Try-a-Bike, remorse, a basil thief and uncracked eggs

The 5th annual Try-a-Bike took place Sunday and this was my second time attending, I really enjoy this. Last year, I shied away from the recumbents and tandems, but this year I made sure I pestered someone to try a tandem with me, Joanne was my prey. It was much easier on this particular bike, it was a fixed-gear cruiser tandem. It seems that a geared tandem is more difficult to ride than the single-geared, from what I've heard. We switched places and each of us got a chance to both captain and stoke. I was totally stoked, man.
Then Marko, who wasn't crazy about the idea of hopping on a tandem, offered to captain me around the Oval. Whee!
The recumbents were lots of fun, I was only able to find one small enough for short people.

Marko took Fizz out for a spin and called her a Tank. It took me hours to console her.

Tricia likes the 'bents

A tandem with a double trailer!

Stu demonstrates the bus bike rack

Marko on a foldie

Marko on the Backwards Bike of Death

The recumbent selfie

One of my morning commutes this week, I nervously observed a man riding with a small child in a handlebar seat, he was not only edge-riding in the door zone, but weaving in and out of parked cars as well as filtering. I passed him the while taking the lane and the urge to tell him they were much safer out in the middle of the lane was overpowering, but I kept my mouth shut: the fear of an argument starting from friendly, constructive advice told me that their riding style was none of my business.
I'm still remorseful that I said nothing.
I tried to ride just a few yards ahead of or behind them for a few blocks to divert the cars around us and keep them from getting clipped, but I could only do that for so long.

Speaking of remorse: I'm fence-riding. Should I go out on the Underwear Ride this week? I feel this is a ride for the youngsters: they can stay up late and have few if any side effects the next day from staying up late. Am I going to resign myself to being old and needing to get to bed at a decent hour or am I going to stay out after dark? One of the advantages to being single is that I can do whatever I want without the negative opinions of a spouse who disproves of what he deems to be indecent behavior.

More fence-riding: All Neighborhoods Ride is coming up this weekend! This is 75 miles! Am I able to go all day and 75 miles? The most I've done in one day is 61 miles.... I think 75 would kill me and I'd have murderous leg cramps. Fizz is having difficulty getting into the small ring, I need to adjust the derailleur before I engage in a 75 mile ride up many, many hills. I need the granny gears.

The Basil Thief:
I pass by the Casino daily and they have an herb garden that I will occasionally steal a handful or two of herbs from. I like the rosemary for socca cakes. I steal fresh basil and oregano for Italian foods. They aren't growing oregano this year though, which makes me sad. The security people are out in force when I leave in the afternoons, so I have to do my herb picking in the morning. One of these days, the security people are going to hassle me for picking the herbs. It'll be worth it though: fresh herbs are to die for.
They make my bag smell wonderful too!

Many basil bushes!

My eggs: intact
Today's shopping trip: eggs, bread, raspberries and a glass jar of pickles. I was nervous that the eggs and glass would break and that the bread would get squished. The items I was worried about fared well, but the raspberries turned to mush. I don't understand why raspberries, even transported carefully in a car with shock absorbers, liquify on the trip. I'm glad had the foresight to place them inside a plastic bag to keep the juice from leaking all over the bike.

I used a bungee net to keep the bread from being flattened. I like the net, I need to keep that in my pannier full time.

I love this bungee net!

Scrambled perhaps... but unbroken

Racing up my hill

This was my first encounter with another cyclist going up my hill. She noticed me behind her at the end of the bridge and gave me a playful "You go girl!" as I passed her and I responded with a "Race ya!". Little did I know, I would end up making record time up the hill. I lost my QOM some time ago to a much faster cyclist, but I've been watching my times up the hill and I was able to shave 30 seconds off my best time. That's remarkable.