Fruita Fat Tire Festival

Sometimes, even though you've lived in an area for a while, there
are things you've never done, even though they are right near your
home.  One of those things is the Fruita Fat Tire Festival.  Fruita
is one of the largest meccas of mountain biking in the nation, if
not the world.  I used to mountain bike quite a bit in the Chicago
area and would like to start again, so it was quite interesting to
check out the booths of the different manufacturers.  We visited
during the middle of the day, so there weren't many riders about,
but it was fun to stroll the festival grounds regardless.  We also
took time to visit the new Chow Down Pet Supplies on Aspen Street
as well as Turn The Page used book store.  It was a beautiful day
to be out.

Back On The Bike

A long time ago and in a galaxy far far away, I used to scare the
crap out of my parents by going on long long bike rides. I was
single and living in the western Chicago burbs and I would go
out for hours on end on trails, off-road and through forest
preserves riding my bike. This was pre-cell phone days and
because my mother is a natural worrier (a trait I have inherited),
she would worry about me going on these rides, getting hit on
the head, lying in a ditch somewhere or even worse...Waking
Up Dead! Many years have now gone by. I've gotten out of
the habit of riding my bike and unfortunately my waistline
probably reveals this! I've missed riding my bike, so I decided
to start riding again. I just got back from getting my bike back
from The Board and Buckle Ski and Cyclery where we got tune-ups
on both of our bikes, so we can ride them for the rest of the
summer. I thought that the mechanic at the shop was almost
in tears as Lynn's bike went out the door. It turns out it's
practically an antique and because it's in such good shape,
he loved working on it. Not bad for a $40 bike we bought on
Craigslist. When we got home, I took mine for a spin of only
a mile or so, but it was great. Felt like old times. But now
I'll let someone know if I'm going to be gone for hours on end
and not in a ditch somewhere!

Lynn's New Bike

As part of our plan to be more fit this summer, we want to get
out and ride our bikes more often. Unfortunately, we sold Lynn's
bike a few years ago. To remedy this, we went shopping on
Craigslist. For those who don't know what Craigslist is, it's a
website that specializes in selling things and every major metro
area in the country has it's own listings. Kind of like classified
advertising, without the newspaper. We found a nice looking
Schwinn for her with a reasonable price and it was less than a
mile away! I could have walked there and rode it home! It's
going to need a tune-up, but my bike will too, so we'll take them
in and get them lubed up, brakes checked, etc. Then we'll be ready
to do some serious riding!