4onaQuarter

Saturday was a beautiful day.   We woke up to exceptionally pretty weather, excited to take our weekly ride to the local farmers market.  We enjoyed the perfect cup of java from the French Press and I was particularly stoked to see that the site had received a write-up from Emma over at Spanish Moss Vintage.  We met Emma awhile back after she spotted our bikes at the park and came to investigate.  Turns out that Emma started the Downtown Orlando Bike Club, is anti-ninja riding, and is active in the arts community; I was really excited to sit down and write about how, once again, biking had opened up our world and led us to some phenomenally cool people.

We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day to ride.  It was about 11 AM on a Saturday and we were cruising the back roads enjoying some John Lennon on the new bike speaker while reflecting, as we often do, on how much we love our life.  That’s when it happened. (more…)

I’m procrastinating.  Avoiding is probably more accurate, actually.  Putting things off isn’t exactly new for me; in fact, it’s kind of a hobby of mine.  This is different and it’s time to come clean.  I’m scared.  There, I said it.  (more…)

I struggle a lot with the term “cyclist.”  It feels dishonest to use it when referring to myself, but lord knows “biker” is all wrong, too.  Although I’ve dedicated myself to riding my bike, I don’t feel like I am really a part of the bike community.  This isn’t some sort of high school drama feeling–it’s more that I feel too new to identify myself that way.  Like most people, I rode my bike as a kid.  My memories generally involve being towed on wire baskets, falling off said baskets, and being deathly afraid of storm drains.  My bike got stolen in eighth grade and I honestly don’t think I got back on a bike at all until after the birth of my second daughter, when I began training for my first triathlon.  I had a craptastic big box store bike that I’d been moving around with me since college, but had yet to ride.  I ventured out on the trail and found something I hadn’t experienced in years–quiet.  I wasn’t fast, but I found that I could ride for hours.  As someone that had never been particularly athletic, I was proud of my ability and set out to push harder.  I bought a road bike and spent most of my training time on two wheels.  Pretty soon my husband was joining me for rides, which led to him commuting by bike to work, which led to the first grocery shop by bike, and ultimately here. (more…)