1+1=N+1

So I had a bike I wasn’t using anymore and had no plans to ride every again after all the trouble it gave me for the year I rode it. I guess the worst parts was I bought it brand new and still had pay for all the repairs it needed which should have been under warranty. Needless to say I wasn’t happy and I sure wasn’t about to buy another bike from this dealer again. I’ll give them credit that they did try their best to treat me right by giving me a major break on the cost of these repairs but the fact still stands that I should not had to pay a nickel. Screw me once, silly me.

Now admittedly there was nothing wrong with my Scott winter bike. In fact it held up well and gave me zero trouble dealing with the ice, snow and freezing cold. Unlike the other bike that always had frozen shifters if it even got close to freezing. That was just another reason to hate that bike. The Scott was even a lot of fun playing in the dirt with. The only reason it was even going in on this deal was the fact, that it too, would end up not being ridden and I really didn’t need six bicycles. I mean how many can a guy ride at one time really?

I’ve got a real nice Cannondale road bike, a real cool older Cannondale Hybrid that is a lot of fun to cruise around on and this ultra cool vintage Cannondale mountain bike. So really I didn’t need these two bikes. What I did want though was a modern 29er mountain bike. So the plan was hatched to trade in the two old bikes and buy one. Hence the 1+1=N+1.

You might notice a trend here that all the bikes I was keeping are Cannondale’s and that is because like Harley’s they are hand built here in the USA. Well that was until 2010 when the little company that could sold out to some large cooperation who of course shipped productions and jobs overseas.  So as much as I wanted to hate them for this they at least kept design and research here. Not many brands even do that anymore.

Since I own all of these Cannondale’s I have devolved a very good relationship with the local dealer of them. And since they are not the same dealer that hosed me on the other bike it seemed only logical I buy the new bike from them. To say they made me a hell of a deal on this new quest would be an under statement in my mind. All little back and forth and the deal was made. When you buy a $890.00 bike for $510.00 I called that a pretty good deal. The bonus is I didn’t have to screw around trying to sell the two other bikes and all the headaches that involves.

So it’s only 10F here right now and a buddy just called and wants to have homemade pizza and beer at the little pub down the street so it sounds like a pretty good reason to hop on the new ride.

Let’s see if I can wipe this grin off my face! :)

    fasthair

Update: Got to go play in the dirt and mud today. This photo was early into the ride so it wasn’t very dirty yet. It was a complete mess by the end of my little romp.

That Was a First

One of the better things about winter cycling is there are no leave on the trees to block your view so you get to see more of the wild life. There is always the seemingly suicidal squirrels that like to always run across the path in front of me only to turn right around and run right back across. Maybe they like playing chicken or something? I don’t know but I’ve seen pictures of them getting caught in a bicycle wheel and it never ends pretty for the varmint or the cyclist. Anyway, I’ve seen this big red fox twice now in the past week. That’s not something a person would normally see in the middle of a big city. At least not around here. Or from behind the wheel of a car stuck in traffic for that matter. Of course he’s not like the squirrels because he is off like a, well like a fox. Of course there is always a bunch of dear too. Last spring on my way home I watched as a doe gave birth to a fawn. I must admit, that was a first too.

Had a flat this morning on the way in to work. I’ve had a lot of flats while out riding but that was the first while commuting to work. While flats are never fun, just like a motorcycle, at least you have a chance on a bicycle if you carry a spare tube and some sort of air installing device which I do. But as luck would have it I was a block away from a local bike shop and a bagel shop. So I grabbed a bagel and enjoyed my coffee as the shop fixed my tire. I just set outside in the warm sunshine with a smile on my face thinking it could be worse. The nineteen bucks it cost is still less than it takes to fill the tank on the motorcycle, much less the car!

It must be warming up because yesterday was the the first time THIS YEAR that I was yelled at and told “get on the paths!” Try as I might to catch her at the next stop light three or four blocks from where she yelled at me only missing her by about ten seconds. But I really just wanted to tell her that sometimes the paths don’t go where I want to go. If it was still cold she wouldn’t have rolled her passenger side electric window down to yell at me and just buzzed like she did instead only. Never mind there is a center turn lane that every other person passing me uses. I think she was mad because she had to wait three seconds to pass me because of the truck that was in the center turn lane wanting to, well turn. I would like to think maybe Aunt Flow was in town for a visit and it isn’t really me she dislikes. Yeah I’ll go with that.

Damn I’m enjoying this commuting by bicycle thing! I’ve got the itch for a new mountain bike too. It’s that N+1 thing don’tcha know. I went dirt riding last fall with a buddy for the first time since I was a kid and it was a blast! I may be to old to go flying off big jumps like I did back then. I’m also too old to be getting broken arms like a did when I was a kid. But I’m not to old to play in the dirt and get muddy just like little boys are supposed to do.

Writing that reminds me of a camping trip I did last summer. It had rained over the night time so there was standing water in the little holes of this gravel drive. I’m sitting at the picnic table and watching this little boy that is probably five or six years old riding his little bicycle. The first time he nears this little puddle I said watch this. Sure enough he rode right though the puddle popping a little wheel in order to make a splash so he would be a mess and get muddy. I watched him ride back and forth sometimes making sharp turns just to hit this puddle. Not once did he miss this puddle until he had splashed all the water out of it. I just laughed every time he went by thinking, I know that little boy. He was of course me at that age! Fun times those days were.

fasthair