We have beautiful creekside trails where you can relax and perhaps bird watch, neighborhood streets where you can wave to your neighbors out walking their dogs, and bike lanes along many of the streets with faster moving traffic. Together they can take you all over town to parks, schools, stores, restaurants, coffee shops and more in a city that's only about 5 miles from end to end. That's only 30 minutes or so for most people at a cruising pace.
We are very fortunate indeed.
But it's not always that easy to figure out how to get around town on a bike without a little help. Some streets are very stressful places to ride your bike and it's not always obvious how to avoid them or find a better route to take to your destination. It's not always obvious how to carry everything you need on your bike or how to park once you get there. So many details to think about!
That's what "Bike Fun with Dick and Janet" is all about. Every week we'll give you tricks of the trade to make your bike trips more enjoyable. We'll help you find low stress bike routes for errands, give you fresh ideas for bike outings and show you how you can set your bike up for success. (Trust me, you can carry more on your bike than you can imagine.) We'll even show you how to take your bikes on transit to increase your bike trip range.
Before we begin, I'd like to introduce us. My husband Dick and I live in Mountain View's Rex Manor neighborhood, pretty much in the geographic center of town and a block away from Mountain View's original "bike boulevard" on Montecito Avenue. We ride our bikes almost every day, for commuting to work, for doing errands, for visiting friends, for going out to dinner and for taking longer rides in the hills on the weekends. We've even taken overnight excursions to San Francisco and beyond.
It only seems natural that I met my husband Dick in a bike shop. Our first date 10 years ago was a bike date and our love of wheels turned into love ON wheels. We love everything about bikes: the wind in our faces, the slower pace that allows us to truly see and interact with places, and the way we feel better after even a short spin. But most of all--it's FUN!
We look forward to having you come along with us for the ride.
Do you ride your bike around Mountain View? Where are your favorite places to go? Where do you wish you could go but don't feel comfortable riding there? What does "Bike Fun" mean to you?
