This is my new bike! I can't tell you how excited I am to ride it! My buddy Wes from NGU emailed me a couple weeks back to let me know that he was going to get rid of this bike. He had started biking a while back, but never really gotten into it as much as he thought he would. By reading through my blog, and talking to me at different times - he knew that I really enjoyed to cycle.
After talking to Wes, our friend Dana called us and asked if we knew of anyone who was selling a bike, because her friend was just getting into the sport and needed something inexpensive. If you have followed my blog very closely this year, you know that I had gotten a new play it again sports bike a few months back. You see where this is going right? Yea, Erin saw it coming too.
We were able to sell the Trek bike for exactly what we bought it for, which meant I now had some spending money to go back to Wes and make an offer on the Allez bike. The reality is, I couldn't offer him nearly what it is worth, but the dude took what I offered him anyway, and he gave me all kinds of extras like a computer, shoes, clips, a pump, a chain tool, water bottles and water cages! What a guy huh?
As far as the bike goes, it was such a great gift you gave me to allow me to buy it for basically nothing. I have ridden it only a couple times seriously, so I am still figuring out what I like best about it. The real deal is that the bike is incredible. It seems light as a feather, it shifts really well, and it has enough low gears that I can pull my girls in the bike trailer without feeling like my legs are being dipped in a volcano again and again.
The computer on it seems to be really sweet, but I can't quite figure out how to use it. Hopefully Wes has an owners manual somewhere on it, because right now I feel like a caveman with a stick when I try to use it. The shoes are probably a size too big, but the gearing of the bike means that I don't have to work the pedals nearly as hard as I have been in the past, so they will be just fine.
I would like to buy a new helmet that would match the new bike. This is purely a pride thing, but basically my bike now is like the cool kid at school who doesn't want to hang out with the loser helmet kid it used to hang out with. All in all, I am very appreciative for it and want Wes to know that I am going to get a ton of use out of it...
THANK YOU!
Erin and I were driving around on Saturday, and I randomly convinced her to swing by Play it again sports to look for a road bike for her. To make a long story short, we bought a TREK 1200 in great shape for $199. It is a bit older bike than the one in the picture, but in great condition. It has Shimano 105 shifters on the downtube, which is very old school, and different to get used to.
We got home, and soon found that really the bike frame was really too large for Erin, and therefore I had just bought myself another bike. My Mongoose Pro Morzine was a great buy a year ago, but it has been a little too small for me. We spent some time while the girls were napping switching some things over, and decided to take them out for a spin.
As a side story, Erin has recently fallen in love with Craig's list. She was able to find someone in town that wanted to even swap our single bike trailer for a double for a double bike trailer/combo jogger unit. Nice work Erin!
Erin has never ridden a road bike, but she wanted to go to our freinds the Turner's who live about 10 miles away. (10.2 miles we found out) The new TREK is only a double, where the Mongoose is a triple. This would be the first time I had ever pulled the girls in anything other than a moutain bike. It soon became the equalizer between Erin and I.
We flew along, but I was hurting the whole way. What a workout! We got up to 34mph on some of the downhills, but climbing was painful. When it was all said and done, we averaged out at 12mph, Erin loves her new bike, and I like the bigger frame size much better. I got used to the different shifters, and to pulling the extra weight. We barely made it home before dark, I was exhausted, and loved every minute of it.
Look out world! After I get used to training with the trailer, imagine what I can do after unhooking it!