Cruisin' on a Saturday and Sunday afternoon

Saturday was fairly pleasant in the mid-Atlantic region and I took advantage of the mild weather and sunshine to run my errands via bicycle. Everyone -- pedestrians, fellow cyclists, and motorists -- seemed to be in good spirits and I noticed lots of smiles and waves. A couple of ladies outside the grocery store even complimented Beatrix and my fairly casual outfit. To be honest, I felt casually elegant on Bea with her spiffy new handlebar and grips. I love the way they look and feel. Oh, and it may not be a Christmas tree, but I did manage to haul the twenty-pound container of cat litter home via the rear rack. Boo-yah. Granted it did make climbing that last hill home a little bit more difficult.

Sunday, on the other hand, was chilly and overcast in the mid-Atlantic region and I took advantage of the poor conditions to put in a few miles on the W&OD trail. The trail wasn't empty by any stretch of the imagination, but it wasn't clogged with families and dog-walkers like it was on Saturday. I made it out to Battlefield Parkway in Leesburg and attempted the hill that climbs up to a park off that road. My coworker who occasionally bike commutes has mentioned that climb a few times and won't do it. I made it about a quarter of the way and had to push Lily the rest of the way up. Even walking up the hill was tough.

Oof. I've gotten so out of shape.

The ride back down that trail was pretty terrifying and I squeeze the brakes with nearly every bit of strength in my hands. Good times.

The Weather Channel said that the air temperature was 49F, but I beg to differ. I was FREEZING by the time I got home and could see my breath during the last half of the ride. It was a great ride, but it took a while to warm up.

This is how I roll...

...when I shop, that is.

Friday was SUCH a gorgeous day.

This is Beatrix loaded down after work and a quickish stop at my favorite boutique, a.k.a Target. In addition to my lunch bag, the basket holds a bag of miscellaneous groceries, the bike lock, and a bottle of water. Pannier is holding a few more groceries, the neon gloves shown in my last post, my personal effects, junk mail, and the sweater I wore at work. Strapped to the rack are two Lego Monster Hunter sets.

Accessories and bicycles aren't the only items to which I'm addicted.

Sorry about the cat butt. I didn't realize that Margie photobombed me.

This is Beatrix loaded down after a  not-so quick trip to Safeway. The basket holds a 6lb bag of cat food, a 1/2 gallon of milk, a box of trash bags, and a bunch of bananas. The pannier is full of frozen lunches, fruits & veggies, and some other groceries. Strapped to the rack is a 14lb container of cat litter. I never thought I'd be so grateful for the rat trap thingies integrated into the rack, but they have been SO helpful for unconventional loads. The double bungee from Public has been a fantastic tool as well. Also? While I had to brace the front tire to keep the front end from swinging around while loading up the bike, the double kickstand kept Bea balanced and upright. I am SO happy with that purchase. Oh, and the little bag attached to the "wrong" side of the handlebar is my Po Campo wristlet which, thanks to its novel strap system, kept my wallet, phone, and keys safely contained to and from the store (although, it was in the basket on the outbound trip...)

Cat litter was one of those items I didn't think I'd be able to haul on a bike. And, to be perfectly honest, I did carry the smallest container but I couldn't remember the rack's weight limit. (It's 55lbs according to the Public website.) Next up, the 21lb container! And then landscaping goods! One of these days I might even get up to a Christmas tree. Muahahaha!

If loving monster Legos is wrong, I don't want to be right.

New stuff

What is it "they" say? The first step to solving a problem is admitting you have one? I love love love accessories. For my person: jewelry, scarves, fun and funky shoes. For my home: quirky artwork, colorful pillows, candles. And for the bikes: baskets, panniers/rear bags, bells, mirrors. Here are some items I've added to lovely Beatrix.

Electra Butterfly Ding Dong bell.

As I noted when I first got the Public C8, I wasn't in love with the bell. There was nothing wrong with it, per se; it even matched the colorway of the bicycle. It just wasn't exactly what I wanted and I wasn't fond of the ring. Also, the mirror I've been using hasn't been all that great with this bike's handlebar. It's slightly more swept back than the hybrid's bar and while the Mirrycle Bar End Mirror provides me with an excellent rear view on Lily, the same mirror gave me a view of my hip and waist mostly on Bea. Not terribly useful. Today, I swapped out the items which vexed me with items that please me.

Sunlite Deluxe Bicycle Mirror.

The colors in the Butterfly bell are so dadgum cheerful it's almost ridiculous.The bell is huge at nearly the size of my fist. The ring is so loud I think Margie lost one of her nine lives to terror when I gave the bell a test while inside the house. If its ring doesn't get through to zombie joggers, I fear only an air horn will affect them.

