Hm. Well.

Something I hadn't considered before buying the new bike (not that it would have mattered) was the whole kickstand situation. I knew it wouldn't come with one, but I have a spiffy kickstand sitting in the garage and figured I would just slap that sucker on and be done.

Yeah. No. It doesn't have the mounting plate I expected. Now, I can get a kickstand that works with it, but now I'm thinking, eh, why bother? This is a bike I don't plan on leaving anywhere except the garage. It's a ride-to-ride bike, straight out of the garage back into the garage. I'm not putting a rack on it, won't carry a lock unless I feel like I have to, no baskets or saddlebags... Just ride.

Of course, today it was cold and rainy, and I'm not confident enough to ride this bike when it's wet, so I took a little bit to put a bottle cage and Garmin bracket on, and then stare outside like I was personally offended by the weather. Tomorrow should be better and I'll get my first real ride on it. I did a short, check-it-out ride yesterday, just 5 miles, but it was enough to tell me I'll need time to get used to the weight of the bike--holy cow it is light--and using my core better.

One thing I kept reaching on my short ride yesterday for was something I haven't used in 38 years:

Suicide brake levers. The few times I had my hands on the flat part of the bar, old muscle memory expected them to be there. I don't expect to ride in that position a lot, but there's a tiny part of me that wishes they were still there, even if they weren't the most effective way of braking.

I'll get used to it.

So, fingers crossed that tomorrow's a great day for riding, because I'm a few kinds of excited about it.