Toy Fund is Dwindling

Today is Friday, it's a payday, it's chicken pizza day, the weather is supposed to be gorgeous and I bought a new bike yesterday. If you combine all of those factors, I plan on having today be a great day. That is, aside from the work part.

Last night I headed out to The Arcadian Shop early for my weekly run in Kennedy Park. I went over early to check out some trail shoes, as mine were falling apart rapidly. The guy set me up with a pair (oh man, they are great!) and I had about an hour to kill, so I asked him about bikes. I told him I was thinking about getting a cyclocross bike (not a hybrid like most people think) that would let me ride roads easily but also give me the flexibility to ride dirt roads and even trails if I wanted. He showed me a few that they had, and was of course steering me towards the most expensive one. After fitting me for the frame size, he went downstairs to look for a slightly smaller one and they had one of last year's models in the in-between size he thought I should have. Maybe that was his gameplan to begin with, but it sounded good.

So I stepped onto the bike, sat on it, tested it out on the trainer and they hooked me up with a slightly different stem. I told the guy I was going to have to marinate on it during my run, but I'd be back in afterwards either way. I had a few people I was going to be running with who I could count on to pressure me into buying it, which was what I wanted.

As everyone was showing up, I got the rundown on all of the people who were bagging the run. Damn, those were the people who I was relying on for peer pressure. The one woman I did talk to had the look like she didn't like the idea of the bike. "You'll never be able to keep up with us on that thing" she said, which sounded like it was entirely due to the "knobby" tires. Sure, they aren't road slicks, but they're definitely not MTB tires. Moral of the story, I'll keep up.

For anyone who cares to understand what a cyclocross bike looks like and how it isn't a "hybrid", click this link.

So I bought that mug, threw it on the roof and called it a day. On my way home I saw the most beautiful rainbow coming down in front of a mountain, landing in what looked to be someone's yard - next to a barn. I didn't squint, but I almost think I saw leprochauns. Ooo-weeee.

Okay, that's it. A test ride is in my near future, I'll let you know how it went latah.

Over and Out,
Old Coot