I :heart: Biking

 As a kid a bike meant freedom, exploration and convenience.  No longer did I have to wait for my parents to drive me to school, to my friends or to the local stores. I was able to explore all the nooks and crannies of my neighbourhood. It was finding cool paths by the river or taking me to places I have never been able too. Sure I could have walked or taken the bus but it’s just not the same. Waking takes forever and you have to wait for a bus that only takes a specific route. Having a bike was amazing. I rode it everyday I could from spring to the early days of winter.  It didn’t matter the weather. I just loved riding.  I rode it to school, carried my saxophone for band class, picked up groceries, did jumps on it.....you get the point.  I loved it.

It was my life from 7-14 years old. Then we moved to a bigger city and it stopped. The city was busier with more cars. Street traffic was intimidating and bike lanes were non-existent. Park pathways weren't the greatest.   School was a lot further (15km one way compared to 5km total) and we had special public transit arranged to pick us up every day.  So not man kids (pretty much none) rode their bikes to school. So I didn't ride at all. Then came the "car stage" of my life and really once you have a car...it's rare to go back to a bike.

Eventually in 2006 I tried to get back into it. I bought a MTB and only did little rides. Tried to ride to school for Spring and Summer classes, but getting to class all sweaty wasn't great so that stopped quickly. I brought it downtown with me when we lived in a condo from 2008 to 2014. I used it a few times, one for an infamous wipe out after a night of drinking (no worries both the bike and I came out of well aside from a deep gash on my elbow).

Fast Forward to 2019. The itch to ride was becoming overwhelming. I wanted something with a drop bar and good for commuting but also able to take some gravel and dirt paths when needed. After a lot of researching and talking to biking enthusiasts (something I didn't do the first time and was my biggest takeaway from 2006 bike buying) I decided that the Hybrid/Gravel Bikes would be the best bike for me. Gravel bikes are a mix between road and off road (not full mountain with no suspension). Great for speed on pavement and commuting and can take the abuse of rougher paths if I cut through fields or unpaved back alleys. Luckily I caught a sale and got a a great deal on the bike in the picture above. A 2018 Norco Search Carbon Fiber frame Bike. The plus is that Norco is a Canadian company as well!

My first ride to work with this was definitely tiring. It took 30 minutes to cover 9kms but it was super rewarding. The crisp morning air was great, discovering new parts of the city, and no traffic to fight with is amazing. I tried to do once a week for a ride and it did pan out