Utilitaire 12, Week Two Roundup

That was a chilly weekend! Wouldn’t want the Utilitaire 12 to be too easy. Good to have a little winter weather (at least for the D.C. area) to spice it up.

Two updates to the rules. They are listed below and I also added them to the Utilitaire Q&A.

• Attending church may count under the “Community Meeting” category.
• For the utilitaires that occur in the dark, both parts of the ride do not have to take place in the dark. For example, you could utilitaire to work after sunrise (requiring no lights), but ride home in the dark (requiring lights). This may still count toward the two utilitaires that must be completed in the dark using lights.

And now for a smattering of the various utilitaire outings that have taken place over the course of the last week.  Interestingly, many people who set out on utilitaires have ended up making multiple stops. It’s cool to see where people end up going during the course of a utilitaire.

• I’ve been quite impressed with Oregon randonneuse Lynne F’s approach to utilitaires. She doesn’t tend to leave the bike locked up outside. Instead, the bike goes where she goes. As you can see in the photo above, she even got it into the grocery store aisle.
• JDAntos took a break from rocking the Capital Bikeshare data to go for a work utilitaire. He chose a day where he worked from a more remote location than his usual commute, and ended up with a solid 15-mile ride. Later, he went for a haircut. People need haircuts more than I thought!
• BicycleBug, who has been writing several interesting posts about building up a Bridgestone for use as a touring bike, utilitaired with his wife to the grocery store. Actually, they rode to two grocery stores, and it was his wife’s first time riding in the city. Well done!
• Tweep Katy C. of Canada completed her first utilitaire by riding to work.
• shebicycles, who has been feeling a little bit under the weather, still ventured out to the library and to Target (“any store that is not a grocery store”). Feel better soon!
• An Old Guy on Two Wheels, who is an avid advocate for cycling and helps out at the local bike collective in Austin, Texas, attended a community meeting of the Yellow Bike Collective… in the dark.
• Oregon cyclist @TangoBiker has been out coffeeneuring and utilitairing. This week, he went on one utilitaire to two grocery stores.
• Tweep Jesse of @RebalancedLife utilitaired to his job.
• Berlin by Bike who is, I believe, the most remote participant in our challenge, set off for the bike shop this week. Read about that trip here.
• Porta-John did some “grocery gettin,” in the dark, with a Cateye.
• @SognRider is documenting his utilitaires through short writeups and photos on his Utilitaire flickr set. Some excellent pics and observations there. So far, this one is my favorite.
• @dailyrandonneur substituted a haircut for a trip to the dentist. Good idea, especially since he has no hair on his head.
• Rootchopper went from the triumph of last week’s Utilitaire Gone Wild to this week’s setback of a Utilitaire Gone to Hell. Rootchopper, I know you can do it!

Who else was out on a utilitaire? Let me know in the comments and, if you blogged about it, include a link. Thanks, and welcome to week three of the Utilitaire 12 challenge!