A Ride Interrupted

The fine weather that prompted me to go out and buy a bike was sadly transitory; there haven't been many opportunities to take a good first ride since, absent a few evening hours suitable for circumnavigating the neighborhood. Yesterday finally offered up a great chance to try out the bike trail that recently received the addition of a new bridge that connected it with plenty of parking, but the timing would be tight. I had an appointment at 2:00.

I hooked up the less-than-trustworthy bike rack that I'm using until such time as I can get a trailer hitch installed on the new Hyundai and headed for the trail. I'm always nervous about the entire rack falling off, so it was a tense few miles over to the trail. I timed my arrival poorly; I hit the trail at just the same time as a group of three consisting of a pair pf parents and a teen-ish boy. That in itself isn't a problem, but when the father and son proceeded on down the trail and left mom behind, causing her to hurl invectives at their retreating backs just as I ended up getting between the two packs, it got a little uncomfortable.

As we were riding along in a long disjointed string, I saw what looked like a dog come from one of the yards and start following the boy, who by that time was well out in front of all of use. The dog eventually lost interest in him and dropped back to follow me. He was a fine looking German Short-Haired Pointer, but was extremely thin. Skin and bones, in fact. I made the perennially attempted yet always futile gesture of telling him to "GO HOME!!" with the usual results. He kept trotting alongside as if he planned to continue to do so all day. As he followed me across a fast, busy two lane road, I began to realize that not only was he not going to go home, but was also in quite a bit of danger. I had to stop to resolve this situation.

I pulled over to the side of the trail and checked the tags on his collar. A dog permit tag, circa 2007. Three rabies tags, including a currently valid one issued from a veterinarian's office twenty miles away in Plain City. There was no sign of a "Hi. My Name Is" kind of tag. After a few minutes, the rest of the family caught up, and the son came back down the trail to see what the hubbub was. We chatted a little bit and ended up calling the county dog pound, the second time that I had had to do that in as many days.

They biked on, but I sat at the side of the road for half an hour waiting for the dog catcher. It was pleasant enough - the weather was good and the dog was, I think, eager for some company after what had to have been at least a couple of weeks living on his own. The delay cost me too much time to allow for the continuation of my ride; Lily Chapel we have to wait for another day.

The beginning, or perhaps more accurately, the continuation

The last time I bought a bicycle was in December of 2005. You can read about it, if you so choose, here: http://www.papagolfchronicles.com/2005/12/it-fits.html

The long and short of it is that I paid $199 for a $700 Montague folding mountain bike for use on my flying trips. Over the intervening years I found that I much preferred flying with a friend rather than going places alone, and with a passenger on board there was no room for the bike. While the bike still saw periodic usage on the local trails, it really wasn't suitable for long rides. The seat was uncomfortable, as was the sitting position. Knowing that it was just not the right bike for my aging bones, I decided to try my luck at selling it on Craig's List. That went well; I walked away with $450 cash. Not bad for a $199 investment and five years of use.

The area in which I live is ripe with bike trails, and another one has just been completed just a few miles from my house. That got me to thinking that it might be time to cash in that bankroll on a new bike. I had no intention of spending $450, though. That said, I've had my fill of low-budget, low-quality bikes that suck the fun out of riding with their clanky grindy misaligned gears and various other constant maladies. Sticking solidly to the middle-tier, I found an interesting possibility in the Diamondback Edgewood. It's what is called a "hybrid," which is apparently the bastard child of a true road bike and a mountain bike. In what must have been the oddest  ménage à trois  in biking history, there is some "comfort" bike mixed in as well.

I usually avoid the pricier big box stores and prefer to order online, but my experience with things that are better tried on first (think shoes and jeans) led me to seek out a store that would provide an opportunity to try one out first. That, and assembly. I'm already building an airplane (www.schmetterlingaviation.com), I don't need any more assembly projects. So off I went to Dick's Sporting Goods.

What a tremendous experience!

First of all, it is the end of the model year for bikes (who knew??) and they had last year's model marked down from $379 to $299. I also had a $20 off coupon to go with it. They only had one left and it was the display model, but I had the sales guy get it off the rack for me so I could check the fit anyway. I was rubbing on a smudge of something sticky on the handle bar when the sales guy said that he could give me another 10% off for that "damage."

As we were talking it over, I mentioned how painful it is that bikes don't come with kickstands anymore. "No problem!" he said. He grabbed a kickstand off the shelf, and while he was there, he grabbed a water bottle holder too. He installed both of them. Then I noticed one of the wheels was rubbing one of the brake pads. "No problem!" Off came both wheels and he tuned them up. He also did a little doing on the shifters.

I ended up getting it for around $250 with the kick stand and bottle holder thrown in gratis.

At this point, I've ridden it around the block a few times - it's easily the best bike I've ever had! I can't wait to get out to the trails, although it's pretty windy today so I'll probably have to wait.