Pimp my bike!

This is my beloved bike.  I love my bike.  I bought this piece of art with the Tall One back on Cinco de Mayo in 2006.  He got one at the same time, and we then proceeded to wreck wheels of havoc.  We still do, in fact.  We've gone wine tasting on these things, countless dinners, to a wedding in Capitola (from our hotel up there, that is)... lots of places.  We have formed a little harbor cruising bike posse- we're unofficially the BRC: Bike Rage Club.  Our newest OC residents, the Doctors Sohn, are members of the BRC, along with Crack-Attack, our Santa Barbara chapter.  The Sohns used to ride their mountain bikes, but you can't carry a beverage and lean over AND shift gears all at once, so they have purchased beach cruisers just so they can come along.

My little cruiser also shuttles my lazy ass around town- to the hospital for work, around the corner to the neighborhood mart for supplies, across the freeway to the grocery store for midweek fill-ins... it's the best.  And since it's so hot and trendy right now to be green and save the earth, I get lots of kudos from people when I lock up in front of Trader Joe's (mostly from people piling 19 bags of groceries into their H2 Hummer) and from cheeky construction workers sitting in front of Starbucks at 6:30am.  I had one guy say, "Now, hey- that's conserving energy if I ever saw it."  Since I'm working (mostly unsuccessfully) at not being a jerk, I just smiled good naturedly and wiped the fine glisten of moisture from my forehead before walking into the sweltering Starbucks.  But what I really wanted to do was dig deep down and summon my inner knowledge pistol and crack him over the head with the First Law of Thermodynamics.  I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have gotten the whole part that by using less fossil fuel I was using my own cell fuel instead.  But enough about me, back to my bike!!

My poor bike has built up quite the layer of spilled beverages from our many harbor cruises.  Any bump in the road causes a tidal wave of beverage to slosh out of the cup and over the front of my bike.  Tuesday, my bike got a makeover.   I washed it, scrubbed all the margarita off it, scrubbed the handles back to snow white and Armor-All'd the tires.  Looking sharp!!  

My bike also has some flair.  It has a nice white basket, making me the sherpa of the harbor cruise- I carry the bike lock, jackets, my purse, empty cups.  I've also got a cup holder, which is a necessary element to have to be a part of the BRC.  The Tall One and I have taken to giving them to people on their birthdays (if they have a beach cruiser of course), and dragging out-of-town friends to the nearest bike shop and coercing them to buy one before we head off into the wilds of the San Clemente beach trails.  And safety first, I have a headlight and tailight- with stationary and blinking options.  I don't recommend the blinking option purely based on the fear that they will induce seizures in anyone within a 15ft. radius.  But my latest addition is this:

I know!!  How lame is that video clip!!!  I'm awesome.  Anyway, this little gem was a gift from Mrs. Dr. Sohn- they threw in a free bell with her beach cruiser purchase but she'd already bought a bell that matched hers better.  That's right, our bells match our bikes.  So now, when we ride it's like a sonar system to find out where everone is.  One person rings and then people answer- by the ring you can tell where everyone is.  We're dorks.  Plus, it's great as added emphasis to your conversation.  "So this person was sooo lame today at Spot X.  I just wanted to go up to them and tell them ding!ding!"  Classy...

And that's my bike.  I love it.  Probably too much.  But when gas goes over $5/gallon, which it probably will by next year, my bike will be ready.  Ding!Ding!