The Davis Enterprise: May 15, 2009 Davis Bicycles! column #17 Title: An intro to shopping by bike Author: Anthony Palmere photo caption: Anthony Palmere’s bike is equipped with baskets in the back for toting shopping bags home. Palmere suggests starting by pedaling to the Davis Farmers’ Market or Davis Food Co-op to pick up a few items.

Some people live too far from where they work to ride a bike for commuting, but everyone in Davis is within bicycling distance of a store. So why not consider riding your bike for shopping?

Of course, bicycling to do a week’s worth of grocery shopping may not be the best way to ease into the concept, but every household makes shopping trips that could easily be done on a bicycle. Once you have some practice, most anything you can carry to your car can also be transported with your bike.

There are several advantages to shopping by bicycle. You can get some exercise on the ride and usually park close to the store. Bicycling tends to encourage you to shop in a more “European style” — buying smaller quantities every few days. While that may sound a bit inefficient, it also has some advantages.

You can buy fresh foods knowing you will be eating them soon. You also can get to several different stores during each week and take advantage of different items being on sale. Finally, if you shop by bike, you find yourself doing all your shopping locally.

Shopping for small amounts requires no special equipment for your bike. You can simply bring a backpack or a canvas bag to sling over your shoulder or your handlebars (and if you forget to bring your bag, a plastic or paper bag with handles also works).

Once you are ready to buy a few more items, you can consider a basket for your bike, which increases your carrying capacity. The front baskets that are given away at “shop by bike” events (such as the one this past Saturday at the Farmers’ Market) are easy to put on your bike and also can be used as a shopping basket in the store.

I find that putting a lot of weight in a front basket makes me feel like the bike is off balance, so I prefer a back rack with folding baskets on the side, along with a bungee cord. The folding baskets are perfectly sized for a very full shopping bag or even two gallons of milk. Having the weight in the back is not really noticeable unless you have to go up a big hill (not too much of a problem here in Davis).

Eventually, if you want to carry large items or even a full week’s worth of groceries, you can move up to bigger accessories such as a trailer or oversized racks. With a trailer, I have carried home things like 40-pound bags of water softener salt and Christmas trees. So, it really is possible to buy almost anything by bike.

If you want to try it, the Farmers’ Market is a great place to start. It is so pleasant to ride right into Central Park, close to all the activity, without having to worry about finding a place to park your car. The fresh foods of the market are ideal for transporting by bike.

Of the traditional grocery stores in Davis, the best bicycle access is at the Davis Food Co-op and the Nugget Market in East Davis. Both have covered parking and easy-to-use bike racks. At the next level are the Safeway in South Davis, SaveMart in West Davis and the Nugget in South Davis. Those stores’ bicycle facilities have drawbacks related to the location and style of racks, but all are usable.

Everyone seems to agree that the worst place to shop by bike is the Safeway at The Marketplace, where the racks are very poorly located and extremely difficult to use (and parking a trailer there is hopeless). This is particularly unfortunate because, with no grocery store available west of Highway 113, Safeway is the closest grocery store for a large part of our population.

Of course, if more people shop by bike, the stores will want to provide better facilities for bikes. So, let’s get out there and use our bikes for something practical!

— After studying and working in transportation in Boston, Chicago and New York, Anthony finally made it to the alternative transportation mecca of Davis in 1993. He and his family have been pedaling around town ever since. When not behind the handlebars, Anthony is assistant general manager at Unitrans.