Tell us about your best ride of the year

[indysteel]

My husband and I met at a charity bicycle ride - and our first date was on our bikes. So when we started to plan our DIY wedding, we knew it would have a bicycle theme.

So here's a few shots of my best ride of the year - my wedding day. Most of our 85 guests rode with us on our "first ride as husband and wife." We'd restored the vintage Schwinn Twin tandem.

Favor bags for our guests included red bicycle bells, the lyrics to "Daisy Bell," his (Cliff) and her (Luna) bars, bicycle wine charms, packets of daisy seeds and much more all in hand stamped bags with his, her or tandem bikes based on the guest. And we raided our house and garden to decorate the stone hall with bicycle accessories. My best friend commissioned an artist to hand blow the red bicycle glass wine goblets (I'm a amateur glass blower).

The photographer, who was awesome and rode as stoker with a friend (her first ride on a tandem) to capture the ride photo's, has more pix at http://marywyar.com/blog/2010/10/jacqueline-mike.html

That's awesome. Congrats to you both. May you have many happy days--and rides--ahead of you.

P.S. My DH and I met at a charity ride ourselves! That's the way to do it!!!!

[Catrin]

Congratulations and may the both of you have many happy years and happy miles together! Great pictures, for sure. Thank you for sharing them with us.

[Bike Writer]

What awesome wedding pictures! How nice.

[NickiSue]

It was the first ride of the year with friends. Perfect day, lovely paths and trails. Not too long, about 10 miles. Funny at times, like when i stopped for the first time and forgot i was in clips. Thank goodness I was off trail in the grass. It was the first ride for my good friend after hip surgery! She did great. One of the nicest paths is along the Willamtte River.

[bluebug32]

Between an injury and planning a wedding, I didn't ride much this summer. My favorite ride, however, was the day after my wedding. We got married in a small Vermont town that has a hundred miles of singletrack. After years of vacationing there, we've watched the trail system gradually grow. The day after the wedding, we slipped soft gloves over our shiny new jewelry and headed to our beloved trails. We'd finally traded tuxedos and corset-backed dresses for baggy shorts, and we giggled like children as we whizzed through mud puddles, flying over rocks and roots as our tires settled into the familiar grooves.