Bicycle (Mis)Adventures

Recently biking has been lots of fun. I've found some people who like biking and going on rides is loads of fun now. Especially when funny things happen. We started doing Wednesday night bike rides, at 9 after my 3 hour class gets over. The first one last week was really fun, rather uneventful. We saw Minnehaha falls and went all around Lake Calhoun and uptown.

This past Wednesday we decided to go to St. Paul. Andy took Kim and I to a waterfall, I forgot was it was called. Anyway, it was really cool because it was dark and it had rained all day, so it was also really muddy. We stood at the top of the waterfall and heard it going down. Then we wandered to a place overlooked the Mississippi and was really muddy. The mud was like clay! It was amazing. Then we biked down Summit Ave, and around the Governor's Mansion Andy got a flat. Andy has this huge bag that he brings with him on rides in case anything bad happens. Except for when flats happen. He was unprepared. So we called Clare to rescue us and take us back home.

Though, the most exciting party of that ride was my first crash! Well, my first crash in a long time. Anyway, it was thrilling because I flew off my bike, but didn't get hurt. Andy apparently has this habit of turning in front of people, and he turned in front of me to go onto a path. I also, didn't see him slowing down, so I was still going at a good rate. So I hit his back tire and somehow came off my bike. Thankfully, I hit the ground running. Crouch running, from what Andy says. I remember not wanting to fall and hurt myself, because I was going pretty fast, so I just kept going with my momentum until I slowed down. It was really exciting.

Yesterday was my first Critical Mass. It's where a bunch of bicyclists get together to raise awareness about cycling as a viable means of getting around. And other such stuff. The website is good. I biked downtown for the first time and that was really fun, I know more about how to get around now. I'm excited about that. Anyway, we started at Loring park, there was a group of about maybe 40ish people there all with bikes. When someone says go, we all start biking around the city. Lets just say, motorists aren't happy, and it's really funny for me. Apparently in the summer there are lots more people. It was also raining yesterday, which could be why there weren't so many people.

My friend Jon hooked up a can holder to his bike and was able to have a drink while on the road. That was entertaining. It was also entertaining when an unmarked white van sounded its siren and flashed its lights, for no apparent reason. Andy guessed it was a Department of Homeland Security vehicle. They didn't do anything. After awhile my back tire got a bit flat, so Andy pumped it back up again. Then Andy, Jon, and I had to find the group again. We did, just in time to go under the Washington Avenue Bridge, and that was really cool because it was echo-y. Jon's favorite part about Critical Mass is driving down Hennepin in Uptown. Though, no one else in Critical Mass wanted to go there. So we three braved it alone, until Jon's back tire came loose. This time Andy had no wrench to fix it. So for the second bike ride in a row, Clare had to pick us up again.

I'm looking forward to biking more often and being more comfortable getting myself around downtown. I like having people to bike with who really like biking. So life is good at the moment.