I ate one taco at the taco wagon #1, drank a Mexican soda at #2, a sopas at taco wagon #3 and could eat no more by the time we got to taco wagon #4.
At the third taco wagon we were greeted by this poster and 65 cent tacos:
Here are the three amigos--Scott, myself and Sarah:
Also at the third taco wagon we had the privilege to eat cake interspersed with peaches that was especially made for us bikefarers. The cakes were adorned by miniature bikes as pictured below:
The food was fabulous and the ride enjoyable. We were able to chat the whole way. Folks waited for each other at intersections and made sure we all stayed together. It was so fun to have 30+ riders and take up whole lanes on busy roads. This form of travelling empowers the biker and the group. As seasoned bikers know, there are many times where driver have little tolerance for those who chose this method of travel.
In the 19th mile I had a bike accident. Sorry- no gruesome pictures. I have scrapes on my face, elbow and left leg. Unfortunately, I did not know that squeezing the front brake only, would propel my body over the handle bars and cause the bike to fall on top of me. Ok, I figured that one out.
All this in preparation for my mini triathlon on Saturday. Not only am I achey, but I am beautiful! (Wonder if I will be scarred?)
On October 9th there will be the Night of 1001 Tacos, followed by the movie: Three Amigos at Studio 35. I have spread the word far and wide and I expect several friends and family members will be joining me on this one. Come out and join in the fun!
Pictures taken by ride organizer: Ray George
6 comments:
I had a great time on the road and relaxing at each of the taco stops and running into lots of friends! I'm really looking forward to the next ride on Friday, Oct. 9! Also, here's more of Ray's photos.
It was awesome. I'm actually bummed I'll be out of town for the next one... Thanks for the invite Erin!!! It is always great to meet new cool people too :)
Dude, that sounds cool. Though I think eating tacos and then riding would give me a stomachache!! As a side note, despite being on a special ride, you probably shouldnt piss off drivers by taking up the whole road. That just increases motorist anger towards cyclists. I wish people would ride single file down busy roads so that the motorists dont hate us all. I'm just saying. I dont like it when people do that on any ride... Unless for this ride they had blocked the roads off from motorist traffic...?
Just because we're on a bike doesnt mean we're entitled to the road... It's called sharing the road for a reason.
With that many bikers, we normally take up the width of one lane. Most of the time we were on four-lane roads so there was still a lane for the cars to pass, or we were on quiet sidestreets, so we were able to share the road just fine. I didn't see any good way to handle Cooke Road, though, which is a narrow hilly two-lane road. There wasn't enough room for two lanes of traffic plus a line of single-file bikers. Some of us were single file, and some were in clumps, but either way, cars were taking big chances by passing us. I was praying for patient motorists and wondering if there was a better street we could have taken for that section!
Scott, I hope you were wearing a helmet, young man! I didnt see one in that picture. I'm hoping you had taken it off to eat at the rest stop!
Well, yeah, you have to pray for patient motorists on some roads. But people really need to heed the traffic laws where slower traffic (ie, bikes) stay single file on one side of the road. When you hog a whole lane, you cause motorist angst... and then they do stuff like comment on news articles about cycling that cyclists deserve to be killed because they never obey rules. We actually had an incident in the Winking Lizard where a person came up to one of the people in my bike club, expressed how much she hates cyclists, and said that if it was a choice between hitting a dog and cyclist, she'd hit the cyclist!!
I get so frustrated on official rides when cyclists think they are entitled to the road just becuase there are a ton of them together in a group on a ride. People do this on the big rides I do--even cyclists who should know better--and it frustrates me because I get the brunt of some of the angst when people make general statements about cyclists not obeying the traffic laws. I always obey the traffic laws and I always hang to the side of the road. If I'm in the middle for some reason (ie, potholes), I move quickly over if there is a car behind me...
I dont mean to vent or discourage newcomers to riding. I'm just trying to help you not encourage bad behavior by motorists, especially if you find that you enjoy riding and would like to do it more... What multiple people do negatively reflects on everyone else.
And, please, wear a helmet. I'm starting to become a helmet nazi. I cannot express enough how easy it is to get into an accident (as Erin proved) on a bike... and how your tender head needs protection. Even if you dont think you go very fast... There are many unforeseen dangers in riding... I want everyone to have a fun, safe, incident-free ride!
I'll get off my soap box now. Thanks!
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