Another Bike Date

It's been a while since I posted about a bike date. Time for another one. The winds were favorable this time, so we decided to head north to the Stockyards to put the wind at our backs on the way home. We planned to park downtown at Taylor Street, but the parking there is now metered and limited to 2 hours during the day. So Mrs. Doohickie suggested going just north of downtown to LaGrave Field (the minor league baseball venue). The trail runs just behind there, so we figured it would be a good (free) place to park.

Bike Date Dec 30 2011Share your bike routes @ Bikely.com

We had to lift our bikes over a fence, and then we were on the Trinity Trail.





Time for a water break.



The trail actually goes under Exchange Street in the Stockyards.





A couple blocks off the trail is Los Vaqueros. I wrote a review of dinner here. Let's just say we enjoyed it very much.



From there we did a little shopping in the Stockyards.





Hey dude- real men self-propel!





We found a hitching post for our mounts.



Actually, Mrs. Doohickie did the shopping while I waited at the bar at Mavericks. It's a brilliant concept, actually- a touristy western store where you can have a beer at the bar.





Our shopping done, we headed back toward the trail. We stopped to take a few pictures by the old Swift Co. stairway on 23rd Street. The stairway leads to the old meatpacking area. The Stockyards processed millions of head of livestock in the early 20th century. The Stockyards today is an Old West tourist area, but some of the old processing buildings still stand. They will soon be cleared for future development just east of the tourist area. This stairway leads to that older, abandoned area.







Finally, time to head back on the trail.



Shortly after hitting the trail, we passed a couple of guys riding older bicycles. Or rather, they were looking at one of their bicycles. They had just started to ride from a parking lot. I stopped and asked whether they needed help and they said yes. After a quick look, I saw his chain had slipped off the smallest cog in the back and was jammed in between the cog and the frame. A closer look revealed his cable housing was messed up. So I unstuck the chain and took a screwdriver and turned the limit screw far enough to put the chain on one of the middle gears. I told them it would be easy for a bike shop to do a full repair. They were grateful and rode off.

The Fort Worth skyline is visible on the right...



Time to load the bikes back onto the car and go home.