bike!

Yesterday I went to Express Bike Shop (which I totally recommend, by the way) and was pleased to find at least a couple of suitable used bikes at reasonable prices. Riding around the block made me super excited, but I knew I had to exercise restraint and not buy the first pretty thing I see. Last year I was so driven to just get a bike that I made a foolish mistake and bought a crappy one from craigslist. It was such a disaster that I pledged to myself: never again. [Fine, I'm exaggerating, but it really wasn't a good bike. I have learned.] So, I called my dad the bike expert to give me a second opinion today.

But as luck would have it, my dear old dad took a walk this morning and found two vintage bikes about to be thrown away. He saved them from a horribly mangled landfill death and called me up. One is a super nice, really light Raleigh racing bike. It was a little too big for me and also just a little too racy. (No, not in that way! I mean...ah, forget it. You know.] The other one is a lady Schwinn, which my dad described as "dorky" over the phone - but dorky to him is RETRO and AWESOME to me. While I've joked before that I'm usually too much lady for a lady bike, with some adjustments, it worked.

It makes sense, really. Last year I got burned by a loser bike, and this year I come across a free one. I consider it good bike karma.

[And there will be pictures at some point, but this bike deserves to be photographed against a good backdrop with sunlight, which my apartment cannot provide at this time.]