Community bike ride

I went out on a limb and tried something new last night.

I went on the Tucson community bike ride with a group of friends...and about 150 other people. Some of my friends were intimidated by the crowd when we got to the meeting place, the turn-around out front of UA's Old Main.

I was not at all intimidated by the eclectic-hippy-grunge crowd before us. I just wanted to ride, damnit.

The ride is supposed to start at 8 p.m., and we finally started to snake down University Ave. around 8:30. The ride, which I guess takes a new route every Tuesday, snaked through Southwestern Tucson and took us through back alleys and creepy neighborhoods with lots of dogs barking at us.

Had I been alone or with a small group of people, I would have been scared shitless. But it wasn't so bad with all those other people.

When we started out, it was also friggin' hot outside. But the breeze crept up, the night cooled the air a bit, and the ride was pretty nice by the end--before it started to get just plain windy.

Cons: the going was too slow and there was a lot of bottle-necking
Pros: opportunity to see parts of Tucson you never imagined seeing and getting to go on a leisurely ride with friends

It was an overall good experience. I'd recommend you try it at least once.