It has been quite a long time since I felt like a little child opening a birthday or December present. This last Monday I had that very experience when my Urban Arrow Bakfiets arrived home. I was expecting it to be here until Tuesday, so it was a big surprise to see it there in the patio when arriving home for lunch.
After seen the Urban Arrow in the patio I started unpacking it, as quickly and careful as I could.
Finally I could get on the Urban Arrow as a proud owner hehehe
And then my beautiful wife got a try... Fiu, fiu,... the Urban Arrow looks better with her
And then, after adjusting the saddle height, I was ready for my very first ride. My youngest was very upset because his daddy was not taking him on the first ride, and even after mommy explained him that I needed to learn how to ride the bike before taking him with me, he kept crying.
The ride was extraordinarily good! I was expecting it to take me quite a bit to get used to ride the Urban Arrow, the truth is that it took me about 37 seconds to feel as natural as with any other bike.
I was afraid of the turns but even the couple of u-turns I did were perfectly OK, you just have to remember that the bakfiets needs a bigger radius to turn.
After a couple of rides alone, I was prepared to cycle with precious cargo, my little one was more than ready to have a trip, we got ready faster than expected as this time he didn't oppose to sitting still, as it usually happened with the child seat
The ride with my kid in the box was perfect, I hardly noticed any difference, the cushioned seat surely is more comfy than the child seat, and now he could see more than just his daddy's back. He was really exited and laughing, people stared at us and said "he is really enjoying it!", and I responded "I know!" meaning "Me tooooo!"
A little bit of rain was the perfect excuse to try the rain cover. Iker started to cry as we approached home, but I explained to him it was just to put something for the rain and then he was calmer.
It was relatively easy to fit the rain tent the first time. The visibility for the pedalist is not compromised at all, and I guess my VIP passenger had a good view as well.
Then it was time to pick up Iñaki at school. Mommy was there with Iker, who had fallen asleep on the child seat. I was worried about him wobbling inside the box, but it turned out to be in a very stable position. As soon as Iñaki saw the Urban Arrow he screamed "Wow, is that our new bicycle?, it's so cool!" With my two kids ready to go, we set home, all our backpacks fitted perfectly in the box, and there was still space for two or three shopping bags.
The trip was as normal as it could be, I hesitated a couple of times, not because of the Urban Arrow, but because I was a little bit dubious about how to ride it, how to rejoin the road after the cycle lane unfortunately ended, if motor-drivers would see the box and not pass too close to us, etc. Besides, I was a little bit nervous because every one was staring at us, so I didn't want to make something really embarrassing and dangerous like falling, jumping, crashing, or flying. Everything went OK, and 15 minutes later we were home, my two treasures where totally dry, and if not warm at least not cold.
I truly think the Urban Arrow, and any other bakfiets or tricycle, is an excellent choice to transport children and stuff. This first week has been gorgeous and I hope it keeps that way. I'll post more about the Urban Arrow and our experience later. For the time being, lets keep cycling!
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