Saturday Ride with Chandra

I made arrangements to meet up with Chandra at the train station this morning. The plan was to ride on over and see what was happening at the 25th Annual Main Street Arts Festival in downtown Fort Worth. We had originally intended to do an S24O this weekend but things fell through.

I was running late so I took a few shortcuts as I headed from home to the train station.

This pulled up behind me as I was waiting for the light to change at Cantey and 8th.

I rolled up and caught Chandra snapping photos.

Just before we left the train station we saw this Apache coming in for a landing. Of course we then had to search it out to get a look.

I'm not sure what it was doing here. It's possible they were getting ready to roll it into the convention center.

We safely left our bikes in the capable hands of the folks manning the bike corral.

Having the corral available made for a pleasant visit. Last year I walked my bike through the crowds.

Here's Chandra making friends.

Fort Worth aka Panther City

I don't know who they were but they played a nice rendition of Tumbling Tumbleweeds.

Nice setup!

After taking in the sights at the festival we headed south to Spiral Diner. Chandra is a vegetarian so this is the first place that came to mind.

I had a portabello quesadilla. Since this is a vegan restaraunt there was no cheese in the thing but whatever the substitute was, it was tasty.

Chandra rode back to the train station on his new Rohloff equipped Thorn Nomad. This is a serious touring bike. The placement of the front brake behind the fork was something that I hadn't seen before. I suppose its to prevent interference from the panniers.

Fort Worth Main Street Arts Festival

The rain started to clear up this morning so I decided to ride downtown and check out the Fort Worth Main Street Arts Festival. The weather reports indicated that the sun was supposed to make an appearance today but it was still gloomy when I rolled out of the house.

I was hoping that we wouldn't have any more rain today. It sprinkled a little as I rode towards downtown but that was about it. I packed a grocery bag to cover my Brooks saddle and a trash bag to cover my cameras and other junk just in case.

I have had more problems with drivers in this area than anywhere else in town. This is Cantey Street just west of University Drive (on the north side of the T.C.U. campus). These college kids don't seem to pay attention to the road.

I had to cut through a churchyard at College Avenue and Page Avenue.

I ran across this shop at College Avenue and Jefferson Avenue. I didn't see a sign on the building but they had some neat stuff. 

The new bike lanes on Magnolia Avenue.

High speed action shot

There was a good crowd in attendance and a pretty diverse crowd at that. I saw everything from cowboy hats to mowhawks.

This is a great idea! Especially since I didn't bring my own hand sanitizer.

Ballet Folklorico. I heard the mariachi music and had to find the source. Unfortunately it wasn't a live band. I love mariachi music. My uncle used to play in a mariachi band when I was a kid. I can't explain it but when I hear "Ay Jalisco No Te Rajes" I get chocked up.

What is it?

The ride home. As soon as I arrived at the house the sun broke through the clouds. It's okay Istill had a great time.