I Bike Douglas
Posted on May 23, 2010 by Ching under Date Ideas, Things to Do, Wishlist.
Brian and I almost didn’t make the I Bike Douglas event today. As we were about to leave, we realized that my bike’s back tire was out. Brian suggested that we stop by Bicycle Exchange on the way. They have a location on Central, right by the Canal Route exit.
We had to wait a while for the tire to be fixed, but it wasn’t too long. While we were waiting, Brian checked out some bikes. I think he wants a new one. After talking about it, though, I think he will be fine with a new bicycle seat and handle bar.
I love that Brian is just as logical and pragmatic as I am. Replacing the handle bar and seat should be pretty easy. Besides that, it’s way cheaper than having to buy a new bike altogether. Although, he did find this one bike that he liked. I just have to keep him from buying it. =P
Since we had to make a pit stop at Bicycle Exchange, we were too late for the 2:30 pm bike tour. The lady at the WDDC office was nice enough to tell us where there were going though, so we could try to catch up. The group was easy enough to find. You don’t often see a large pack of bicyclists riding around downtown. We caught up with them at Century II.
Here’s our tour guide being interviewed by a local news station.
This is me with my 15+ year old bike. It’s the same one I’ve had since high school. I should probably buy a new bike, but I’m too cheap. Besides, my bike still rides fine (except for the seat, which is a bit uncomfortable), and it doesn’t look run down because I hardly ever rode it. I think this is the first time that Brian and I have gone biking in over five years.
The second bike tour at 4:00 pm took us through some interesting alleys. The theme of the bike tour was photography, so we had ample opportunity to take photos at each stop. (I didn’t bring a real camera. I just used my phone instead.)
Thanks to Chad Molen for taking this photo of me taking a photo of the fire escape.
Here’s the fire escape photo I took. This is my favorite out of several tries.
Since this is the first mention of Chad Molen in the blog, here’s a proper introduction. Chad Molen is Brian’s coworker and friend at Viega. I think he used to be over customer service. I’m not sure what his current position/job is, though. The only thing I know is that he seems to be into a lot of the same things Brian and I are into.
One of the perks of participating in these sorts of events (for me) is meeting new people. Here’s a photo of Brian chatting it up with one of our fellow bikers.
I really enjoyed the bike tours. I would be too afraid to ride around downtown otherwise. You’re talking about someone who is afraid to cross the street walking, let alone doing it while on a bike. There were a couple of times when we were riding on street with the other vehicles that I was afraid I’d get run over. There was comfort in riding in a pack, though. Brian pointed out, they’d have to run everyone else over as well. That’s highly unlikely.
I’d like to get into biking more so that I can be more comfortable and unafraid. But then, I’ll probably need a new bike. My old bike is good for occasional biking. If we go bike riding a couple of times a week then I’ll want an Electra Townie bike so that I can ride upright, rather than bent over like on my bike. It’s a lot easier to enjoy the scenery when you’re riding upright. Actually, it would be cool to have two bikes: one for cardio and one for leisure/sight-seeing. Maybe after we get a house and have ample garage space and I have extra money (that last one is the biggie; I’m just way too frugal to buy a bike when I have a perfectly good one that I can ride around in; I might do it if I had some extra cash, though) I can get me my dream bike.
For now, a new bike seat should suffice. My butt really hurts from all the riding around we did yesterday — one of the downsides of not riding regularly. I’ve been told that the more you bike, the more your butt gets used to it.
What about you guys? Do you enjoy riding bicycles? Where do you go biking? Let’s get together and go biking sometime!
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