piecycle races are coming your way

Piecycle!
Piecycle!
I want to ride my piecycle
I want to ride my...

Hm.



Friday is "treat day" in my department and yesterday it was my turn. I baked an apple pie and a mixed berry pie (only one with a from-scratch crust, though) and transported them to work the best way I know: by bicycle.

I took my older bike because it has the wider basket that was able to fit the containers. You can only see one of them in this photo; the second was in a flat box underneath that red towel.

The pies arrived at work completely unscathed. Mission accomplished.

on two feet

One of my favourite things to do on a gently rainy day is to go for a walk.











The pace is always unashamedly slow, meandering in gumboots and raincoat. The smells of nature rise above the usual perfume of the city. I smell soaked cedar, soggy soil, and greenery disturbed by water.

Even at my slowest on a bicycle, I wouldn't get quite this much detail. I lean in with my camera, examining the individual droplets coating every leaf, petal, and stalk.

At the edge of Stanley Park, garden pathways invite, but there are still pockets of wild. Ferns unfurl in dark corners that rarely see sunlight. Moss creeps out across any available surface, glowing the bright green of new spring.

Love the rain. After all, if this wasn't city, it would be rainforest.

a "spring" ride

On Saturday, Melanie and I took our bicycles for a spring ride.



I'd had a metal shard removed from my rear brake by the bike shop that morning, so was eager to get out for a ride, as I'd been using my other bike for most of the week until I could get to the shop.



Her bike is turquoise with a red seat and mine is red, so with much chromatic intention (read: none) we valiantly had an outdoor lunch on these appropriately-hued chairs. It was still a bit chilly, so our "picnic" was fairly short. Good thing we could continue to enjoy each others' company outdoors in another simple manner that kept us at a better temperature for this early spring day: riding.



There were many sights to be seen, including this weird but wonderful overgrown shed with... um, wooden banister-things nailed to the side of it? Sure.



Regretably, the sun didn't make an appearance, but it didn't dampen our enjoyment of the ride any less. (Not figuratively OR literally.)



It was still pretty fun anway.

not just a passing phase

Now that I've been riding for 2 years and am quite confident that it's not just a passing phase...

...I've made an investment.



A leather saddle by Brooks, model B72.



When it rains, I cover it in this nice shower cap purchased for less than $5 at the drugstore.



I bought it at the Denman Bike Shop, whose staff/owners were friendly, helpful and informative. They reviewed my bike and installed it right then and there with no delay. The thing I love about their shop is that form and functionality are considered equally important. In much of the bike world, form is secondary, but here they seem to be big believers that you can have your cake it eat it too-- or have bicycles, parts and accessories that you love to look at and know that they're still doing their job.

The breaking-in period for the saddle is going fine so far. The first few rides were a tad less comfortable than usual, but I started to notice improvement quite quickly and it's only getting better. Looking forward to many, many more.