Our afternoon with the "Purple Shutter" bike

Last week I got a great email from Rebecca Brown, the woman behind Bunch Family, the company that puts on groovy family-friendly parties like the Bunch Family Dance Party, the Bunch Family Salon, and other events that help us feel a little less like the lame-ass soccer moms and dads that we've become.

In yet another coup of cool, Bunch has snagged temporary custody of "The Purple Shutter," one of six such bikes in the world equipped with a camera that automagically takes pics wherever you go and uploads them to FlickR. It's all part of the Purple Pedals Project, aimed at showcasing people, places and events around the globe while promoting cycling.

Would I like to take the bike out for a spin? Hell ya! (That was me all pretending to be an up-for-anything outdoor-enthusiast instead of a fair-weather cyclist and lapsed long-distance runner.)

So on Sunday afternoon, the super-snazzy bike was delivered to our place (by Matt from the band, The Bicycles, no less). Cameron and I managed to find a window between torrential downpours for a ride about Bloor West Village, me on the Purple Shutter, and Cameron on his bike.

Cam's in that awkward cycling stage where the training wheels have become embarrassing, but are still needed, and the bike is getting a little too small. But nevertheless, we made our way down to Bloor Street, where we promptly decided we would go on a "cookie tour." OK, there were only two cookie stops (I can only allow so much spoiling of appetites for dinner), but it seemed appropriate enough given that there's almost a bakery for every person in our neighbourhood. We rode around trying to capture store fronts and people (although I think I may have been uploading a lot of pictures of the top of Cameron's red bicycle helmet). We hit local institution Bread and Roses and the relatively new but completely one-of-a-kind Sweet Flour. If you haven't been to Sweet Flour, it's worth the trip to Jane Station. You can customize your own cookie there, picking from three different kinds of dough and a huge variety of "mix-ins" from chocolate chips to figs. AND it's baked in just two minutes. Served hot. YUM!

In between baked goods, we talked to people in our neighbourhood. The Purple Shutter — with her huge white tires, shiny purple paint and decorations — caught everyone's attention. Everybody wanted to know what the bike was all about (or maybe it was just that we were menacing to passers-by because we were riding on the sidewalk — in my defense, Bloor is no street for a kid in training wheels).

Anyway, you TOO could have a chance to take the Purple Shutter on a ride with your family. All you've gotta do is visit this post on the Bunch Family website and share what parts of Toronto you'd like to explore on this very special bike. Check it out!

Comments

[David Pylyp]

Love those fresh baked cookies from Sweet Flour

They are fabulous and the store front opens during warm weather to tease the passers by.

Marvelous Marketing!

Check them put for yourself
http://sweetflour.ca/