You can't go home to a trailer park and farm in North Carolina again, not after living the simple bicycling lifestyle in Chicago for three years. It's not that folks from my hometown read my blog and hate me for portraying them as bumpkins, a modern and predictably crappy remake of Thomas Wolfe, simply that my way of seeing the world has changed dramatically in the past few years.
A Vanity Fair article I read years ago aptly described my military hometown as a mix of strip bars and Baptist churches. Growing ...
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As seen on Folly Beach . . .
Beach biking pictures are usually the province of California bloggers like Christa of Bike By the Sea or Cosmo of LA Cycle Chic, but this pic was snapped by my friend Ali, who had the great fortune to be spending Christmas at the beach.
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A little over two months after staying at my place in Nashville, Victoria made it to Santa Monica Pier in time for Christmas. Check out her blog to read about the final leg of her journey, and congratulate her on her amazing accomplishment. Way to go, Victoria!
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Merry Christmas everyone! I'm in Alabama with the fam, dressing our cats in silly costumes and making a few modifications to Le Peug with my dad. As Dottie mentioned, it might be a slow week on LGRAB but we have some big things coming in the New Year -- including a top secret project to commemorate our first anniversary -- so stay tuned.
Wishing you all the very best for the holidays and a wonderful 2010!
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On Tuesday morning I woke up to heaps of snow. Not anything like the East Coast is experiencing, but the first real snow for Chicago this winter. One of my rules is not to ride in measurable fresh snowfall, but my girlish fun side took over, enchanted by the winter wonderland and potential for pretty pictures. If I wanted the easiest way to work, I would have taken the L train.
The side streets were not plowed at all, and thus a bit slippery at times, even with my studded tires. Drivers were very patient, thou...
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Check this helmet out - what an idea! The author of Oh Joy!, a top style-lifestyle inspiration blog, happens to be a very chic cyclist. When she couldn't find a polka dotted helmet to suit her needs, she made one out of a Bern Muse helmet and sticky decals.
She is also the proud owner of a Velorbis Victoria. Classy!
Read about her project direct from the source HERE, including the link to buy the polka dot decals.
I'm tempted to get a red helmet and attach black dots. I have a thing for ladybugs! 
Coul...
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The Day. I spent Sunday in downtown Chicago with Melissa, ice skating, warming up with afternoon tea service and generally enjoying the beauty of the season.
The Ride. I got there by bike, a 14 mile round trip. Temperature around 30 degrees. My core got hot and I took off my coat for a bit (mom would not approve). The Lakefront Trail was strewn with heaps of salt, all ice eradicated. I saw very few other cyclists, unfortunately. Everyone's missing ...
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On Friday, after riding city streets all week, the beauty and safety of the Lakefront Trail won me over. Light snow fluttered in the morning, but changed to freezing rain by the evening. Again the temperature was 30-something and my new thrifted wool cardigan kept me warm enough.
Major development: ice is starting to encroach on the path. Water laps up from the lake and then freezes. This is nothing compared to how it will look in a month. Soon this entire stretch of path directly next to the ...
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Here is a secret to winter bike commuting: it's not that bad. If you look closely at the individual days that make up winter, you'll see that most of them are pretty nice. Sure, sometimes the windchill is -20 and sometimes a foot of snow falls, but the time between the extreme days is perfectly fine for bike commuting.
This week served as a good example. After Monday's light rain, the temperatures fell but stayed above 0. On Wednesday morning my commute temperature was 7 degrees. Sounds cold, right? I wor...
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Back in November, I went on my first group ride with Nashville Slow Ride through two of Nashville's greenways: Shelby Bottoms and Stones River.
It's really criminal that I waited so long to post about this, actually, because not only was it a fun 20-ish mile ride with great people, it also marked the meeting of the Flik and Andrew's Bike Friday. How would the two folders compare?
As usual, especially the morning after a late night out, I was 5 minutes late. Andrew waited for me and we soon caught up with the gr...
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