My new BIKE and other updates

So yesterday after a really rough day at work (my main reservation system was down all day, ALL DAY, and I had to stick around waiting until a tech IMed me at the end of the day) David took me to our local bike shop.

And look what followed us home! We’re keepin’ em!

My bike is a Specialized Crossroads Sport Step-thru (that’s what they call women’s bikes now) and David’s is a Specialized Allez Elite. He’s serious about road riding, I’m just getting back in the saddle (heh).

I still have a mountain bike that I haven’t ridden in at least a year or two; chiefly because when I did ride, I felt like I was putting a lot of stress on my arms and wrists and my hands would start to go numb and feel like I was wearing softball mitts or cartoon hands. With all the riding David’s been doing, I’m interested in riding too – but I’m realistic in not thinking I’m going to be much more than a recreational rider. Also, I decided on the step-through frame because I’ve found it awkward to mount a bike when I’m in good shape, and I’m not in very good shape now (all that hard work at the gym 2 years ago wasted).

I test-rode several bikes at Bike Connection, starting from the lower end, and worked my way up to this one. Decided I didn’t even want to try a full-on mountain bike; I wanted something that was suited to bike routes, paved paths, and crushed gravel that was lighter and had less rolling resistance. With this bike, I can jump on and ride over to Poplar Creek (or down to Busse Woods) easily. I’m planning on riding the Tour de Cure next year (probably the 20 mile, may up that to the 35 mile if I stick with a riding routine through the summer (and figure something out for the winter, maybe).

In the meantime, I’m looking forward to riding around the village. There are bike paths and routes under construction or being planned. Some of the maps are out of date; there’s a brand new bike path coming up Higgins that’s gotten as far as Roselle, and David says they’re building a bridge between the sections of Busse Woods Forest Preserve that’s presently served by a very, very busy crosswalk.

I may be taking a friend over to look at bikes tomorrow after church .

Other Stuffs

We had a nice Fourth of July with my bro-in-law Dan; bison burgers out on the patio. We haven’t used the patio much in the last few years, it was a nice time. There was a nice bookend the last couple of weekends; a memorial dedication and a family get-together, and the next week a surprise birthday party with a family get-together.

There’s a lot to look forward to in the family now, as we’re doing a shared vacation in August (WOOOO, VACATION). More on that later, but the tentative plans are to fly into Seattle August 18, do touristy stuff and see friends for a few days, go to Victoria, possibly stop off at Olympic National Park, then head to Idaho to see more family. Kind of epic, and I may have to sit down with a map and my husband and father-in-law and show them just how much driving they’re enthusiastically building into this vacation! However, I’m thinking we might need to do Victoria on the high-speed passenger ferry from Seattle and a package deal from there, and may have to skip the Olympic Peninsula… otherwise, it’s a marathon of driving, unpacking, and driving. However, there are passenger ferries and so on, though no longer a car ferry between Seattle and Victoria any more, it seems.

I’ve spotted a couple of interesting places to stay but will probably have to confirm places by working backwards; I haven’t decided yet which direction we’ll do a big loop that might get us from Seattle to Victoria to Port Angeles and back to Seattle, before taking off east toward Ho-De-Ay. For various reasons I’d like to have a Saturday night in Victoria, which would probably mean doing the loop in counter-clockwise fashion. Or it could be Seattle-Port Angeles-Seattle with a ferry excursion from there, aughghghgh but the ferry from Anacortes is so much more scenic. See what I mean? Augh.