I had an opportunity to acquire a canoe from my parents. All I had to do was pick it up. Everyone else owns a boat in Minnesota, right? Why shouldn’t I?

A friend insisted that if I have (1) an opportunity to purchase a quality canoe for a song, and have (2) easy access to water, that I must seize the opportunity. She also suggested that since this is Minnesota, I should give it the “when in Rome” treatment and portage it via bicycle. And the trailer she recommended is the Wike brand, “woody wagon” bike canoe trailer. Not sure why it’s called “woody,” it’s made of aluminum (like my canoe), not wood.

For anyone interested in canoeing and/or bicycling, here’s what I’ve learned…

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The June 5th ride was postponed due to impending weather. It never really manifested itself as bad as it looked on radar, but the ride had already been postponed.

We’ve rescheduled the ride to a new date!

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While July is a great month for long bike rides in Minnesota, I find myself dedicated to much more “couch time” than usual. My July obsession: Le Tour, the Tour de France, the big old race around France (or whatever you’d like to call it). While I consider myself the very opposite of the lycra clad, weight obsessed (both in body and machine), Skittle-colored hard-core roadie – I find the tour fascinating. The team dynamic, the strategies, and the torturous rides, climbs and descents. And then there’s the gloomy overshadow of drug use, hushed amongst the announcers, hoping they won’t alienate their audience. Drama, speed, egos, color. So how do follow it?

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Remember how I said I wouldn’t buy a Chariot bike trailer because they were too expensive? I take it back. Well, sort of. My friend who owns one recently got his 2nd child riding solo so I took the opportunity to purchase his in excellent used condition at half the cost.

My friend is right, Chariots are finely built. Even though Chariot was recently purchased by Thule, I believe they are still made in Canada. This probably contributes to both the high cost and quality of construction. If you have some extra disposable income, I highly recommend buying one. If you don’t, find one second hand, you won’t be disappointed.

Affixing the Chariot to my wife’s bike with quick-release skewer on the back wheel was easy. Adding it to my single speed was going to take some research.

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When I began to ride bicycles again as an adult, I invited my friend John W. Robot (a.k.a. JohnBot) out to ride. In the summer, I’d ride to “College For The Easily Amused” – the Twin Cities (Spin Cities) local yo-yo club that we are both part of. Yes, we’re nerds.

John said he didn’t have a bike, but another one of our yo-yoing compatriots led on that he does in fact have a bike that he bought in Japan. My curiosity was peaked, so I kept pressing John about it. He said it isn’t very useful because it’s a folding bike, and it’s very small. My crazy modder/engineer mind now demanded to see the bike because I knew we could turn it from a novelty into (slightly more) useful transportation.  This bike has some neat quirks including a drum-brake that everyone I’ve spoken to claim will last the lifetime of the bicycle (or rider).  It also has the front and back brake levers reversed from what I expect… a trait that John insists keeping because it’s part of the bike’s character.

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