Bike to Basketball

Since we don't have cable, when we want to watch a sporting event, we often have to go to a bar/ pub/ restaurant that does have cable, and nurse our dinner and drinks as long as we can in order to watch the game. Being a former basketball player, the Scientist is pretty into watching the March Madness games,  so we made plans to have dinner at a local pub/ sports bar the Tavern on the Square.

After a bit of volunteer work downtown, I rode home in what started out as pretty heavy rain, but which fortunately stopped about 1/3 of the way home.  I neglected to check the weather this morning,  so got caught semi-unprepared- in a waist length softshell, instead of my longer Nau trenchcoat. So my skirt got pretty damp, and I got a bit chilly.  I let the dog out and fed him,  and  although my skirt had mostly dried by then, I changed my damp tights out for wool stockings, and then headed back out to meet the Scientist.

I got there first, but he assured me he was leaving the lab then, so I should go ahead and take an available table.  So I sat, and I waited and waited and waited.  Although it was a 5 minute drive, he spent 15 minutes driving around looking for parking, and finally parked in a pay lot.   To me that's one of the #1 reasons to bike in the city- it's almost always easier to find bike parking than car parking around here, even at places where there isn't great bike parking.  We left the pub at the same time, and I was home long before he was too, because I was parked right outside, and could just hop on and and pedal home, whereas he had to walk to the car, deal with the parking lot, and drive home.

Truly convenient parking- I used my seat cover just in case

Despite the chilly and damp weather there were a fair number of bikes out and about at 9pm on a Friday night.  There were two guys riding along the same way as I was, one of whom asked me about my Yakkay helmet, and there were at least 4 passing the other way on my short ride home, and they seemed like they were in pairs riding together  I think it's a good sign of a robust bike culture in a place that people ride their bikes to go out on a Friday night!

So this is my last Utilitaire: 12.12.  Although I wouldn't say the event has altered my behavior in any way, I think it was kind of fun to take on the challenge of documenting it in a more rigorous way.    It's also been really fun to read all the other entries in the contest, and I've discovered some new blogs to read in the process.  I doubt that it's changed the tone of the blog, or that the tone will change much now that I'm no longer doing it,  but it's been something to add excitement to the last dregs of winter!  And I've got to say that reading all of Chasing Mailboxes links has got me thinking about how maybe I can do some longer rides on the Shogun.   I may not be fast enough to be a real Randonneur,  but it wouldn't stop me from doing some centuries.....