thoughts on racks and 'extreme utility cycling'

I have been swamped with school and single parenting and all that life stuff, and have not had as much time to bike or blog as I would like. Wanted to thank Darren and others who have sent emails or comments, there is a lovely cycling community out there in cyber space.

It has been pointed out to me that getting panniers mounted over my front wheel will make the steering and over-all handling of my bike -um- interesting, perhaps challenging. Having ridden a 50 year old beach cruiser outfitted with a mamother messanger-style basket. I have no doubt that this is true --and I am greatful for the folks who meantioned this, had I never had the experience with the cruiser I would be in for a rude awakening indeed!

But if I have learned nothing else over the past year or so, I have learned this: life aint perfect, and rarely goes as we would want it to. If I could ride a slightly larger bike (leg extentions, perhaps?) I might be able to shoe-horn a rear rack into place under the arm of the Adem's Trail-A-Bike that the boy and I so dealy covet, but so far we have not found one that fits and still alows the Trail-A-Bike to function properly.

It is probably worth meantioning here that, for about three times what I spent on the Trail-A-Bike, I could have gotten a similar item from Burly that has a built in rear rack for panniers. Having never used that item I cant speak to whether it is as wounderful as my Adam's, which I highly recomend, storage issues notwithstanding.

So thanks to everyone for your thoughtful insight, and if anyone has recomendations for a rear rack that coordinates with a Trail-A-Bike, lemme know :)
Relatedly, I just _had_ to share this link to photos of "extreme utility cycling" by the most excelent photographer Shawna S