Mmmm, Bike.

Sun May 25 20:05:29 EDT 2003

wanderlust "Wanderlust" is a good word, eh ?

No-one succeeded in convincing me not to get the bike I ordered. I believe your time is up. I am now the happy owner of a Specialized Rockhopper, 21", blue.

It came in on 5/22. I'd been planning on waiting till the weekend to pick it up. But I realized the bike shop (Back Bay Bicycles) was only 1.7 miles from work, plus I work by a subway station, and the bike shop is by a subway station. So I took the subway over on my lunch break. I expected to just grab the bike and hop on the road. Of course it didn't turn out quite like that. I needed a lock. I knew this. I thought I should've ordered one from nashbar when I ordered my bike, because people keep telling me they have the best prices, but I didn't. So I basically had to buy a lock at the shop when I picked up my bike. I was planning on buying one of those Kryptonite U locks, and locking it around the frame and front wheel, leaving the rear wheel unlocked, like I'd seen so many people do (I'd been looking). Lance, the guy who sold me my bike, tried to sell me Kryptonite locking skewers as well. Skewers are the the bolt & nut type things that hold the wheels and seat post on. Locking skewers have heads that can only be turned with a keyed wrench that they come with. So I wouldn't need to worry about locking my front wheel, and in addition, my rear wheel and seat would also be secure, so I'd be more comfortable buying a nicer saddle. Sounded nice, but I told him I didn't have my backpack with me, and I needed to ride my bike back to work. He said oh this stuff all goes on the bike (duh). I said what, are you going to install it for me ? He said yeah, 10 minutes, and a 20% discount. Very good.

And the prices even came out better than Nashbar's, before shipping. But I'm guessing the 20% discount had something to do with me paying full asking price for the bike.

$524.99 for the bike, $95.32 for locks and a bike map. Free tune ups for life (big part of why I picked this shop).

While waiting for the new parts to be installed, they had me try on about 8 helmets. All too small as expected. I once returned an XL hat because it was crushing my head. Need to find somebody with a Bell Kinghead helmet in stock and try it on.

Still need head light, tail light, rear rack (do they make racks w/ tail lights, or that are designed to connect??), gloves, blindingly bright jacket, watter bottle(s) and cage(s), semi-slick tires that are better on the street... I think that's it for now. Suggestions on specific makes and models would be very appreciated.

I'm curious if Shimano clipless sandals are worthy of living in. I've heard good things about them. If a couple people tell me they'd survive active use as normal sandals, that might just get me into clipless.

As hinted, I rode the bike to work from the shop. Scary. My legs got all puffy from the exercise of running away from cars. Yay. And I got to learn the joy of getting off the road when you've made a wrong turn, and walking back to where you're supposed to be, very quickly.

After work, as I was trying to figure out how to use my freaking lock, I discovered there was no kickstand. There was one on the demo model. I figured it had been stolen or the shop forgot to install it. Both kind of upsetting. Turns out it didn't come with one. Then I decided I didn't care. I think I've gotten the hang of the lock now, after using it a bit - it really isn't that bad.

I rode the 4.4 miles home, mostly on Mass. Ave.. Lived. I'll do it again. A co-worker commented that I chose a poor day to start biking. Slight drizzle all day. A number of people have made negative comments about this weather. I really don't mind it. I just don't like the fear that it might downpour.

Last night I biked 1.8 miles to a party, because I expected busses to have stopped by the time I left. I planned to get soaked on the way over, so I brought a change of clothes in a plastic bag. Showed up mostly dry. Party ended early, and a friend offered a ride home. So it turned out I really shouldn't have brought the bike (busses were still running), but we got the bike in the back of their car. Figuring out where to put my bike when I ride it to a friend's house is more complicated than I expected.

Today I finally got my bike on the bike trail (which is just a couple blocks from home). While I was eating lunch at the Dunkin Doughnuts / Baskin Robbins, which is wonderfully placed right on the bike trail, I was, for some odd reason, considering turning back. Then I realized I was half way to the end of the trail, and went for it. It also said there was a bike shop at the end of the trail, and I'd been wanting to stop at one (in hopes of getting some of the above mentioned needed items).

Bike shop at the end of the bike trail has no bike racks to lock to ?!?. Weird. They also didn't have anything I felt the urge to buy.

I started to head back, then I realized I needed to know what happened to the train tracks that the bike path was mostly built on. Partially because the bike map has this little dashed line labeled "Old RR grade". I found it. Dirt path. Beautiful. Lost it at 2.6 miles (of dirt path), next to 402 Concord Rd.. People on the dirt path were a lot more friendly. A guy I ran into twice said that the path does continue on, for about 4 miles of dirt - where I lost it, he said it goes around the yard that it looks like it should go through. So I'll look more some day. Wouldn't recommend taking a pure street bike through there. Found a number of interesting signs: There were a number of forks in the path that looked very worth exploring, especially into the Elm Brook thing. The National Wildlife Refuge said no humans allowed :(

The guy who told me the path I was on continued, also told me there was another one that was nicer, near the end of the paved trail, pass a cvs, next to a pizza express. Need to look into that too.

I took almost a 1 hour hot bath when I got home. Currently a little sore. Need to do a lot more of this.

Anybody care to show me good places to abuse a hardtail mountain bike ?
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