An ATXBS ride report, and the virtures of a tall bike

I typically don't do "ride reports" on this site, unless it's a group ride and in that case it's usually a rather hazy recollection of absurdity and mischief. Today's store is a little different, as for about 90% of the ride it was just me. The journey started up around Rundberg and Metric area, after helping my friend fix his computer. He'd broken the passenger seat in his truck so it would not lean back at all, and was screwing with my back beyond belief so for the fourth leg of our trip (my place to his) I just threw my tall bike in the bed of the truck. I bailed from his place with the intention of filling my stomach with tasty food, but wanderlust struck so I kept venturing into the neighborhoods east of Metric and found a shitton of AWESOME looking BMX spots. I must remember that for the future.

After riding a around for a bit my stomach reminded me of my mission. My first stop was made near my house at a little Vietnamese restaurant called Cafe Bella, where they just so happen to have the best Bahn Mi in the city. A gourmet sandwich and a spring roll later I was on my way again, this time to cruise down Anderson and up to the new almost-finished neighborhood library, then over to Shoal Creek to enjoy the lovely 24/7 parking in the bike lanes (motherfuckers!). Part-way down I bumped into Jeff, who of course was riding one of his immaculately appointed hand-made road/touring bikes. I swear Jeff, if any of your bikes ever go missing, please don't look in my garage. I hung with him and chatted until we split ways around 38th. I hate missing the light on my tall bike.

My next destination was Spider House though I took a rather rambling way to get there, bombing down Medical and then weaving through the neighborhoods to come out on Guadalupe just north of 29th. As I was pulling into the parking lot I passed Jeff once again, though he looked like he was on his way somewhere north. Wacky. Spider House provided just the shot in the arm I needed for the next leg of my journey via a frozen margarita, an iced coffee and a day old pastry. I know I'm usually bitching about it, but in this case thank god 74 degree days in the middle of "winter". I think this was around the point where I called Jamie and taunted her about the weather in Pittsburgh right now.

Feeling kinda froggy at this point, I decided to test the off-roadability of my tall bike and rode it through every park I could think of between Spider House and the intermural fields. Once I got there I did a quick lap around the soccer players before cutting over the bridge and tearing it up on the archery field. I was rather impressed by my bike to tell y'all the truth. Boone, you build a hell of a tall bike! After a quick break to rest and enjoy the beautiful sky I swung by a book store to replace something of my wife's that had been jacked from our luggage on our way back from Portland, then started my trek north to the house. It was actually more like east and west with slight patches of north, since today was bulk pickup day and after seeing a pickup truck with the right idea I decided to go scavenger hunting for bike parts. The weaving through the neighborhood netted me a set of v-brakes, some BMX handlebars, a stem, brake lever, and some really dope grips. Hopefully I can remove 'em without cutting, but if not I'll rig 'em up so they can go on the tall bike if nothing else.

After loading my bag up with booty I huffed it back home where I'm now chilling on the couch and blahblahblahing on the internet. Talk about the perfect January afternoon in Texas. One thing I've learned about my tall bike is that it really makes people LOVE you as a cyclist. As long as you're not an asshole pretty much EVERYBODY waves, smiles, honks and shouts pro-bike shit at you. It's kind of affirming, actually. The ONLY person I've had be a jackass wasn't even that bad, he just buzzed me kinda close and blared his horn as he passed. He didn't even try to swerve into me or nuthin'! That's a hell of an improvement over my short bikes. I definitely dig it, and have to admit I ride my tall bike even more because of it. Happy drivers make for a happier Jason.