You may (or may not) recall that I recently got myself a new commuter oriented bicycle. Since said purchase I have definitely spent more time riding myself places than before. The bike has proven to be easy. One of those jump on and go type of things. I did have to make some adjustments to the stem and seatpost. The cockpit was super short on the medium. I ended up with a 12 cm stem and a 3cm setback seatpost, and I never ride setback seatposts. The seat could go back another 2-3 cm as it is. Other than the super tiny reach, the bike has been fun.
I’ve used it almost exclusively for getting to work and the occasional trip to the gas station. With it’s massive carrying capacity, I felt like a more utility oriented trip was in order. So KB and I decided we were going to go to the Vitamin Village (Natural Grocers) and get some food. I grabbed her bike first and it had a flat. No big deal, 3.7 minutes later and the thing was ready to go. Then I grabbed my bike and flat. The biggest down side to internally geared eight speed hubs is getting the rear wheel on and off. Not that it is extremely complicated, but it seems to take longer than usual. Once I got the wheel off I couldn’t find a tube that was the right size and yada-yada-yada… By the time I had the bikes ready to go the Vitamin Village was closed.
We weren’t about to be put off so easily. We made a quick navigational plan change and ended up at Harmon’s.
The trip to and from the store wasn’t too bad. We had a fierce head wind on our way there and a nice tailwind on the way back. The one thing I have learned to really love about my grocery-gettin bike is the fact that it just goes the same speed regardless. It’s just not a bike you can get up and go on which means every ride is a relaxed ride.
After such an adventure, we of course had to eat some of our loot. KB whipped up an amazing salad and I got the social lounge up and running. We enjoyed our bicycle-gotten salad around the fire.
I think we will be doing this more often…
Out.