City Ride

This just in:

I can’t wait to get back in the woods.

During my recovery I’ve gone on only one legit road ride, and it wasn’t fun enough to repeat.  It wasn’t terrible, but that shit just isn’t for me.  To stay off that thing I keep trying to come up with other adventures around town that will at least make me think I’m not actually road riding.

Greenways aren’t really roads, right?

After work yesterday, Little Miss Sunshine met me for an urban ride.  We stuck to mostly greenways, with the occasional connecting road.  We have a pretty good greenway system here in Charlotte, so riding around here can actually be pretty fun.  On last night’s ride I found something I’ve never seen around here before.

It’s a bike work station, and apparently they have a few of these around town.  It’s pretty damn convenient if you happen to need repairs at the exact moment you find one. 

There are plenty of tools to use.

Got a flat?  They even have an air pump.

While you might think that this is what happens when our tax dollars are hard at work (which wouldn’t be a bad thing in this case), it’s not true.

Yup, our local Trips for Kids chapter hooked us up.

When we reached the end of the greenway, we decided to visit a local shop along our route.  We talked to The Gentle Ginger for a bit and we were on our way.  We had to ride on the road for a little bit, which wouldn’t have been bad if it wasn’t for this horrible sight:

I really dislike clowns.

Before too long, we were back on another greenway.

This one parallels the tracks for our local commuter train, and I managed to get a spy shot of the new trolleys that the city is so desperately trying to push on us.

We took that path back towards the city, stopping at a local watering hole for dinner and a few beers (sorry, no photos of beer for once.)  After a good meal and some fine hoppy beverages, we made our way back to where we started. 

At least we had a great view of the city on the way back.

That ride was actually really fun.  Although I won’t keep this as my main source of riding, I can see doing it every once in a while just to keep things fun. 

I really, really gotta get back on the trail though.  I need dirt, but this stupid shoulder isn’t cooperating.

Tune in tomorrow for my “announcement.”