A full load, complete with shopping, weighs 40st. And sporty Emily has been biking Nathan, 11, Mary, nine, Lucy, seven, five-year-old Ben, Olivia, four and Maya, two, around so much she has lost two st.
Emily’s special bike is modelled on a Dutch “cargo bike” where extra wheels and buckets are added to transport loads.
A cart at the front can carry four kids, while a child seat holds a fifth and a child’s bike attached at the back is for the eldest.
Dutch cargo bikes typically cost around £1,500. But Emily, from Portland, Oregon, said: “It’s funny how many people ask me how much it costs, if someone’s driving around with a $4,000 car, no one asks, ’Oh, how much does that cost?’
“Really, it’s such a bargain in the long run. It’s amazing.”
Emily chose her bike instead of buying an SUV.
She said: “I started looking at my life; I was living in a giant house and had a nine-person car. I remember thinking, there’s no reason I can’t walk or bike around town.”
She added: “I was already the town freak, I’d had three home-births and now this. “People thought I’d had a driving under the influence conviction or something.
“They asked, ‘Is that a boat on wheels?’ Are you going to carry your kids in that?
“I was really depressed before, but I was so happy after I got the bike. I just loved it.
“At first, it killed me. I thought I couldn’t ride it. It was seriously exhausting. But I just kept biking I got used to it and I’m one with the bike now.
“I haven’t driven once in Portland, not having a car has pushed us to do a lot more than I would ever do if I had a vehicle sitting there in the driveway, especially when it’s pouring down rain and everyone’s angry.
“My kids have forgotten what it’s like to even be in a car.”
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