9.01.2012

The BEST Bike Rack for Our Family? Our Prius!


Who knew our Prius would be so multi-functional. And, frankly, so roomy!

Yes, There are 4 Bikes Inside our Prius!
We finally, FINALLY have the whole family riding independently on bikes. But with that comes the head scratching conundrum – how the Hedge do we get all these bikes into, onto, on-top-of, or strapped to our family big-car so we can take said bikes and head out for an adventure that starts deep in the Headlands rather than just out our front door?

The quick and easy answer on a Sunday morn when the bike shops, REIs and those bike-ish type places are closed: Our Prius.

Flatten down the back seats and VOILA! …. we have a roomy, back space that fits two adult bikes and two kid sized bikes without a single tire taken off! Who knew???

Now, we know this isn’t the long term answer, but it works in a pinch – and off we went on our biking road trip – my husband driving The Beast with the kids and me driving the Bike Rack…. Zooooom!

Driving down the highway in my bike rack, I feel secure, confident in our bike carrying system. No flying parts, no fear of tires bouncing off in various directions. Unlike when I was a kid, and my Dad’s, ahem, rickety, duct and electrical taped, Macgyver-ed version of a bike rack that was somehow attached to the rear of our light-blue Volkswagen Rabbit .

I still have the post-traumatic reaction of looking back from the back seat of the Rabbit and seeing one of our 10-speeds – it was the gold one – from Dad’s pieced together rack go flying off of the car and bouncing along Route 89, the biggest freeway near our home in Burlington, Vermont.

The horror… The swerving!

I also recall from my mountain-mama 20s when I lived in ski towns and played in Nature 24/7, my boyfriend had a bike rack that was ON TOP of his pick-up truck. So we would hoist our bikes from the ground up onto the ROOF of his pick-up. Sound easy? Try it now that we’re all 40 years old and counting and our creaky backs and discs are screaming at us on a more consistent basis. Not…gonna….happen.

Tho…I know, I know.  We will soon be going down the Thule or Yakima or whatnot “real” bike rack road. But until then, for the next little bit, our zippy little, under-rated, $40-a-tank-filling Prius is a bike storage wonder and a (secure!) non-PST inducing bike rack dynamo.

Namaste & Three Cheers! -a

1 comment:

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