So, yesterday we picked up my wife's new bike - a
Schwinn Cream. Since she hasn't ridden since she was 15 years old (lo, those many years ago), we thought it would be a good idea to load the bikes on the rack and drive them to a nice old neighborhood in town that we both enjoy hanging out in. It's one of those neighborhoods that used to be affordable about twenty years ago and has become the "place to be" when it comes to trendy housing in Houston.
For you Houstonians, we were in The Heights.
We parked at a social club that we belong to and hung out chatting w/ some of our friends for a while. My wife's new bike was the subject of all sorts of compliments. We heard "very retro", "stylish" and "cool" quite a bit. It sprinkled a bit, so we held of on riding until the rain passed. Finally, it was time to mount up.
My wife was a bit nervous (She won't admit that, though
), but looking forward to the ride......I think........
So, off we went on some mellow, easy-pedalin' goodness. We rode down some of the newer/nicer bike paths in Houston. Even though it was a bit drizzly there were still plenty of people out on the MUPs and the bike paths. About 1/3 of the way into the ride we stopped off at a coffee house. She had some water. I asked her to get me a "sweet chocolaty cold sort of thing" while I got my trunk bag off my bike and took some pictures of the area.
While we were sipping our beverages and my wife updated her Facebook page, a guy came out to have a smoke. He leaned over the railing and was staring intently at her bike. He asked if the bikes belonged to us. We replied that they did. He said that he has a young lady friend who was looking for a bike, and my wife's bike looked like exactly what she was looking for. He was full of questions about where we got it, how much was it, how do we like it, etc.
My wife positively beamed. Who doesn't like having their bike complimented?
Nice view of the bike lane on Heights Blvd. Normally it's one lane for cars and a wider lane to the right for parking and a bike lane. It's one of the most popular places I've seen for riding in Houston. Great bike lane. Too short though. This spot is where the bike lane narrows to accommodate two car lanes (one left turn, one straight) before widening back out on the other side of the intersection.
We pedaled down shady streets and very nice houses, getting ideas for landscaping at our own place.
We took about 54 min to do 6.4 miles. It was a very easy pace, but it was my wife's first ride since she was a kid. We had a great time of it.
She's already said she's looking forward to taking day trips for more interesting riding/sightseeing.
It's been a great day!
