Bikes and Brews

Now, I don’t cycle.  In fact, I’ve always strongly disliked biking, mostly thanks to a traumatizing all-day 6th grade class bike trip on a gravel trail.  How they could assume inexperienced cyclists could go from casual cul-de-sac biking to a full 10 hour outdoor bike excursion is beyond me.  Still bitter with my mom for making me go, but let’s save that one for therapy one day.  I’m not necessarily scared of the bike or would even say that I can’t, I just mostly choose not to.  Slight stubbornness, mixed with a lack of motivation, I really have only been on a bike once (you can read that hilarious post here) in the past, oh, at least 15 years.

Then, came this notion of “the summer of us”, a reprise of the summer of 2006 with my best friends Jessica and Vanessa.  We were young, carefree, a few of us single, and perhaps a bit lost.  It was, somehow, one of those near perfect summers where we experienced as much as we could.  And so, a decade later, we attempted to recreate this as best we could.  In a far more basic adult way, we made a list of activity ideas and had to all get out our calendars in May and block out certain days for each proposed event.  The grand finale of it all, was something called ‘Bikes and Brews’, a cycling tour through East Vancouver to a bunch of different breweries.

I was trying to stick to the general messaging behind the summer of us, which was keeping an open mind and getting a bit outside of the comfort zone.  So, naturally, in order to prepare for Bikes and Brews, I avoided thinking about it until the hours before we were to begin.  I was absolutely plagued with anxiety all morning and even had to call my mommy for a pep talk.  She instead reminded me of that dreaded 6th grade bike trip and confirmed that I’ve always hated/never been good at biking.  It was all kinds of helpful (jokes mom, love ya).  I knew in my sane brain that I was being ridiculous, but when anxiety takes over, logic and reason are just out the window.

THE TOUR:

33 Acres – Main Street – Brassneck – Bomber – Storm – Dinner at Cuchillo

We started out in our neck of the woods so that we could get a few drinks in before the ‘long’ portion of biking (which, in hindsight really wasn’t far at all).  The initial meeting location was 33 Acres, one of my absolute favourite spots in the city!  We ran into some friends and despite the fact that their AC was broken and we were all sweating buckets, we had a blast.

Next, we journeyed only a few blocks over to Main Street Brewing Co. where we enjoyed another pint (I’m not a beer drinker, so I do wine/cider when possible).  We also had a bite to eat, as the heat and hunger were so real.  We left our bikes locked up there and walked the block and half over to Brassneck, where a few of our friends were hanging out.  It just so happened that one couple had JUST gotten engaged that morning too, which was a really special surprise!

We took bike-friendly 7th Ave and then veered left onto Woodland, cut around the park on McLean and across Venables to get to Bomber Brewing.  Their air conditioning and live feed of the Tragically Hip’s final show was much appreciated after the giant hill on 7th!

Though Kelly and Jessica’s proposed brew tour included many more locations, our last stop of the day ended up being Storm Brewing.  I’d try to describe the space to you, but it’s one of those unique Vancouver spots that you just need to experience for yourself.  You can sample their experimental beers by donation, which included fun flavours like mango (so good, and I’m not even a beer drinker), grapefruit, and even jalapeño!

Officially very hungry, we biked the Powell Street Overpass to Railtown to have dinner at Cuchillo.  We feasted on tacos and queso dip and recapped a super fun day of bikes and brews!  Glad I got over my hesitations and besides an incredibly sore behind, ended up enjoying it!  I’ve even been looking to purchase a bike for short rides within the city, something I never thought I’d be doing.  It was one of my favourite days this summer, and something I highly recommend doing in Vancouver if you haven’t already!