Sunday, April 13, 2008

Off the Road Again

I love my hybrid but the bike pictured isn't it-it's my new mountain bike. The first time I ever went off road it was with Michele at a DORBA beginner's clinic. I road a Bianchi hybrid-fixed fork at the time. I miss that old bike still. It was a hybrid, then a big hit mountainbike (I was into overkill in those days), then it got slicks, then it went back to being a road bike. I spent a zillion dollars on parts outfitting it for just the right thing, but it was never quite right for any of them. I finally traded it in when the gears just gave up the ghost and it wasn't reliable any more. In their defense, learning to shift gears is probably very hard on an entry level bike.



Oklahoma has quite a lot of trails, and Texas is right down the road, and I'm looking forward to getting out there again. Thanks for the push MIM


I did get some good bike karma. When I stopped riding, I sold my bikes because I didn't want them sitting around unused. I sold them to people who knew what they were and appreciated the price-other bike enthusiasts. Yesterday I wandered in with all my specs to my local bike shop and was presented with this Cannondale Caffiene F3. After a bit more research called them and got it and the new saddle.



It is hard being 5'5''. I'm too big for a small women's bike, and they never EVER have small frame men's bikes in anything but entry level. Yet, on this day, they did, local, and it was the last 07 model they had, so I got it at a good price. (verified that it was before I bought it).



So, for now, my stable is complete. I have the mountainbike for trails, I have the hybrid for road, and that cruiser is not going anywhere. I have the dog walker thing hooked up to it....and if someone wants to ride but doesn't have a bike, that's the one they'll get.



I'm thinking about doing a car free month in May-what do you think????





5 comments:

soulbrush said...

what do i think? i think that your stable is definitely full what with bikes, parrots, dogs and snakes, i'd say soon your cup may runneth over lol...a car free month is good!

Debra Kay said...

I dunno, I still have the saddle but no horse...it remains to be seen if that is a dream I let die, or a flight of fancy I aborted before I got in too deep.

I just can't take care of a horse myself in my current location, and paying someone else to feed and have a relationship with my horse doesn't feel like what I want to do either.

Although it doesn't always appear so, I do try to balance myself so that the animals I have get plenty of attention and care. If I had to leave the house for a couple of hours every day to take proper care of a horse, the little dogs would suffer because they couldn't go.

With the bikes, I ride around the neigbhorhood a lot and either take some dogs with me or at least let the roam in the backyard. A horse would mean hours each day that the dogs would have to wait for me to come home, not what I want for them.

I still think about buying land-but that has problems too. Then I'm 40 miles away from my folks and John. I'm a pretty strong believer in picking a center operations base and living your life around that area-at least the day to day stuff.

Would I be in this particular area if it weren't for my parents and John? I doubt it, but maybe this is exactly where I need to be and it's certainly where I've chosen to be.

Mim said...

Most often things happen at the right time, but it's hard to wait.
I got the TREK 6700 womans size bike, small actually, and it fit's well, even tho I am 5'5" also. I think it's because I have short legs for the rest of me, so fitting a bike to my legs is the best thing. Mountain bike, hardtail.
Just went on line and bought a great assortment of padded shorts and a few tops! Thanks for the tip Deb, great web site.
I am tempted to ride part of the way to work, it's only 5 miles from tony's club and I could park there. Still a little fearful on the roads tho -- and with no shower directly at work, it could be yucky, But we are planning to meet at a trail halfway between home and office and do some rides in the early evening.

BoiledEggIn aDeckchair said...

I want you to know this is the best deckchair I have ever seen and I've seen a few.

Debra Kay said...

Mim, that was one of the bikes I had on my list. I had a full suspension Trek Fuel, but it never fit right and I stopped riding as a result. Ironically, I would stand up everytime I went over a bump (defeats the purpose of the FS) so I had none of the benefit and ALL of the weight of a FS. And frankly, I wasn't riding over anything that really needed FS-I'm a big wussy puff.

Boiled Egg, I'm glad you got unfolded from your deck chair and are back. I've missed you.