back pocket of the chariot, though we try not to weigh it down too much as it can get very wobbly as weight is added. Too much weight in the Chariot isn’t a great thing, especially because it has suspension. It wobbles a bit when going downhill at high speeds. We actually tied tubes around the suspension bar in order to decrease any potential wobbling from the suspension.

Both Brittany and I carry saddlebags on our front, and rear racks. You’ll see that we also have our sleeping bags, or sleeping pads attached on top of the front rack. We use the Thule freeload racks, and like them a lot. You need to make sure they are very tight so they don’t slip overtime, especially once they get wet and are soaked for days on end. They tighten with a nylon strap, and are very sturdy. We also have handlebar bags, mine is a Jandd, and Brittany’s is a mountainSmith that she custom made by buying a handlebar bracket made by a German company and attaching it to a Mountainsmith camera bag.

One problem with the Weehoo is when the kids fall asleep, their heads tend to hang out the sides of the trailer. Brittany bought little headbands online to help fix that problem, it’s a decent solution.

Hazel joined me on my grocery shopping run this morning, we use the trailer to haul our groceries. It also converts to a stroller, which is convenient when we tour little towns, or need to carry the kids or gear off the bike.

This gives good overview of my rig.

This is Brittany’s ride.

Hazel kindly letting use her space to bring some groceries back.

Ada taking her turn on a bike. There are 4 kids, 2 six year olds and 2 8 year olds that are sharing 3 bikes. Which means that most the time a 6 year old is riding in the 1st position in my Weehoo.