where we're coming from

To start, as the description might lead you to believe, we're looking at buying a cargo bike. We moved back to the northwest/to Portland in 2007 after a number of years in a Alaska (most of which were spent in a Yupik village), and specifically selected a house with what realtors call amenities within walking distance. Currently we walk for groceries, movies, and the occasional dinner out. We're also close enough to walk to the Max (light rail) (or take one of the two buses that stop within a block of house if it's raining hard or we're feeling lazy) to get downtown or out to the wilds of Beaverton/Hillsboro/Gresham should the need or desire arise. We still own the faithful truck we put many many miles on camping during the summers between school years up north, and have also added a more city friendly SUV; as it is, the truck has been driven less than a thousand miles in the last year and a half, and the SUV sees only slightly more use.

Currently, the plan is to sell both of those vehicles and replace them with a cargo bike and something that gets better mileage but still has room for at least three people and three dogs when/if we ever have the time to go on some extended camping trips.

The idea is that the cargo bike will make it easier for one of us to do grocery runs (room for the kid and the food and theoretically easier than pushing a stroller and pulling a cart) and allow us to get a little farther/faster as a family than we can get walking. Hopefully, while this is going on, it will also help us to get back into a little bit better shape.

We'd seen "modern" cargo bikes in use in the Netherlands, and in other parts of Europe to a much lesser extent, in the summer of 2005 and were intrigued by the idea, but a cargo bike would have been impractical where we lived then (no roads, and one could easily walk all the way around the village in about ten minutes anyway). After getting settled in Portland, and especially after the birth of our son, I started doing some internet research, but most blogs and reviews were either from people living in flat places (often in Europe) or from people that I would describe as avid cyclists. So what we're wondering is, can a sort of typical American couple, though one with decided eco-leanings, really put a cargo bike to good use?

Though we own bikes and enjoy riding, we are not by any means avid cyclists or bike commuters; we own both an SUV and a full size pickup, but we walk to the grocery store and most other places within a couple miles and use public transportation often; we cook mostly from scratch, eat organic and local when we can, but still enjoy occasional fast food and out of season fruits. With work, school, and our new hobby of baby care, we've noticed a definite decline in our play-related exercise and physical energy, and a marked increase in our, uh, squishy-ness.