How We Come & Go

Reesa and I love to ride bikes and are no fair weather riders. In the recent months, our bikes have received significant upgrades, particularly mine.

For Christmas, I gave Reesa a bike basket. As you can see it's not one of those cutesy baskets you put on the handlebars. This is a heavy duty, multipurpose basket. It was designed to be removable, which most bike baskets are not. There are two hooks that are used to connect to the back rack (also a recent acquisition) which allow for easy on, easy off. This gives the biker the opportunity to use the basket in between riding for carrying groceries, sporting gear or more especially for Reesa, textbooks.

Here is the basket attached to the rack. It has a neat bottle design in the webbing. Form and Function.

You can see the back rack better in this shot as well as the fenders that were recently purchased and attached to Reesa's bike. These are a necessity for winter conditions. Unless you want a nice, dirty racing stripe on your back, fenders are a must.

Reesa got me this book for Christmas. It has everything you want to know about bikes. It's not necessarily a book on the mechanics of a bike, rather it explains the historical and cultural context of bicycles: the good, the bad, the cool and what people THINK is cool but really isn't. It's pretty comical.

A few months ago I had the unfortunate mishap of being hit by a car while riding my bike (for the second time in six months actually). This time however, more damage was done than just some easily healable bumps and bruises. The impact of the car bent my right seat stay (it's the skinny diagonal bar at the back of the bike). Similar to a car, if the frame is bent, it's totaled. The folks that hit me paid me for the bike, but took it as collateral of sorts. It was a bit sad to see it go. Well, on to bike #4.

After lots of searching and a lot of hard work (I mean a lot of hard work [thanks Dad]), PRESTO, I have another bike. Isn't she a beaut? I put the wheels and bike seat from my old bike on this one (I still had my old old wheels, found another seat and slapped those on the bike before I gave it away).

I too put some fenders on my bike. I have definitely needed them recently as I bike to and from work. They also help to make my bike look so much more dignified and classy.

Photographic evidence to prove that we bike NO MATTER WHAT:

Here is a shot of Reesa all bundled up in my clothes (PJ bottoms, sweatshirt, coat, socks, mittens and her own cute flats). She looked pretty silly, but sure was warm. We spend most of our time at my house which unfortunately means Reesa needs to travel home in the cold. I try to help out.

This was one of those times I needed the fenders. Reesa and I were just getting to my place at the same time after work and school.