In a series I did recently regarding bicycles with "character", I asked my subjects to answer eccentric questions about their bikes that had literally no relevance to anything important. When I was about to ask one of my friends his bizarre question, I warmed him up by asking him to tell me something awesome about his bike. He proceeded to spit on my recorder and abrasively shout "free on gas!" And in the interest of creating a better world, it goes without saying that this response was far more important than any that would have followed such questions as "what mythical creature does your bike resemble?" or "what is your bike's blues musician name?"
It's true, folks. Bicycles, believe it or not, do not cost four dollars a gallon to run. They not only support a greener future in transportation, but a healthy and more active lifestyle for everyone. They run on the simple healthy movement of your ankles to your knees to your hips to your butt to the giddy smile that spreads over your face when you're whizzing down a hill with 50 of your friends by you and your bicycle's side. And this lovely dream comes true three times a year in a ride the bike lovers of Chittenden County, Vermont call the Decade.
The Decade is a group bike ride through three separate back road routes in different counties of Vermont and New York. The Fall ride goes around Upstate New York, Spring in Button Bay State Park, and Summer around beautiful Grand Isle, Vermont. With frequent picnic and swimming stops, abundant supplies of wine bottles, and a harem of bike mechanics who can patch your flat in under a minute, the Decade sounds like a daunting adventure at first word, but a 30 mile bike ride soon becomes a leisurely day spent on the fly with a group of your closest friends.
Glen Eames (above), Founder of the Decade along with the Old Spokes Home, a bike shop in Burlington's Old North End, believes in pedal power. Something I personally have always admired and appreciated about Glen is his downright contagious love for bikes. It's a lesson he tries to inspire in everyone else, almost as if it's in the hope of convincing more people of the beauty and efficiency of our two-wheeled friends. It goes without saying that Glen has created somewhat of a holiday in many of us in these bike rides, and although at the end of the day our legs feel like jelly and it hurts like a bitch to sit down, it's a day and a feeling we all look forward to.
The Summer Decade, and Glen's birthday! Grand Isle, Vermont.
Also a huge thank you to Glen and Old Spokes Home for sponsoring our trip and hooking us up so we'll never go bikeless on our adventure!
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