Dreams of Spring and Summer

I used to ride my bike everywhere, and I mean everywhere. I wasn't one of those fair weathered cyclists, I would bike all the time, mainly because at that time I didn't have a car or work full time at a job that I commuted to. I am embarrassed to say that now, I never ride my bike, and I mean never. However, I plan to change all of that this spring/summer (whenever that happens). Recently, I have been lamenting over not riding my bike. I miss feeling the warm summer breeze as I pedal, I miss riding along with my sweetie to dinner, or a party, or wherever we were going. Needless to say I miss everything about riding my bike. I work five days a week at a job 25 miles away so much of my time is spent commuting by car, but when I get home and on my days off, I still drive. Like the addition of this blog, there are going to be some changes this year in my life, and riding my bike is one of them. I may not want to ride my bike in the winter, but dammit I'm going to start this spring!



This could be me. Photo courtesy of Yuli.bow, Flickr.

 Last night I was talking to my sweetie about putting randonneur bars on my bike and he had been thinking the same thing. I currently have an 80's steel Fuji commuter with drop bars, but I want the upright feel of randonneurs. If you don't know what randonneur bars are it's okay (I didn't till about a few years ago), they curve around kind of like cruiser bars so you can sit upright and not hunched over.



Photo courtesy of The Epicurean Cyclist

Will is a competitive road cyclist so he is thrilled that I want to get back into riding my bike. He is in the middle of his race season and bikes far more than I ever want to, but he thrives on the competition and the healthy lifestyle it promotes. He competes throughout Oregon and Washington and has races nearly every week! Here's a pic of him last year racing in the Twilight Crit in downtown Portland, he won a gift certificate to my favorite restaurant in Portland!

Will taking it to Crush Town. (sorry, not sure who took this, courtesy of Will's Facebook)

The new bars are a little improvement we'll make for now, but one day I have dreams of having one of the Pluto Dutch bikes from Republic. Here's a pic of one I love:


Photo courtesy of Republic

Do you ride your bike or wish you did? Are you fair weathered or any old damn time? I'm curious to see if any one is in the same boat with me.

xoxo,
Kate