Last October, I had a bike accident involving a cracked fork and a nasty fall. After determining that fixing my beloved orange bike would be more of a project "for later" than a short-term solution, I found myself a lovely gray Schwinn. I bought this bike from a co-op called Free Ride that fixes and sells bikes (or lets you buy cheap and fix yourself), so it needed just a little straightening and adjusting before I could ride it. On my first ride, beginning of December, to a destination mere minutes away, I was hit by a car that pulled out of a driveway (slowly, thankfully) and right into me! "Didn't you see me?" he said. I wasn't yet too comfortable on that bike to begin with, so between the shaken-up feelings and the impending cold, I was out of commission for biking all winter.
This spring, I finally mustered the motivation to re-straighten the bent rims as best I could and get on the road! Now that I'm driving to work every day, I've noticed a shift in my thinking (one I'm not fond of) that makes biking seem like much more of a hassle than it is. Thankfully, it hasn't taken too many rides to give me back my confidence and remind me how much I love the feeling of being on a bike! The handful of rides I've done so far this year is a far cry from what I was doing in the fall (I rode at least 1.5 miles 26 out of 30 days in September), but being able to get around by bike is probably one of my favorite parts of summer in Pittsburgh.
Free Ride also has a program where you can volunteer time in the shop and use those hours to earn a bike or maintenance classes for free. I've been meaning to participate ever since I moved here 21 months ago, and I finally volunteered for the first time and went to my first bike maintenance class (on derailleurs) earlier this month. One of my goals for this year was to do their whole series of six classes, so I'm pleased to have started!
Another exciting biking-related thing was going on an underwear bike ride! Hundreds of people did a 10-mile ride up and down hills, over bridges, past houses and restaurants, and even through one of Pittsburgh's many tunnels wearing nothing but underwear! This happens monthly during the summers here, but this was the largest one yet and my first. Beautiful night for it, and what fun!
This spring, I finally mustered the motivation to re-straighten the bent rims as best I could and get on the road! Now that I'm driving to work every day, I've noticed a shift in my thinking (one I'm not fond of) that makes biking seem like much more of a hassle than it is. Thankfully, it hasn't taken too many rides to give me back my confidence and remind me how much I love the feeling of being on a bike! The handful of rides I've done so far this year is a far cry from what I was doing in the fall (I rode at least 1.5 miles 26 out of 30 days in September), but being able to get around by bike is probably one of my favorite parts of summer in Pittsburgh.
Free Ride also has a program where you can volunteer time in the shop and use those hours to earn a bike or maintenance classes for free. I've been meaning to participate ever since I moved here 21 months ago, and I finally volunteered for the first time and went to my first bike maintenance class (on derailleurs) earlier this month. One of my goals for this year was to do their whole series of six classes, so I'm pleased to have started!
Another exciting biking-related thing was going on an underwear bike ride! Hundreds of people did a 10-mile ride up and down hills, over bridges, past houses and restaurants, and even through one of Pittsburgh's many tunnels wearing nothing but underwear! This happens monthly during the summers here, but this was the largest one yet and my first. Beautiful night for it, and what fun!