The first ride to Sibley's Women and Transgender Night was so much fun, we decided we are going to do it every month!  It was an adventure not without incident though.  =]

Jamie and I left Sunrise Cyclery at 6:10, to meet up with Susan at the Midtown Greenway Freewheel.  Jamie peeled off to go home, and Susan and I rolled out to the Sabo Bridge to pick up Kat.  Our group of three rode east on the Greenway, south on West River Road, and across the Lake Marshall Bridge.

Well, Kat and I made it across- Susan's front tire picked up a nail and she flat-ed out.  I was almost happy that this happened so we could practice our skills!  (I am a weirdo like that.)  After Susan removed her tire and tube I started to patch the two (entrance and exit) punctures. While I was sanding away, a huge dark cloud moved in, along with gusts of wind that were threatening to blow away my wrenches!  The sky was looking wicked and we were in a hurry to get to Sibley before we got caught in a downpour... but we had to wait for the glue to vulcanize.

Raindrops started to fall as we were finishing up, but I am happy to report that the deluge miraculously held off until we were safely inside Sibley.

The ride was 9.9 miles, door to door, and even with our mechanical issue and relaxed pace, we got to Sibley at 7:30- plenty of time to wrench before they closed at 9.

When we arrived we were greeted by Alicia and Ashanti and given a tour of the shop, including the magical Bike Cave!  All of the folks were really friendly and were all working on different projects.  Their shop was amazingly clean and organized.

Susan had the good fortune of also breaking a spoke on the bridge, so we threw her ride in the stand, took off the wheel and evaluated the situation.  It was easy to find the right spoke size because of how organized the parts were at Sibley.  Alicia helped us use a cassette cog removal tool, chain whip and a big wrench with a cheater bar to get the cassette off so Susan could replace her spoke.  (They always have to break on the cassette side...)  I got to use the word "nipple" about 20 times during this procedure, which was awesome.  Susan did a bang-up job with the spoke replacement and was able to reassemble her cassette while I assisted by hovering and fetching tools.

Susan ended up taking the bus home to save some time.  When Kat and I left the building the ground was wet, but it wasn't raining and the wind had died down allowing for a really pleasant ride home.

I really liked Sibley's Women and Trans night for quite a few reasons.  Alicia and Ashanti were helpful and accommodating, and the other folks in the shop were really friendly and just had the best attitudes.  I also love that they have a couch and tunes for just hanging out, too.

If you are available next month, June 1st, you should join us and check it out for yourself!

Photos used with permission via: http://www.flickr.com/photos/coolaskimdeal/