Why I ride a bike: Reason #1

Finding the second shoe

No, it's not the number one reason I ride if I were to be ranking them in order of importance. I just figured I needed a place to put these reasons down as I think of them, to be reviewed later and possibly consolidated into a list to have on hand for answering that question that I am asked many times a year.

Ken and I were returning from breakfast on Sunday and I noticed a shoe alongside the road. Now this is not anything new. Somehow, and this is a very interesting subject that should be discussed and possibly even written into a thesis, there is almost always only 1 shoe along the road. How did it get there? And why is there only 1?

Too many questions to try to answer. The exciting thing about riding a bike, is that when there is a matching shoe to be found, it is much easier to do on a bicycle. Sure enough, roughly 1/4 mile farther (further?) down the road was the match to the other shoe. It still doesn't answer the how people lose shoes along a stretch of highway question, but there is satisfaction to matching the pair.

I'm in

I guess I am in for Trans Iowa V6. Last year my postcard disappeared in the mail. In the end, it was a good thing.

This year, it made it all the way to Iowa. I hope in the end it's a good thing.

Let the training begin (which means finding good eats farther and farther away from me, or maybe a golf course ).

Cyclocross Season

Having a Saturday off when working at a small bike shop is a treat. Having 60+ degree weather in November in MN is an amazing treat. Put them together, throw in free beer, hot dogs, and a bunch of bicycles. I could barely contain myself.


Joe and I rode up to the Velodrome in Blaine as a warm-up for his race. We were a little tardy so there was little time before he was off and pre-riding the course. I walked around a while and took some average photos. There weren't many really exciting places for great shots. I was hoping to capture something that I could use for our shop website since we are starting to have a little more presence at the track, and at cyclocross events. I almost tried climbing on the soccer goal to try to get rid of the fence.


I have heard it happens, but it rarely happens to me. To be in the right place at the right time. Looking for that one chance for a great photo, I try to take a fair amount in hopes of something turning out the way I want. Well when David decided to ride half a lap on a bike a little too small for him, it was a great opportunity for a photo. I had been taking some shots of him coming through the parking lot. I turned around after he started riding around the soccer field and ended up with exactly the kind of photo I was looking for...



Too bad I can't use it for our website. Plugging another bike shop on our website is probably not the most appropriate.