Just when the soggy Vancouver weather had got me to thinking that Christmas and bicycles cannot possibly be connected, I learned from the Vancouver Sun that there is a small company in Portland, Oregon that delivers Christmas trees by bike! Max Kirchoff calls himself Yule Dispatcher, and runs Trees by Bike. Max started his company after receiving a lot of honks of encouragement while endeavouring to bring a Christmas tree for himself home by bike. That time he did it with a backpack, but for his commercial venture, Max uses trailers and eight cyclists.
Trees by Bike donates 10% of its profits to charity, and has grown by more than 400% this year (that’s statistics-talk for: the first year he sold 40, this year he’s selling 200). And they ain’t cheap, ranging from $32.20 to $50. Customers are prepared to pay a premium for convenience and a clean conscience, it seems. And they are so happy to get their trees delivered by cyclists that they tip generously, and often invite the cyclists in for cookies and hot chocolate.
Good for them. I’d do the same if someone offered that kind of service here.
And talking of Christmas and Bicycles, in London there is a Christmas Tree that is made out of bicycles (taking recycling to new heights)!
This sculpture stands in Bermondsey Square in London, and is made out of 35 wheels. It was designed by Sarah Wigglesworth Architects, and uses wheels from the British charity Re-Cycle (which restores old bikes to ship them to Africa).
Here in Vancouver, Alex P won this Christmassy t-shirt from the City of Vancouver for his photo of snowy bike commuting in Vancouver:
Does anyone know of any other interesting connections between bicycles and Christmas?
I was listening to a radio interview a few days ago from Waterloo and a motorist brought out the excuse handbook, and I believe it was excuse #45,904 that stated “How are we to bring Christmas trees home if we ride bikes?”.
Other then the thousands who do it quite easily in Europe, I’m happy to see someone, somewhere in north america doing it.
Good grief – as if a task you need to do once a year is what you base your everyday transportation needs on…. If that was the prevailing attitude then everyone would be driving moving vans.
I was running errands the other day and was buying a bag full of groceries in Safeway. The guy behind me at the checkout stand looked at me in my helmet and bright yellow cycling jacket and said “you ride a bike to buy groceries?”.
Now the truth is that I don’t, at least not normally – I usually walk to the grocery store with one of those foldable shopping carts. But I smiled and told him that he’d be surprised what you can carry on a bike. We had a little conversation that ended with him saying he should really use his bike more.
Now that’s what I’m talkin ’bout!
You’d be surprised at what exactly is in the arsenal of excuses for many people.
Keep in mind the most popular is the “Canada has only two good months at best to ride a bike in”.
The other popular “I need a car so I can bring a refrigerator or stove home”….One of course would have to wonder how often are you upgrading your fridge or stove?
Likewise, how are you going to bring those things home if you have a Civic, smart car or any other vehicle that is small?
I believe most stores offer free shipping over a certain amount spent.
It’s amazing how many people with just ONE child buy minivans with 7 seats, because now they are a family and need a “family car.” Their rationale is that they may, at some point, need to transport hockey equipment or friends of the child, or camping gear … so for a couple of events that MAY happen in the distant future, they buy a car that is 3x bigger than what they really need (and of course, the possibility of NOT having a car is not even contemplated). Very odd. At one point I had kids aged 2 and 5 and no car. We got around on transit fine. But I have to admit that what did make me buy a small car was the fact that public transit in BC is SO expensive for a family, that it feels cheaper to run a small car (at least you don’t have to shell out up to 20 bucks every time you go to a movie). This coming holiday season I plan to go on outings with a friend and our (combined) 3 kids. We could transit, or we could use my friend’s car. Doing the math yesterday, we figured out that on transit we would be paying over $30 for the day – cheaper to take the car AND pay for parking! I really agree with Vision Vancouver’s notion of attracting other means of transit into Vancouver – but to really make this happen, transit has to be cheap or free. The money ultimately saved on road infrastructure (due to less cars) would ultimately pay for it.
Uh oh, so it turns out that the same people behind the war on the car (i.e. cyclists) are also responsible for the war on xmas!
I’ll add that excuse to my list, Ryan – hilarious! Do you remember a while ago people used to joke about the shortest books in the world? How about “Valid excuses not to ride bikes”?
I have a Bike Vancouver shirt of Santa Claus delivering presents on a bike in the snow that I won from the City of Vancouver in a biking in the snow photo contest a few weeks ago:
http://twitpic.com/3hicpk
Terrific! Is there anywhere we can go to see the photo that won you the prize?
I put a copy on my Twitpic. It’s actually not that good a photo but oh well, lol! :
http://twitpic.com/3a2b23
Also I sent this one (no facebook account required to view):
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1086786&l=c9409ac407&id=515652380
Very impressed. the one time I rode in snow, it was an accident. I see you have a Devinci – so do I – the gears stopped working when the snow started (they kept slipping) – but the tires held the road really well (I have Armadillo puncture resistant). I could not get off the bike and walk, because my bike shoes slipped on the snow, but I could bike (slowly due to gears slipping).
I have some kind of fancy kevlar-belt tire too… haven’t had a single puncture since getting it 2 years ago
I have not yet ventured out in the snow on my Devinci. My Bontrager 700x28c tires have no discernible tread whatsoever, so I’d have to resort to something like this if I wanted to bike in the snow. I think it would require removal of the fenders first, though.
Wow, that’s dedication. I slipped on some black ice last year and I can still feel it a bit where my left shoulder hit the ground – so I’ve become a lot more cautious about cycling in freezing weather. A word to the wise – keep your hands OFF the front brake in icy conditions!
I really like the “aftermath” shot of the bike, too!
Alex, If y0u don’t mind, I’d like to put that pic in this post?
Cool yeah for sure!
Did I hear you ask for a connection between bicycles and Christmas? Check this out: http://www.odditycentral.com/pics/tree-cycle-the-recycled-christmas-tree-of-the-rocks.html – a Christmas tree made out of bicycles!
Happy new year, AJC. I just stumbled across your blog and like what I see.
🙂
Max
Hey, cool Christmas tree Max! Happy new year to you too!