Cyclists' Special

Bike Date

A couple posts ago, you were introduced to Mrs. Doohickie and her new bike. She's been a willing riding partner and watches the weather, especially on the weekends, to see if we can go for a ride.

Monday I took the afternoon off from work. We originally planned to ride the Trinity Trail from downtown Fort Worth north to the Stockyards for lunch, but after consulting with the weather we changed out minds and rode south from downtown, through Trinity Park, to Panera Bread on University Drive. We changed plans to put the wind at our backs for the ride back to the car. Here is the route we rode:

Second Annual Fall Finale Country Path Ramble

I rode with Chris of Pondero blog, and a few other friends, some old, some new, on the stone roads between Sanger and Rosston, Texas. This started last year as a get-together of local bicycle bloggers, with only about a half dozen riders. I actually didn't make it since we had to attend a wedding.

Look out! Here she comes!

I am pleased to introduce the newest cyclist in the house: Mrs. Doohickie! She was skeptical of getting back on a bike after a fall when she was a kid, but finally decided to try it again.

Give a little to get a little

After an exchange with a guy on BikeForums we realized that I had a 1987 Schwinn Prelude with a 23" frame that was just a bit too small for me and he had a 1983 Raleigh Super Course with a 25" frame that was too big for him. He lives in the DFW area so we arranged a meeting to swap bikes, and did exactly that yesterday morning.

Here is what I gave up:



Here is what I got:

City Pig BBQ

So I finally got around to trying a place I've passed probably a hundred times: City Pig BBQ at 2001 8th Ave. at Arlington in Fort Worth. They have all the normal Texas barbecue favorites, brisket and the like, but at a place named City Pig, you gotta go with some kind of pork.

Magnolia Motor Lounge

This post was brought to you by Car Free Fridays Fort Worth.

I took a little ride on my off day. I stopped by the City Cyclist where they are busy as always. They got a nice letter from someone they recently sold an ICE recumbent bike to. Debbie said hearing from the customers makes it worthwhile. After chatting with the crowd there, I rode up the McCart corridor toward the southside. I wandered a block or two off my normal route and found some interesting neighborhoods. The most unusual thing I saw, a block east of McCart (this is the middle of the city, folks) was this little guy.



OMG, it's a teeny little horsey!

Fort Worth Critical Mass

So I took part in my first Critical Mass ride on Friday. I wasn't sure if I would; there was a pretty good chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon. But there's a facebook page promoting Car Free Fridays in Fort Worth, so I decided to ride the bike to work and see how things worked out.

Rather than riding my boring commuter hybrid, I decided to ride my 1973 Schwinn Varsity. It made the trip just fine, but it's a slow bike; it took me about 20 minutes longer than usual to ride to work. On the other hand, I didn't feel as tired as I usually do when I get into the office. I was still worried about the weather... what do old sailors say? "Red sky at morning, sailor take warning." Was this too much red?