Oooooh, @poorpossum, what a great idea! Tagging for #SolarPunkSunday!

@knizer

#MOFGA #CommonGroundCountryFair #BikeToot #WarOnCars

@ascentale @geonz @bikenite

Q4: I've got a series of personal and "professional" goals that are rather entwined that I am hoping to make good progress on in the next year.

The cargo bike build I've been talking about for the past forever is likely to get wrapped up before the halfway point of January. I'll be building the whole thing in my bedroom, so it represents a significant amount of tooling up in addition to the components themselves (and this particular bike is itself a tool!), and I'm hoping to springboard off of that into working on stuff for friends, family, and hopefully time bank and skill share stuff.

Then I'll be using the cargo bike to start carting materials for my nascent woodworking/tinkering/home improvement task list that has started growing.

I also have two big events I'm hoping to plan rides to, starting with the Philly Bike Expo in March and the MOFGA Common Ground Country Fair in September. I've never been very good about taking and planning time away for myself, whether for rest or adventure, so this is kind of a big deal for me, and I hope I don't drop the ball on either of them!

#BikeNite #PhillyBikeExpo #CommonGroundCountryFair

Also, for #Boston peeps ( @knizer if you know anyone or would be interested in helping me plan and network for this!): A coworker and a member or two of my co-op are beginning to plan for a car-free* group ride up to MOFGA's 2026 Common Ground Country Fair. This trip is very much on my mind as I build out my cargo bike so I can run mechanical and cargo support for issues as they arise on the road.

There's two ways of pulling this off, as far as I can see, and that is taking the Amtrak as far as we can, and biking the remaining 60-80 miles over the next 2-3 days (I want to take our time so folks who've never ridden long distance or multi-day before can come along and not feel intimidated) or the more adventurous "Let's bike the whole damn way." If there's a lot of interest, the Amtrak option will likely not be viable for that many bikes.

I need to spend the next several months ideally onboarding folks who are interested, getting a contact with the Fair to talk about co-ordinating with folks riding up who want to volunteer, and possibly time to host a talk at the bike-valet about urban logistics cycling, and maybe a panel where rural and urban cyclists can compare notes and learn from each other. I'm also looking for contacts and potential hosts along the route to the Fair. It would be amazing if every stop wasn't just some hip-camp crash spot for the night, but folks along the way, farmers, homesteaders, or otherwise, who want to support kind of a "field trip" vibe of introducing folks to their farm/sustainability initiatives and re-igniting some hospitality culture (or discovering some that already exists). I'm not looking for a free ride for a bunch of city folks, just... the opportunity for some conversation and a window into each other's lives. Hell, if someone was so inclined to look for a work exchange, that could be great as well.

I imagine a lot of potential for a well-planned itinerary, a good destination for every day with plenty of down-time to socialize, cook, and learn, and then getting to arrive at the Fair prepped to see it with the experience of a return to a more human pace of travel feel... important.

*Car-Free footnote: I have a friend or two who is interested in going to the fair and talked about possibly driving along whatever travel route the bikers go on, as they like camping, and would be happy to run support for us in the event a rider has a problem we need a vehicle for. I'm very open to more such folks who want to work with us in this way as well.

#MOFGA #CommonGroundCountryFair #BikeToot #WarOnCars