Me: “Hi, I’m calling to ask if you rent bikes?”

Bike Shop Guy: “Um, let me check”

Let you check, huh? What does that mean?

Bike Shop Guy: [pause] “Uh yeah we have bikes to rent”

Me: “Ok, any details”

Bike Shop Guy: “Um, let me check”

Bike Shop Guy: [5minutes later…] ok so we have a Trek hybrid size 16 available and thats $35/day or $32/week… we also have a …. we also have a…

Me: Ok, I’ll reserve the Trek hybrid 16″.

Arrive at the shop at 4:30pm the next day, its not ready and have to wait 30min for the quick bike check. Not only that, the shop closes at 6pm so I’m paying $35 for an hour’s ride on a hybrid. Maybe I can keep it and take a couple hour ride in the morning and drop it off before my flight. Nope. Flight leaves at 9am but the shop doesn’t open until 10am.

I’m a cyclist. Maybe not a pro but at least like to play the part. All I’m asking for is a little help here. Is there some way when I can’t bring my own bike that I can sneak in a ride on a decent bike. It doesn’t have to be a top of the line ride but just something to keep the fitness up.

So I’m going through the classifieds and websites looking for a spring house rental property to get away from the cold winter weather. Also thinking about how I get somewhere and find some place so I can ride while I’m there.

I head out to some of the better known sites for housing rental and I start to filter into something that fits my ideal location. I start thinking, wait, why can’t I do this with a bike rental. Why is it any different. People are out there renting out their extra house so why not rent out their extra bikes. They’re sitting there in the stable of bikes collecting dust. While you might not rent out the A bike… you do have the B, C, D… rides that are perfect.