Lexington

N.'s dad found this wind-powered motor thing on craigslist or something that some guy was giving away for free and he wanted it for his boat. N's dad lives in Florida; the thing was in Lexington...

Time for a roomie adventure! 

I actually really didn't want to go because it was early Saturday morning and I am lazy, but I did it. The weather was beautiful and to get in the spirit we made up a song as we were biking. It went:

"We're going to Lex-ing-ton

It's going to be a ton. of. fun. 

There will be no rain

Only sun

It's going to be a ton. of. fun. 

Who is going?

Two, not one

It's going to be a ton. of. fun. "

There is no tune. Thankfully we didn't pass many people on our way to Cambridge. 

We arrived in Cambridge looking pretty cool. 

We then met our manager/friend Q. who let us borrow his car. N. can drive!

But not park.

The motor thing was wayyy smaller than expected. 

So we had a lot of room in the trunk. We went to Trader Joe's and DSW and JoAnn's. There I found this awesome Duct tape while N. was busy looking for fabric and fancy needles. 

Not gonna lie, this trip kinda made me want to move to the suburbs. Everything is so big and clean there and it's easy to get around! It was nice to be back in the city though. 

We ended the day successfully with a full car! 

Later that day, we biked to a BBQ in West Roxbury. Who knew West Roxbury was so nice? I would totally move there. Lots of hills though. We even had to walk our bikes up one (don't tell anyone).

We arrived home to this lovely couch in our yard. Our landlord was moving some stuff and left it. We relaxed on it for a bit until he came back, at which point N. literally jumped up, ran away, and tried to hide in the basement. I played it cool.

A wonderful summer day :)

Midnight Marathon

I convinced some people to do the Midnight Marathon with me!  Despite a few initial road bumps like failing to obtain a Midnight Marathon Train Ticket (Q. missed the sale by only a few minutes!) and missing the first charter bus, thanks to Facebook and a stranger named Jed Jeng I was able to get all 8 of us onto the 2nd charter bus!  Woohoo!

As the night approached (Sunday April 14th in case you are wondering), I got a little nervous and decided to do a trial run on my day off.  I carefully mapped out a route on google, copied directions down and headed out on my bike.

Per usual I missed my turn and ended up in Milton.  Then Roslindale and finally Dorchester to where I was actually heading...Target!  At the end of the day I was confident that I could ride the route and had managed all of my errands as well.

This was actually my second year doing the ride and I was a bit concerned that since losing my bike naivety I couldn't go out on this ride unprepared.  Last year we had hopped on the trail with only our bikes, a few snacks and some water but had miraculously finished unscathed.  This time I was certain I'd get a flat and remain the laughing stock of my work.

So I decided to make a flat kit!  Initially I was working on a fanny pack but then decided to just make a bag that connects to the bike, large enough to hold a tube, tire levers, multi-tool, 15mm wrench and a banana!  I researched a few models online and got to work.

Half a day later with the help of V.'s sewing machine I was set!  Reflective details and all.

Sunday rolled around and one guy dropped out of our group!  I also worked all day.  D. and Z. met me after work and along with DD we rode over to South Station where I had to continue work by handing out coupons and stickers.

Tons of cyclists mulled around with excitement in their eyes and shiny new stickers in their fists.  Q., C., and F. met us at the station and I managed to sell the extra ticket.  We stuffed our bikes under the bus (except for Z. who put his in a UHaul) and set off for Hopkington!

One hour 51 minutes and 56 seconds after we unloaded our bikes at the start line and took off we made it to Copley Square, somehow losing D. in the mix.  Along the way we'd chatted up new friends, raced old ones and couldn't figure out which measly hill was supposed to be a Heartbreaker.