The bike of my dreams

This Patchwork cruiser bike by Felt Bicycles has stolen my heart. Two of my favourite activities are quilting and cycling so this is clearly the perfect bike for me! I spotted it on the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show blog and saw that they are raffling one of these beauties off tomorrow at their big show in Oregon.

I did a little research and it looks like you can't get this bike in Canada. I may just have to go on a road trip to Bellingham, WA and then ride my shiny new patchwork bike home across the border!

What of my red bike you ask? My red Norco Monterey will always be my first love and I still need and want it! I think there's room for two bikes in my life. I have no complaints with my red, 15-speed, hybrid bike with rim brakes and it has served me faithfully for nine years. I'll still need a bike with gears to get me up and down the hills of my neighbourhood, but I can certainly see going for a ride along a seaside path on a quilting-themed cruiser. Oh, yes, that would be sweet!

What do you think of this bike? Have you ever ridden a one-speed cruiser with coaster brakes?

Bike the Blossoms

If you're in Vancouver this weekend, hop on a bike and join the 3rd annual Bike the Blossoms ride! It's part of the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival and it runs from 10-4 on Saturday, April 17, 2010. Our family did the ride in 2009 and had a great time!

My cycling roots

Thanks to my dad for scanning this awesome photo of Mom taking me for a ride on Quadra Island. I'd guess it's circa 1979. Good times.

Holly's Red Bike

I feel that it is well past time that I introduce you to my bike. Seeing as I called this blog "Holly's Red Bike", I really have been lax in talking about biking. However, I only started writing this blog in rainy November and I haven't been cycling lately.

My bike is my "engagement ring". When Dean and I got engaged while SCUBA diving (another story I should blog about sometime!), I gave him a diving watch (since I was the one doing the proposing). Sometime afterwards, he took me on a hike up First Brother mountain in Manning Park, presented me with a bike catalogue and said I could have my pick. A bike in lieu of an engagement ring. Perfect! My shiny red Norco Monterey was my first bike since the one I bought when I was 12 with my allowance money. Riding my bike makes me happy and I love living one block from the bike route.

I just got my bike tuned up for spring last Friday. On Saturday (when this photo was taken), we went on a family bike ride to "Bike the Blossoms" as part of the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival. Vancouver has hundreds of beautiful cherry trees and Saturday was a lovely sunny day. A good time was had by all and it felt fabulous to be back riding my red bike!