all i want is a bike. seems simple enough. b bikes weekly, yet i don’t even own one (i have a “cruiser” at the beach, but that doesn’t count). so we looked at some in january when it was still beautiful out - then the deep freeze hit and out of mind it went. but yesterday the sun came out, the mercury hit the mid 60’s and i renewed my quest.
so we went to a store that shall remain nameless and the very nice bike sales guy spent some time with me and eventually picked a nice hybrid to test. he made some adjustments and then let me take it out for a spin. now, i wouldn’t say i’m a great biker but i’m not a total moron – i know how to shift and generally feel comfortable manuevering. we were near pentagon city so i took it for a spin down around the parking lot – careful of the cars, dodging pedestrians, turned a corner and then blam! nothing but pavement. no blood, broken nail, slightly bruised ego. i picked up and inspected the bike taking a moment to consider what happened. the neck of the bike was never tightened. when i turned left, the wheel went the other way. after walking the bike back to the shop, i handed the somewhat scratched gary fisher hybrid back to the bike guy, who definitely felt bad.
needless to say, i’m still bike-less. but hopeful. today the nice bike sales lady at REI took me through some options. i think next weekend might be the one. there was a bad boy cannondale giving me the eye (or maybe it was the other way around).
