Biking
My bike is not in good shape. The brakes on the right hand side are slightly messed up, and the tires are usually rather flat. Wednesday, I decided that I would go for a ride. This ride was not particularly to go somewhere. Rather, it was just to ride for the fun of it. The last time I rode a bike to have fun was two summers ago. What motivated me to do this? While talking about bikes with my friend Roger, he asked me in passing whether I rode for fun. I replied, “No, I just ride to get to places.” But that had gotten me thinking. Why didn’t I ride for fun? Thus, I decided to do just that.
It was a pretty hot day. I got dressed at about 3 pm to go biking. I wore only a white shirt and shorts. I also decided to bring my backpack so I didn’t have to carry my keys, phone, and wallet in my pockets. The first thing I did as I exited out the garage was look up where I could possibly pump up my bike tires. Using Google Maps on my phone, I quickly located the nearest bike shop: 20/20 Biking in Hampden. I biked there using the navigation system on the phone, which was able to say the turns as I reached them. (I could hear it even though it was in my pocket!)
The shop itself looks very classy, I think I will head over there sometime to see if they can take a look at the brakes. But this time, I merely borrowed their pump to pump up my tires. As I walked out the shop with my now 30 lb pressure tires, I wondered where I ought to go. I had originally planned to bike upward toward Loyola and that lake up there, but I changed my mind and decided to bike to Inner Harbor instead. The path there was relatively easy and with my tires now full of air, I was easily able to gain much speed.
Soon I reached Inner Harbor. What an exhilarating, albeit dangerous, feeling it is to bike among cars! I decide to bike toward the movie theater where I had gone last Saturday. Getting there, I remembered about Teavolve, which I had visited Saturday as well. I then spontaneously decided to stop and get some drinks. I was extremely sweaty from all the biking, and I had to put my shirt back on before I entered the store (I had removed it halfway because it was just too hot and I thought I might as well use the opportunity to get rid of my farmer’s tan).
After enjoying a tasty juice soda and bubble tea (thai; was kind of powdery and not very good), I embarked on the return trip. I stopped by Tatu on the way, which is the restaurant my friend works at (It is very classy). I didn’t go in though, I just wanted to make sure I remembered where it was so I can take my friends there. From there, it was a straight path up North Charles Street. But as I recalled, Roger mentioned that N Charles was mad hilly, so it got really hard to bike near the end. I was really tired at this time. I stopped at 7-11 to grab some gatorade and chips, and then finally made it back home at like 5:20 PM. It was a good trip and I enjoyed it. I hope to bike more in the coming months.
