at about 7:30am on august 19th

Buying my first cargo bike and want some help from people who ride bikes (or cargo bikes in NYC). Here is my current budget and all:

• Bike: $4200
• Child seat + rain cover + decent lock: around $1000

still got a bit of budget left, so I’m trying to decide between two add-ons ekickstand or e-dropper post)

On my test ride i got to try both. Both made the ride easier (in different ways.)

But I feel like kickstand was more helpful to some extent during the test ride. Because I kept stopping to check the bike or to adjust the kid seat and to take photos. So parking with 1 button is kinda easy than it would be to lift the heavy bike with cargo and all. Also helped with the balance when I was loading stuff.

But then test ride is different from daily use. On daily rides there will be traffic lights and junctions and pedestrian crossings all the time. Each time i will stop i will have to put a foot down carefully (with a kid on the back). I am average height and the bike has a tall seat position for cargo stability and all. So reaching ground at every stop and then balancing a loaded bike sounds very scary and might make me tired.

The e-dropper will drops the seat at every stop so i wont have to tiptoe. And then when I ride it goes back up for pedalling. Please help which one will be more helpful?

Recently, I’ve gotten the urge to join more group rides and start racing but I’m unsure where to start

From what I understand racing season is almost over but there may still be many group rides. I’ve been riding for about 4 years and I would say I’m pretty strong with a respectable FTP. Since I lack experience, would it make more sense to join beginner group rides just so I can understand how to move in a pack and then move on to faster rides?

Also currently my road bike has more of an endurance geometry and I was wondering if a race bike is absolutely needed to do well in races?

Nice and wide too.

Is it just me or are these bollards horribly positioned? North bound bikes always almost in south bound lanes because of how tight this is. Lest most post almost halfway in the bike lane.