This Bicycle Club is Built for Comfort, not Speed

Published January 31, 2006 by Dallas Morning News
By PAULA LAVIGNE

I obeyed the one rule; I did not wear spandex.

I showed up, trying to look as un-biker chick as possible, among the
hip crowd in front of Taco Diner in West Village.

As day
turned to dusk on a recent Sunday, the rest of the cyclists rolled up
to the corner. There was Donovan Dawson, the 34-year-old pioneer and
leader of this ride, wheeling up in his red-rimmed black low-rider
custom bicycle, complete with fuzzy red dice and a lady-silhouette air
freshener.

“Very truckeresque,” Mr. Dawson mused.

Then there was Kate Kyle, the 28-year-old dancer from Oak Lawn. Her
refined appearance and her bling would have made her a better candidate
for a night at the opera than a bike ride through Dallas.

“Boom-ka-chug. Boom-ka-chug. Boom, boom, boom,” roared the stereo in a
trailer pulled by John Weidenfeller, 37, who left his corporate
stuffed-shirt lifestyle behind in the suburbs. Colored lights on his
spokes swirled in floral and star patterns as he pedaled along.

As the crowd grew, several cyclists prepped for the ride by chugging
bottles of beer; a couple snagged cups of ice cream.

No bananas and Gatorade here.

Yes, if you’re a hard-core, spandex-wearing cycling purist who records
your cadence and keeps track of your electrolytes, then the Uptown
Cycles club could catch you off guard.

There is no
gabbing about carbon vs. titanium forks or the latest Shimano shifters.
And, as stated, that stretchy material is forbidden.

They
launch from Uptown and tour different parts of Dallas, including
downtown, Oak Cliff, South Dallas and Deep Ellum. About 45 cyclists – a
larger-than-average group – joined our five-mile Sunday trek to the
Blue Goose on Greenville Avenue and back.

The rides are
generally less than 10 miles, and they’re slow, seeing as you’re
winding through Dallas streets mingling with dozens of other cyclists.

The pack does a little bar-hopping and ends up at State and Allen Lounge, where Mr. Dawson springs for pizza.

While this type of riding isn’t going to
help you make that 15-pounds-by-summer New Year’s resolution, it’s
better than just snarfing french fries on the couch.

“My
strategy is really to build a strong base of recreationalists,” said
Mr. Dawson, a former oil and gas futures trader who, uh, shifted gears
in his career. He’s after people who enjoy the social aspects of
cycling.

Even if his rides aren’t really workouts, he
said, they might get more people into casual cycling, and that could
lead to longer rides and, someday, joining the sweaty spandex crowd.

To further that goal, he plans to open a bike shop this spring near the
intersection of McKinney Avenue and Blackburn Street.

The
light went off for Mr. Dawson when he realized he was driving a
half-hour to Richardson to go on bike rides sponsored by Richardson
Bike Mart.

“I thought, ‘Man, how come we can’t start a
group down here?’ Well, there’s really no bike shop in the Uptown
area,’ ” he said.

Catering to the Uptown crowd required a different approach.

“Dallas is a very chichi, froufrou place,” he said. “I’ve got to make
it cool so people in their Seven jeans will actually hop on a bike.”

True, but don’t assume that the rides are full of only hip, trendy
people. For cycling, a rather middle-class white man’s sport, the
Uptown Cycles ride was amazingly diverse in race, age, geography and
occupation.

Among our motley crew we had bike couriers
and a college professor, Deep Ellum dwellers and Arlington commuters.

Some riders wore jeans, sweatshirts and helmets, while others,
including Mr. Weidenfeller, dressed up a bit. He wore a too-short
fur-covered vest and a helmet decorated with assorted doodads,
including pink feathers, a Madonna button, a wine cork and layers of
multicolored sequins.

Most had bikes with fat tires,
including commuter bikes, hybrids and mountain bikes. (I had a road
bike, and with it the frustration of skinny tires that fared poorly
with all the potholes, brick streets, trolley tracks and curbs.)

The ride’s eclectic vibe and slow pace also attracted several vintage
bicycles and collectors, including Matt “Daddy” Colman, who lives in
Plano.

Among his collectables is a 1971 Schwinn Manta
Ray, with banana seat. There were other restored bikes, including an
early 1980s Sears model that one cyclist had salvaged out of a scrap
heap, polished up and adorned with a bell.

“It’s not at
all like ‘Who’s got the most expensive, fanciest bike?’ ” said Mr.
Colman, a 34-year-old bike store manager. “It’s not about bragging
rights. We just want to ride our bikes and have a good time.”

Another collector, 36-year-old Dave Seiden, who lives in a loft near
Fair Park, said he learned about the ride through a friend. Cycling,
drinking and eating seemed to be a pretty decent way to spend a Sunday
night, so he signed up.

“I’ve gotten to meet a lot of
quality people that I would not have before,” he said. “It’s something
everybody should try at least once.”

E-mail plavigne@dallasnews.com