Since the holidays are upon us and the next two weekends will be filled with celebrating, this might be our last ride of the 2011 year. This time we were met up by our good friend Brittany. Having recently moved back from Tucson, Arizona, she was able to join us for her first Sunday Funday bike ride.  After parking at our usual spot, we debated on where our first pit stop would be. We thought of a couple of different spots, but that Irish Coffee from the Gaf just sounded too good. Unable to resist, we made our way to the Gaf. We grabbed some fun Santa hats to show off our festive attitudes, and they were a hit with everyone as we rode by! Everyone waved and shouted Merry Christmas!  After a small bite to eat and a couple of Irish Coffees, we made our way back to the Plaza.  We lucked out and had pretty fantastic weather for our bike ride.  We stopped in at Kona for a drink before heading up to Old Westport to stop in at Fric and Frac.  We fueled up and enjoyed some good ol’ comfort food while enjoying another drink as the sun started to set.  It was dark and getting cooler as we all rode back to our car.  Not yet ready to end the evening, we grabbed some snacks and wine at the grocery store before camping out in front of our TV to watch Zombieland.  It was a great Sunday Funday to round out the 2011 year!

In the past year, we have done quite a bit. 5K’s, adventure races, marathons, Tweed ride, Halloween ride and countless other events. It was certainly a glorious year, and we definitely had a lot of fun. For those of you that have joined us or invited us, we just want to send you a great big THANK YOU for helping us make this a fantastic year! We have made many new friends in 2011, and we hope to see more of you in 2012.  Next year we have already planned a jammed pack list and I’m sure we will be adding to that as the year develops.  Please join us as we hope to make 2012 even better than the previous year!  Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year to you all!

M&C!

Clips of Faith is a fun event to showcase indie films submitted by aspiring filmmakers touring 18 cities in the country as they display some of the New Belgium Lips of Faith beers.  We were so excited for Clips of Faith to come to Kansas City and had been looking forward to attending the event for months, even as it was scheduled for the night before we were to get married. Christopher rode his Cutter to my office on the Plaza Thursday after work, and we rode together to Spin! Pizza for dinner and drinks before venturing over to Theis Park.  We were one of the first to arrive, and we let the bicycle valet team park our bikes among the many racks awaiting all of the other cyclists to come.  We checked out the many vendors who had set up camp under tents, and we were so happy that it was such a gorgeous evening for the event.  So many of our friends were able to meet up with us as well as a slew of other bicycle advocates we seem to run into at each cycling adventure.  One thing we love about the cycling community is how friendly and accepting everyone is!  BikeWalkKC even gave us an honorary membership as a gift for our wedding!  Christopher and I got to sample many of the introductory beers, and we had a chance to brew our own concoction at one of the booths.  As the evening turned into night, they began playing the indie films on a big projector on the lawn of the park, and many gathered on blankets  or huddled together to watch.   Clips of Faith was a hit here in Kansas City, and we would love to see New Belgium bring their Tour de Fat to our home town one day very soon!  Check out pictures below of the fun time we had!

Christopher and Mandy Beltz

 

It has been over a month since we have been on any kind of bike ride. With the cold settling in and the craziness of the holiday parties and get-togethers, there was little time for us to get back outside and ride.

We finally had enough and were putting our foot down. We were going to get outside and ride. It was a brisk 32 degrees fahrenheit on Sunday early afternoon. We bundled up and headed to Westport. We were only there for a couple of hours, but at least we got some riding in. We stopped for coffee, played around in the park, and browsed at Barnes & Noble.  It was cold, but well worth it. Something about the cool crisp air just makes you feel alive. Old man winter can’t keep us down!

Hey All, Christopher here.
This Sunday we needed to take it VERY VERY easy. Mandy just ran the Kansas City marathon the day before and needless to say, her legs were still a bit sore, but as stubborn as she is, she still wanted to get out and ride around a little bit. Granted, a little bike riding will definitely help to get out the lactic acid. So we got up fairly early and headed out to Westport to our usual spot. BUT, instead of coffee, a Bloody Mary sounded much better. So we hopped on down to one80, a quaint bar in the middle of Westport. Our friend Brent, who was recovering from a hangover, wasn’t too excited about joining us for a Bloody Mary, until he ordered one and realized they were yummy. This set the tone for the day. After having two Bloody Mary’s there, we went on down to the Bunker to do a little shopping. Upon walking back to the car with the merchandise we had, Brent informed us that McCoy’s had great Raspberry Wheat beer. Yup, we stopped in to have a pitcher. Finally, after 2 Bloody Mary’s and one glass of beer, we were able to get on our bikes and head to the Plaza. We probably rode about half way through the Plaza when Brent mentioned that a cigar sounded good. A bell went off in my head and I made a b-line to Diebels, knowing they had the best cigars. We purchased the cigars, but then needed a good place to smoke them. Hmm, where would a good open air spot to enjoy these? Where else but O’Dowds of course! So we went to O’Dowds to have a Guinness and enjoy our cigars. No, worries though, we did order some food. We finally got out to do some riding before the end of the day. We managed to get in about 5 miles but like I said, it needed to be an easy day for Mandy’s legs.

As always, we had a great time! Damn, I love our Sunday Fundays!

Hello peeps, Christopher here!
Mandy and I woke up to a cool beautiful Sunday morning and decided to head out to the Plaza Art Fair. We needed a break from the stressful week we had from dealing with the house and clean up after the microburst. The temperature was at 55 degrees and this is our idea of heaven. Fall is definitely our favorite time of the year. So we loaded up the bikes and headed out. We parked in Brookside to enjoy a nice, warm coffee and then proceeded to head on to the Art Fair. While we were there we met up with some people we know and love. Below are some pictures of the day.

We happened to run into my brother down there.

We also ran into our friends Stormy and Matreena!

Earlier in the day, we took some fun pictures of our bicycles.

In all, it was a great day to get out and enjoy the Fall weather!