This weekend I set out to see whether it would be safe to mount an infant seat in a Burley and pull it behind a bicycle. Initially, I was going to take the seat down and then mount the base in the bottom of the trailer.

First I got the trailer that was graciously given to me by a good friend of mine on the ski patrol with me. I found that removing the seat back was quite easy – unhook the crossbar and remove two little sheet metal screws, and slide the seat back from the cross bar. Replace the crossbar and voila! Tons of room!

At this point, Lindsey and I decided to take a bike ride, to spy on a couple houses that were for sale in the same price range that ours is on the market for. You know, we have to know our competition. Plus, we are keeping our new stroller, infant seat at her parents house until we move into the new house. So I hooked up the burley to my xtracycle, put some air in Lindsey’s cruiser tires and we were off.

As we rolled along, I was quite impressed with how the rig reacted even though it was quite long. There are a couple sidewalks that we have to get onto to cross a set of train tracks, which also required a 90 degree turn, and the whole thing stayed on the sidewalk. Pulling it wasn’t a problem behind an xtracycle, which was awesome. As we were riding along, people were asking us where the kids were, and I was having fun letting people know that this was just a trial run.

Then, it happened. Lindsey said the words that would shut the entire program down in a heartbeat. That is way too bouncy to put an infant seat in. While we didn’t have any weight in the trailer, I knew that she was probably right and I was visibly disappointed. Lindsey thought I was mad at her, but really I just loved the idea of being able to pull a baby in a child seat. Of course I have my baby’s best interest and safety in mind, so I would never think of putting my child in any danger. But I was really hoping to be able to ride with him to the grocery store on the bike path by our house. Oh well, good things come to those who wait.

I’m still going to move forward with the video test using a doll as the baby, but I’m sure that the video will confirm that it’s a pretty bumpy ride for a baby in a Burley. That changes this blog a tiny bit too, but will focus on being very car-lite with a family, until next spring when we can pull the Burley with a toddler! A minor setback, but it’s really not even a setback, we just have to walk with the baby for a while. We can still put him in the burley and walk to stores on the paths.

All in all it was a great pre-spring day, and one ride past the awesome park that we’re going to be living a few hundred feet from, and I’m still as excited as ever to become a Dad. There were hundreds of people enjoying the first nice weekend at the Kid’s Coulee playground, can’t wait for that to be us!