Hello, this is Eri; my birthday was on November 1st. For years, I’ve held "birthday rides" where I’d plan a trip to go eat something delicious, but I had to skip this tradition for a few years due to the impact of COVID.
Well, since I’m restarting it after a long break, the theme for this year was decided as: "Manage everything by bike! A BBQ Ride." The reason is that I was completely blown away by the shockwaves of CMWC (Cycle Messenger World Championships) held in Yokohama in September. Yes, especially by how cool cargo bikes are.
I want to try hauling things with a cargo bike too!
Having been completely inspired by the girls blasting through the CMWC on cargo bikes, I decided I wanted to use one for this year's birthday ride. It’s so cool. I thought, "I want to try that, too."
So, the destination for this year’s birthday ride was decided as Shonai Ryokuchi Park, a leisurely one-hour ride from Circles. Since it was my first long outing on a cargo bike, I knew not to push it! Shonai Ryokuchi Park is a public park that feels relaxed despite being close to the city, featuring various accessible activities like a free BBQ area, a skate park, and walking paths.
These are the two cargo bikes I used for this birthday ride.
DOBBAT’S Cargo Bike
This bike, normally used by PINE FIELDS MARKET for deliveries and going to flower markets, was built by DOBBAT’S—the brand of Aichi’s pride and joy, builder Mr. Saijo. Dobbat’s is one of the most historic and widely supported handmade workshops in Aichi Prefecture, to the point where Shin Hattori of Shin Fabrication, who currently handles the production of the SimWorks DOPPO series, also trained at Mr. Saijo’s workshop.
AHEARNE Cargo Bike
AHEARNE is a handmade frame manufacturer based in Portland, USA. While Ahearne is known for the beauty of its Randonneur-style bikes and rack craftsmanship, they actually make a convenient cargo bike called the Cycle Truck.
While it has about half the capacity of the Dobbat’s, it’s a very useful bike with excellent handling and tight turning. A Costco insulated bag fit perfectly in the front basket (WALD Giant Delivery Basket)! Using frozen ingredients as ice packs, the cooling effect lasted for about three hours.
Having a super chill half-day where these two bikes were enough to fill the stomachs of about 10 people—that’s a seriously happy birthday. The ride feel is different from the bikes I’m used to, which was a bit confusing at first, but once you get the hang of it, there’s no problem at all! Even women can ride them without difficulty, and while you can’t go very fast, I think that makes them safer.
What kind of bikes did everyone bring?
Baskets and frame bags are so convenient for outdoor activities where you tend to end up with a lot of stuff. Even if it wasn't a cargo bike, everyone participated in their own style, bringing along plenty of good food and things to share!
I was also so happy that BLUE LUG’s Takuma-kun and Kaisei-kun, who happened to be riding from Tokyo to Nagoya at that time, joined us!
Moving on from that, the fact that I was able to plan and prepare something I still wanted to do at this age (go for a BBQ using only bicycles) and have friends gather for it made for such a modest and lively birthday. I have a feeling this will be a good year.
I’m thinking I’d love to ride with more girls, so I’ll try planning another one!