The Coffee Shop Ride

Carrie and I crawled out of bed this morning and decided to ride for our breakfast. This is as close to the historic hunter/gatherer schtick as I plan to get. One of the things I've always held as goal was to begin doing errands on my bike. I can't bike commute - it's just too far on dangerous roads with no facilities to freshen up at the ens. I can however, use two meat-motor powered wheels to go get the occaisional meal or forgotten grocery item. It's not that easy to do bike errands in our suburban-sprawl, Generica hell town, but thanks to the access roads and Cohen Walker, I've got safe, easy access to a Publix, some fast food restaurants, and my new favorite - Duncan Donuts. So far, I've avoided the temptation of donuts, but they have wicked killa good bagels, and an everything bagel has always held a warm spot in my soul. Especially with cream cheese and a large coffee.
So when we got up this morning, realizing we were out of coffee, I suggested we ride to DD for our morning repast. It's about 3 miles one way, and only has one or two mini-climbs. On the road bike, I could probably make the run in close to the same time as taking the car, given the traffic and Rube Goldberg street architecture of the area, but Carrie doesn't have a road bike (yet.) We rounded up the cold weather gear ( it was windy and in the 50's), unloaded the bikes from the truck after last night's Halloween ride, and set out to the call of caffeinated beverages.
It was a beautiful morning, though a little cool to start. I decided a road bike is MUCH better on the road than my mountain bike. My legs were a little stiff from riding last night and hitting the pedals straight out of bed, but we clipped along at a stady 11+ mph. Carrie did great on the climbs, and kept rolling toward breakfast. The DD was ridiculously busy, and we stood in a long line of Church-goers who regarded us with a mix of curiosity and disdain for our heathenist lifestyle. The girl that took our order asked about our bikes, and generally seemed interested in riding, which was cool. We sat outside by our bikes and watched the sun climb up through a beautiful morning while we enjoyed our coffee (with sugar) and cream-cheese laden bagels. Hey, if you ride to the restaurant, you can eat whatever you damn well please. Those are the rules, bub.
I love going places by bike. I'm not going to lie and stand on some soapbox preaching about decreasing my carbon footprint, it's something different. When you are on a bike, you play by your own rules. The topography is different, and you can choose thousands of ways to get from A to B, seeing things along the way nobody else sees. You are your own transportation, subject to any detour or side trip you choose. You are absolutely, completely independent.
Bike = Freedom.