New Bikes

It's been a week since the last post.  I'm experiencing a fair amount of malaise.  It's the usual, the supreme court, the stupidity of a large part of our population, guns, death, etc. etc.  

We did buy new bicycles.  Jim had HAD it with riding the mountain bikes on the pavement.  They have heavy knobby tires, with a lot of rolling resistance.  Going anywhere took forever.  We ordered a small and a medium Trek bike locally.  For whatever reason, the guy at the bike shop ordered two mediums.  I can't ride a medium, too big.  It was interesting, there was some mansplaining going on about how it would be fine, they could make it fit, and etc.  Finally, I looked the offending man in the eye and said that I had been riding for 50 years, often on bikes that did not fit, and that I could look at the medium and tell it was too big.  So, they got on the computer and found a small in Bellingham at the Trek Superstore.  Buying it over the phone was another ordeal.  They wanted us to buy it on line, their website wouldn't do it.  Called them back, no they did not want to take a credit card over the phone.  Jim finally got on the phone, and got them to sell us the bicycle.  It really should not be that difficult.  So, we left Wednesday morning to go get it. 

We will never make that drive again.  Once we hit the northbound freeways in the Seattle area, traffic was just abysmal.  We left early, thinking we would miss the terrible traffic.  It's been too long since we lived in the area, we did not realize that the are no good times to drive, that building has run amok, and we're really happy we don't live there.  Anyway, we made it to the bike shop before they closed.  There was a Subway within walking distance of the hotel, so once in the room, we stayed there.  Coming back we went the scenic route over Stevens Pass which created much less agita.  The roads are two lanes, but there are passing lanes and it was not a terrible drive.  Here are a few photos.

This is going down Snoqualmie Pass towards Seattle.  The clouds are typical GPNW weather.

I think this was taken somewhere in the Columbia Gorge.

After you leave the fruit raising areas, it's like this for awhile.

We bought the bikes sight unseen, sort of like what we did with real estate, only there is less money involved.  The bikes are good, they are carbon fiber, and have an upright seating position, which we both need since we're old and our shoulders and hands will not tolerate dropped handle bars anymore.

Jim's FX4 Sport.

Mine.

Bikes are very different these days.  Our old bikes had two or three chain rings in the front, and some in the back.  Multiple front chain rings are gone, and there are more gears in the back, and they go from very small to very large.  I don't think we have the range of gearing we had with triple chain rings, but this is what there is now.

Here is a video of  Pennsylvania politician.  I'm not sure if she's house or senate.  It's worth watching, we need more people like her.  Click here to play it.

And finally, here is a cool photo of lightning.

That's it!  All I've got is two new bikes and the difficulties of obtaining them.