Tour De Salem

I am not a cyclist. My allegiance lies to running, and although I admire my cyclist friends, and occasionally oo and ahh over the Tour de France, it's just not my favorite activity. My knees shake in terror of the idea of riding a fixed gear through the streets of boston, and have had my fair share of knee scrapes from burning on the pavement. I prefer lack of obstacles in a basement spin class. But taking a scenic route on a townie bike, I can handle that.

With a Saturday off of work, and my best friend in town from Wyoming, I decided to several birds with one stone, by taking a maiden voyage to Salem, MA, in my new Zipcar, to see my dear friend Callie's new bike shop, the Urbane Cyclist.

Callie and her husband David just opened up this adorable little shop several months ago, and it is my new favorite shop. Besides being good looking and very fit, they are two sweetest people you will ever meet.

You can admire their work ethic (she's a full-time grad student, future RD, intern, TA, and opening a new business!!) while getting your bike repaired, picking up any sort of cycling/tri gear/fuel/books, OR take a spin around town on their fleet of rental bikes.

In their own words:

We’re here because we love riding and we love bikes. On a day-to-day basis, we appreciate the clean, healthy, and affordable option that bike commuting provides. As athletes, we enjoy the satisfaction of becoming stronger through the season and taking our rest once we’ve earned it. As competitors, we get those good butterflies thinking about how it will feel waiting for gun to go off at that next race. We get it, and we’re glad you do, too.

Callie got us our bikes, and a wonderful map/suggestions for where to ride to and explore. I of course jumped on the vintage 3-speed with a basket and snagged the pink helmet.

callie. me, krystal and teresa

Helmets are not optional in my world

and we were off!

Steering far away from the witch trials we went out to the Willow Arcade, a hilarious blend of old and new arcade games on the waterfront

and then we found a secret garden

and got coffee at Jaho

It was an excellent beginning to a very good Saturday!

Skip the wax museum and ghost tours next time you're in Salem and visit The Urbane Cyclist 282 R Derby Street, Salem, MA 01970

This free spirit is signing off! enjoy your week!