Normally our Saturday rides were 40-60 miles long with some sort of workout thrown in. Bang it out in three or four hours then get on with yardwork or groceries or whatever needed doing. In June, I bought a Soma Fogcutter for my wife. I had purchased a Fairdale Weekender for me earlier in the year and wanted one for her too. It wasn't available in her size so we went with the Fogcutter instead. The
idea of buying these bikes was to ride places we normally wouldn't on road bikes - bad roads, busy bike trails, and urban rides where there's a lot of stop-and-go. Plus, they have fenders so we could ride when it's wet and racks so we could carry stuff.
The day after I built her Fogcutter, we decided to do a 'shakedown' ride to break in the bikes, make sure they fit correctly and make sure they worked well. Instead of doing our normal Saturday road bike ride we decided to ride the adventure bikes into Indianapolis to find a coffee shop and have some lunch. That decision changed our Saturday rides for the rest of the year.
As we rode through Indianapolis, we found a lot of new places. Neighborhoods that have been fixed up, new coffee shops and new restaurants seemed like had popped up everywhere. We felt like we were in a different town many times. That first 'adventure' ride in downtown Indy was 40 miles and about 3 1/2 hours. One of the most surprising things was we couldn't wait to do it again. That first ride made me feel like there is so much in Indy that I don't know about. We were anxious to ride again.
The next weekend was July 4 weekend. We decided to get away from all the fireworks in the neighborhood and took the new adventure bikes to Xenia, OH to explore the trail spurs that leave from the center of town. Look for that in another post.
After that, our goal for Saturday rides became:
1. Leave the house no later than 10am.
2. Don't come home before 5pm.
3. Find somewhere new to eat lunch.
4. Don't plan the route.
We had the best rides we've had in many years. We couldn't wait for Saturday. We'd leave with only a vague idea of where we were riding. We just let instinct and curiosity lead the way. Some days we rode 45 miles, some days 65. Our average speed was around 12mph but we didn't care. My wife told me many times how much she loved these rides. Toward the end of the year, she told me this has been the best year of riding we've had in a long time. In total, we've ridden over 750 miles on the urban roads inside the city this year.
The weather has gotten cold and rainy now so we aren't able to get out on Saturdays the way we had been. Typical November in Indiana. We've talked about our rides quite a lot and look at the pictures from this last year often. We've decided to expand our horizons next year to do some of the same rides in other cities - Bloomington, Louisville, Cincinnati, and Chicago are on our list.
The day after I built her Fogcutter, we decided to do a 'shakedown' ride to break in the bikes, make sure they fit correctly and make sure they worked well. Instead of doing our normal Saturday road bike ride we decided to ride the adventure bikes into Indianapolis to find a coffee shop and have some lunch. That decision changed our Saturday rides for the rest of the year.As we rode through Indianapolis, we found a lot of new places. Neighborhoods that have been fixed up, new coffee shops and new restaurants seemed like had popped up everywhere. We felt like we were in a different town many times. That first 'adventure' ride in downtown Indy was 40 miles and about 3 1/2 hours. One of the most surprising things was we couldn't wait to do it again. That first ride made me feel like there is so much in Indy that I don't know about. We were anxious to ride again.
The next weekend was July 4 weekend. We decided to get away from all the fireworks in the neighborhood and took the new adventure bikes to Xenia, OH to explore the trail spurs that leave from the center of town. Look for that in another post.
After that, our goal for Saturday rides became:1. Leave the house no later than 10am.
2. Don't come home before 5pm.
3. Find somewhere new to eat lunch.
4. Don't plan the route.
We had the best rides we've had in many years. We couldn't wait for Saturday. We'd leave with only a vague idea of where we were riding. We just let instinct and curiosity lead the way. Some days we rode 45 miles, some days 65. Our average speed was around 12mph but we didn't care. My wife told me many times how much she loved these rides. Toward the end of the year, she told me this has been the best year of riding we've had in a long time. In total, we've ridden over 750 miles on the urban roads inside the city this year.
The weather has gotten cold and rainy now so we aren't able to get out on Saturdays the way we had been. Typical November in Indiana. We've talked about our rides quite a lot and look at the pictures from this last year often. We've decided to expand our horizons next year to do some of the same rides in other cities - Bloomington, Louisville, Cincinnati, and Chicago are on our list.
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