Thursday, September 26, 2019

I need a bigger garage.

Townie Commute 27D
Okay, this happened.

Like, it happened the day after I last posted, though I had to order it to get it at the shop I wanted and in the color I wanted.

Townie Commute 27D, which brings me up to, ah, 5 bikes? Or actually 5.5 bikes, because this also happened:

Not dying on the Halfbike

It's a sucky picture, but I snagged it from a short video Mike took while I was trying to learn to to ride it.

It's a Halfbike 3, a toy I was lucky enough to win, and a toy that is so forking hard to learn to ride. It looks like it should be easy, but it's the opposite of easy and I just might kill myself on it.

I haven't spent much time on it because there's a lot of stumbling involved, and we agreed that we would not take it out alone until we both have the hang of it. There hasn't been a lot of time to play with it, owing to heat and Real Life, but next week the temps are suppose to cool down and we have no other plans, so... yeah, we'll find a nice flat place and go play with it. After we finally get it, I may ride it a hell of a lot because it's one hell of a workout.

In the last month I have been riding, just not as much as I like. I missed a week due to pet sitting (could have taken my bike, but am not yet comfortable in that neighborhood) and some rides have been cut short because of the heat. I had really hoped I would acclimate better to the heat, and I have a bit, but not as much as I need to ride during the summer here.

Right now, the pink beast is in the shop getting the brakes checked over. The pads were replaced a couple hundred miles ago but the squealing returned, along with a rubbing sound. The rubbing worries me more than the squeal; it might just be out of alignment but it might be the disk...and my up-close vision isn't good enough to really see what's going on.

It's not like I don't have other bikes to ride. This morning I took a couple of them out, swapping out every 2 miles or so because I really want to see which of the Townies I enjoy the most.

I was surprised.

Townie 7D
The Commute is solid, but heavy, and I feel every bit of those 40 pounds going up a hill, but other than that, it's fun. I'm not at all speedy on it, but I'm not racing so it really doesn't matter. The 7D is lighter and I notice that when I'm riding, but I'm not really any faster...yet it feels like so much more fun.

The more I ride them, I'm pretty sure the Commute will become the grocery-getter. The baskets fit on it and it's got a nice front rack; I could haul an entire weeks' worth on it, no problem. The 7D is the fun bike, the one I'll ride just to get a ride in.

And I went back and forth on selling the Marin, but if I'm honest with myself, I just don't want to. I want to figure out how to make it work for me. I'm putting the flat bar back on it and ordered some ergonomic grips, and we'll start there. I have the spiffy Terry Butterfly seat my friend Char gave me for my birthday, and if everything else dials in, I'll get another Kinekt seat post for it.

The main reason for selling it was space. Our bike storage space is 90% of a single car stall, and we had a big scooter and motorcycle in it along with the bikes. I sold my scooter, and we're going to try to sell the motorcycle next week, which will open up all kinds of space. I can put a rack on the wall for the bikes not in rotation, and keep them...until I find something else. I don't need or want to keep the Raleigh Venture, but at some point I'd like to get another electric to add to the stable, so that Mike and I can take them places and ride where there are hills.

With autumn sneaking up, I think I'll get more miles in. And hopefully get fully back on track to crush my 2000 mile goal for 2019.

Oh and I still have this.

It's been in the storage shed for a long time, because it kills my knee, but...

I'm in better shape.

I might be able to ride it now.

I freaking love having options.

And damn...I hardly had any tattoos when that picture was taken and it looks kinda...wrong.

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