Bike to Work Day

I love Bike to Work Day in Austin! I had fun last year and planned this year to be even better! Kendra and Linda were going to ride with me and we planned to stop at The Peddler, Thunderbird Coffee on Manor, Freewheeling, Mellow Johnnies, and City Hall. I even took an hour of vacation time so I'd have more time to hang out and have fun.

We left my house a little after 6:30 and got to The Peddler before 7, they hadn't even finished getting the food ready yet, but it was worth the wait! The Austin Culinary Academy made eggs, bacon, and potatoes all very yummy!Guys from the Culinary Academy serving up breakfast

Kendra, Linda and I at The Peddler
We hung out, ate and drank coffee, then decided it was time for the next stop. Walked over to my bike and saw that my front tire was flat- crap! My tires are really tough to get off and on, so I knew this would take awhile.
Working hard to get my tire off the rim- I'm not even smiling!! The guys from The Peddler were super nice and offered to change it for me at least twice. I found a piece of glass in the tire from our Thursday hill repeats, there was a ton of glass on the road out there. I knew if we rushed we could still make all the stops, but I wanted a leisurely Bike to Work Day especially after hill repeats the night before and the Tour de Cure on Saturday and Sunday. So I decided to skip Mellow Johnnies and City Hall and let Kendra and Linda do those on their own.

On to Thunderbird Coffee, crossing I35 was actually pretty easy, they have a nice bike lane on Dean Keaton/Manor that I hadn't ridden before.
Linda, Kendra and I at Thunderbird

More coffee and breakfast tacos here, we hung out awhile and then went on to Freewheeling.
Linda, me, and Kendra at Freewheeling

More coffee-yeah it was almost like the Tour de Bean, I had almost 3 cups of coffee and was wired by the time I got to work! and more breakfast tacos. We talked with the owner of Freewheeling, he's a pretty cool guy. Then the KXAN news van pulled up. The reporter was looking for someone to interview and Kendra said "you should interview her (pointing to me) she rides to work a lot" So he came over and interviewed us.




Here's the segment that was on the news that day.

After the interview it was getting close to 9 so I headed back to campus and work while Kendra and Linda went to Mellow Johnnies.

Another very fun Bike to Work Day even with a flat tire!

commuter bike

I meant to do a blog about my commuter bike in January when I started riding it to work but I just never got around to it. Wednesday on my way home, a guy rode up beside me and complimented my bike, but then he rode with me and asked all kinds of questions about it and told me he wanted to build up a really similar bike for his girlfriend, so I told him I'd finally do this blog this weekend so he could show her pictures. I also hit over 1500 miles of commuting on my bike this week, so that's 2 good reasons to finally do this blog.
When we got the bike, it looked like this. It's a Raleigh steel framed mixte made in Japan. We replaced pretty much everything and now I have a great commuter bike.
I have Sram front and rear drum brakes built into the wheels, so even in the rain I have great braking power. I never thought I would ride in the rain, but I have quite a few times this year and most of the time it's actually fun.
The rims are from Velocity and made to look like teakwood, Nic built the wheels for me. I get a lot of compliments on the teakwood rims, no one can tell that they aren't actual wood.
The saddle and the handgrips are from Brooks. I also have a good light setup since I ride to work at 5 am to swim sometimes. My front light is a really bright Light & Motion Stella 200, I love it, it's small but it lights up the road really well on the highest power. I can lower the power to save the batteries for riding at dusk or on better lit streets. I just use bright red blinkies on the back, but they work really well too.
My ride to work is 6.5 miles each way, the ride to work is mostly downhill with a few uphills, but the ride home is mostly uphill. This bike is really heavy (51 pounds!) for riding uphill, but I like all the components so it's worth it.
The Sram S7 internally geared hub is cool because I can shift while stopped and I don't really have to worry about dropping the chain. Because of the hills on my ride to work I need gears, and it's fairly common to have to stop on a hill. The only drawback is this hub is heavy and it's a lot of what makes this bike weigh 51 pounds.
This bike is for commuting to and from work so I have to be able to carry stuff and these Transit Metro panniers have been perfect for me. Some days I have them jam packed full of stuff for work plus lunch plus swimming stuff for before work and running shoes for a lunchtime run.

After 1500 miles of commuting so far this year, I feel like this bike is really reliable and comfortable and I still really enjoy riding it. When I take a couple days off from riding I always miss it.

Bike to Work Day

I was excited about Bike to Work day in Austin since I have never lived anywhere where biking to work is celebrated before. I ride my bike to work most of the time and I really enjoy it. For Bike to work day, there were about 10 or 15 breakfast stops around town and 4 of them were pretty much on my way to work. I got up a little earlier than usual so I would have time to hang out at each stop. First stop was the Peddler bike shop, I was excited about this one because I ride by the Peddler everyday and I had never stopped in before. The Texas Culinary Academy made ham and cheese breakfast pastries and homemade croissants and fruit- yum! I talked with a few people there, one girl who decided to use Bike to work day to start riding to work, and a guy who does almost my opposite commute, he lives off 51st and works near 183. A few people were admiring my bike and asked about the Brooks saddle and hand grips. One of the Austin Culinary Academy chefs told me it was a really sweet bike.
Stop 2 was the Orange Bike Project stop at Speedway and 21st. They had breakfast tacos and fruit. At this stop a couple of guys really liked the drum brakes and internally geared hub on my bike. Next stop was the parking kiosk at 24th and Whitis. All the parking attendants were giving out apples and granola bars for Bike to work breakfasts. I also signed up to win something at that stop, I’m not sure what, but maybe I’ll win and find out.
The last stop for me was Freewheeling Bicycles, I was excited about this one because I heard they were going to have Cuatros breakfast tacos, I love their regular tacos so I assumed their breakfast tacos would be yummy too. I was not disappointed. I told the people from Cuatros that they had the best breakfast tacos at Bike to work day. They asked if I had been to all the stops, unfortunately I hadn’t because I had to go to work (maybe next year). I saw my neighbor, Jim at Freewheeling too and chatted with him. The guys at Freewheeling mostly liked the teakwood rims on my bike and the fact that it’s an old steel frame. I talked with the owner of Freewheeling for a few minutes too, he seemed really happy with the turnout for Bike to work day. We decided that no one should have to work on Bike to work day so we could stop at all the stops, but then we decided that might defeat the purpose. So instead we decided Bike to work day should stay the same and there should also be National Bike Day, where no one has to work and everyone just rides their bikes around all day.