Tags
In the spirit of the Summer Olympics, I did something I haven’t done in a while (aside from standing up and brushing the Doritos dust off my shirt – I do love me some Olympics) – I bought a bike.
(Cue the Queen music.)
The last bike I owned, I was living in Toronto and needed one for commuting purposes. It was a 1970s Raleigh beater that had seen better days. But by God, I loved that bike. It weighed approximately 400 lbs. and could take a car door off if someone opened one in my path. In fact, on my second to last day in TO, I did get hit by a car (the driver ran a stop sign, while on the phone…nice, eh?) My body scratched the hood as I landed on it, but my bike didn’t have so much as a nick. I named my bike Ethel. When I moved back to Boston, it broke my heart to sell it, but I knew I had no room to keep it. So, I kept the picture I used in the Craigslist ad.
You don’t ride Ethel. Ethel rides you
I mourned for Ethel. I missed having a bike. A. and I would rent bikes every so often and ride the Minuteman trail from Cambridge to Lexington and back, but the bike wasn’t mine.
When A. and I bought our house, we swore we would buy bicycles. And this weekend, I found one, a pretty hybrid bike that has fancy shimano shocks and brakes and weighs about 30 lbs. So, I can lift it with one arm and not huff and puff. It isn’t Ethel, but it’s still mine. With that in mind, A. and are looking forward to exploring the local bike paths. Boston has made some great strides in making the city more bike-friendly (I commuted by bike in Toronto, and while I was working in Leiden, Holland, yet biking in Boston still scares the crap out of me.) Right now, I will most likely be sticking to the well worn Minuteman path but have been compiling some ideas for future rides. For those of you who might be new to the bike scene in Boston, here are some links I have found helpful:
- http://massbike.org/resourcesnew/pathstrails/
- http://www.boston.com/travel/explorene/specials/outdoors/galleries/biking_local/
- http://www.cityofboston.gov/bikes/
- http://trailmap.mapc.org/
And if I see you driving your car while talking on a cell phone, I will be exercising my God-given right of flipping you off – I tend to carry a a grudge about being hit.
We’ll be at Broadway Bicycle School this weekend if anyone wants to join us. They’re doing free bike-maintenance classes all day to celebrate their 40th anniversary! http://broadwaybicycleschool.com/news/broadway-is-turning-40-party-with-us-august-4th/
And when I was speeding out of control yesterday one of our neighborhood’s big hills, I kept thinking of that Mr. Wizard episode where he showed how a radar gun works by making a girl bike a hill over and over and over. I wish that clip had been part of the amazing “Mr. Wizard’s a Dick” video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkJEt1UsUcs
Insane coincidence; I just bought a bike yesterday. Have you tried Google Maps’ bike directions? They do a great job getting you a good bike route–avoiding huge roads, including bike trails, etc. I have to say, though, if I lived on your hill, I would probably have gone with a pony.