The important questions…

People often ask me “what made you get into bikes?” I always answer “umm… I was a kid once?”

I am not a serious bike advocate or a world class racer. I haven’t defined a message for myself, nor do I know how many watts I generate in the first 10 meters of a sprint. I am a fan of bike culture(s) and having a good time. I strongly believe that a bike friendly city is a happier city. In any given week I may ride multiple bikes in distinctly different styles with the only commonality being that each one is fun. I ride around town, in alleycats, and to the bar on an old fixie conversion and get a kick out of the hipsters… I ride a geared road bike in large and quick group rides and get a kick out of the lycra-clad, heart rate monitoring cyclists… I ride a track bike at the velodrome and try to keep up with the obsessive track racers who secretly train all year with their coaches and relate every moment to their regimen… I ride my mountain bike everywhere that isn’t paved and love everything about it, including the beer and taquitos…

This is a place for me to share with my friends and family. This may or may not be a place where I share random observations and/or aspects of my life not bike related at all. I make no guarantees about how often I will post as I am typically a private person. That’s something I’m working on… My family feels like I don’t let them know what I’m up to and for years many of my friends have given me the nickname ‘the ever elusive Austin’. Maybe this will help us understand each other a little more. Even though “what made you get into bikes?” is a simple question, it may have a much more complicated answer than we know just yet. Another reason I'm sharing here is for my benefit. Over the past few years it has seemed like every experience is either a first or the best. I realize that a lot of that has to do with the newness of the previous experience being lost. I'd like to make my experiences last a little longer.