Chasing the Sunset Home

Today begged for a bike ride. And Copper begged to go for a run. But then again, the bike shop needed me too.  Everyone was happy by the end of the day. 

To kill multiple birds with one stone, I unearthed the Burley Tail Wagon and decided to pull Copper D. Dog to the bike shop behind my Vaya for the first time this year.  The fact that the roads are mostly snow free is a glorious realization for both Copper and myself.  I had a bunch of dog guilt this winter as I pedaled into the shop on my winter single speed with studded tires, sans Copp.  She hated me for it and looks forward to the spring.  This morning as I was readying myself for the ride down Copper watched me as usual.  The sad part is that she's gotten used to watching me leave with out her.  So, as you may imagine, when I asked her if she wanted to ride bikes with me she raced outside as fast as her 4 little legs could carry her.  I was getting her trailer out and she jumped into it before it was even attached to my bike!



She was ready!!

 I was overjoyed at the sight; for a moment I had feared that she would be anti-wagon like she was when I first introduced the idea to her about a year ago.  It originally took a lot of coercing with treats to warm her up to the idea of jumping into the trailer by herself; there were plenty of days of me having to grab her and shove her in and close the cover before she started realizing it was a good idea.

She was so excited to be part of the trip that she didn't want to get out of the Burley for me to hook it up; so, being the sucker for her that I am, I just let her sit in it while I attached it to the Vaya.

Attached at last.

Off we rode!  I wasn't in a huge time crunch to get to the shop so we meandered along taking a little different route than usual.  There is a lot of construction going on on Center Street these days so we ducked off of it at 49th and climed up towards Pine.  I forgot how damn heavy my dog is!!  It's a good thing that I rode all winter through and thought about how much worse it would have been pulling her around if I hadn't.  I didn't feel very strong climbing up the hills today but was absolutely glad that I had my little furry friend along for the ride.  We talked to a few laughing pedestrians along the way and I made my usual comment about how it would be much more enjoyable if I could get Copper to pull me.  Chuckles all around.  We pulled up to the shop and got to work.

Our ride home was wonderful. The weather was wonderful and we caught the tail end of a beautiful sunset. I pulled over on Woolworth and tried to capture what remained of the pink stained sky. My photography skills, as usual, leave a little something to be desired but you get the idea.

Looking West on Woolworth toward 42nd

 Good layering for the ride.  T-shirt + light weight wool jersey + windbreaker + Grovecraft hat + swrve pants = happy rider.

Tomorrow is supposed to be a beaut.  I think Jolene and I may be riding around 4pm if anyone is interested.  Mayhaps out to Ponca?  Too nice not to get out for a bit.

Good day again!!

Who else is riding?  Also, who else is planning to sprint the night away on Thursday for Greenstreet's One Year B-day Party at Nomad (1013 Jones St.)?  It promises to be a fine time.  There will be b-day cake, prizes including a freaking bicycle!!, beer specials, and more.  I'll be there with a microphone harassing people to particpate.  See you there!!!

SJ