Four mornings a week we are out on long rides on our road bikes. The other three days we rest from that kind of cycling. Biking on the other three days is limited to short, easy rides on our favorite old bikes. These old bikes once were serious hard-tail mountain bikes. Now they are 20 years old and, like us, retired. Back when they were young we rode them on fire roads in the Blue Ridge Mountains, down remote desert trails, and around lots of other wonderful spots. In old age they've been fitted with Thudbuster rear suspension seatposts, their front suspension has been dialed down handle nothing more serious than choppy pavement, their handlebars modified, and their wheels sport city street tires. They are great touring bikes (if you don't mind slow) because you can take them on any road or shortcut you can come up with to get from point A to point B. And the gearing is awesome.
But this week they did their new job: meandering through Little Havana and Cora Gables for
cafecitos. (A cafecito is an espresso with sugar, a Miami staple.) Little Havana is right next door to the neighborhood where we live. Lots of great places for coffee, snacks, breakfast, and lunch.
Traffic, it turns out, is not much of a problem. We're slow on the old bikes, and we stick to the more bike friendly routes. The ambiance of wheeling leisurely through these charming Miami neighborhoods is not to be missed.
This is adding a whole new dimension to living in Miami.