At first, I didn't think the Sunlite mirror would give me a decent view, but it surprised the heck out of me. The attachment to the handlebar is fairly soft metal and I'm a bit worried that it won't stand up to rigorous commutes. Everything else is great, though, and I'm pleased with the inclusion of a reflector on the back. I feel comfortable with removing the reflector that came with the bicycle thus decluttering the cockpit.

Velo Orange Porteur Double Kickstand.

Beatrix isn't the most steady when parked and loaded down. The front end has a tendency to fall to one side or the other and, on more than one occasion, the bike has threatened to fall over. With the other changes I made to Bea today, I decided I may as well swap out the kickstand as well. The Porteur is a little stiff when kicking up, but it does a fantastic job of balancing Beatrix when she's parked.

At this point, I've swapped out hand grips, bell, seat, pedals, and kickstand. The handlebar, frame, rear rack, wheels, and tires are all original so I suppose I can say that Beatrix is still the bike that I originally ordered.

Oh, and in non-Beatrix related gear, I found neon stretch gloves at Target yesterday. I've found very few non-black cool/cold weather gloves which I think is insane because how are cars, peds, and other cyclists supposed to see your hands when you signal a turn? I think these guys will do the job just fine. And at $3 a pair, I won't shed a tear when they inevitably get filthy from use.

My phone camera couldn't capture the eye-searing neon of the yellow pair.

Finger on the trigger

I am >this< close to clicking the BUY button on Public Bikes C8 page. If I pull the trigger before the 18th, I'll get free shipping. If I do it today or tomorrow, the bike will arrive before we go to Memphis. I wouldn't want our cat sitter to have to lug a six foot long box into the house: that's what Scott is for!

The powder blue appeals to me more than the cream because I love color -- the orange is a bit too colorful -- and the bike I'm absolutely going to keep -- Circe -- is mostly white. Yes, Kate is blue but she's first on the sales chopping block. And yes, she's super fun and adorable beyond compare but she is impractical for my needs and wants. I will most likely sell Lily -- which is white -- but she might also stick around. Scott doesn't think I'll be able to let her go even if she and the C8 fill a similar niche. I mean, it's not like I'm going to take up mountain biking. I'll most likely wind up with broken bones rather than skinned knees! But... well, we'll see what happens with the hybrid.

Mmm... loop frame...

Close but not quite...

While documenting my hunt for the perfect loop frame bicycle of my dreams, I read a review of the Civia Twin City Step-Through by the delightful Dottie of Let's Go Ride a Bike. This is it, thought I. This would be the bike that meets my requirements of graceful/classic lines, power for hills, and a comfortable/smooth ride both on-road and slightly off. With words of encouragement from other bloggers, I searched for a local-ish dealer and was both excited and anxious about having found one in Richmond. I was excited because the dealer was within an easy and explicable driving distance and anxious because I wouldn't be able to make the five hour (with traffic) round trip for at least a week. I chewed my nails, threw common sense to the wind, extended my vacation by one day, and drove to Carytown Bicycle Company in Richmond on Tuesday.

Source: Civia Cycles

The Twin City is quite lovely in person with its rich burgundy color and gracefully curved top tube and handlebars. I liked the integrated rack, but was concerned about how the bottom hook of my shopping pannier would connect without slipping. Wrangling the far-reaching cables around a front basket might be difficult. The top tube was higher than I expected, though. Dottie and I are both 5'7" and she steps over the top tube fairly easily in her video review. I found it easier to throw my leg over the seat when mounting the bike (which kind of defeats the purpose of a step-through...), but pulling my leg through when dismounting was quite comfortable.

The test ride itself was enjoyable despite my turning the shifter in the wrong direction, but the bicycle forgave my slip-ups. The chain sound and felt like it slipped occasionally, but that could be due to improper assembly and I'm sure could be adjusted. The grips felt comfortable in my hands and the brake handles were in a good position. The back brake was sluggish and the front brake squealed like a banshee. The riding posture was extremely comfortable -- upright, but not stiffly so -- and I could easily bend into a lower and more aggressive position. The stock seat was EXTREMELY uncomfortable during my ten minute ride around the neighborhood and would need to be swapped out pronto. I have no idea of determining how fast I rode, but I wasn't afraid to tangle with traffic and take-off from a stoplight was easy. The ride quality wasn't as smooth as I'd expected. I'd equate it with the Linus Dutchi, not terrible like the Globe Daily but not as sweet as the Public Bikes M8. I don't know if this is correct, but I chalked that up to the narrow tires.

I had carried my Specialized Ariel to Richmond as trade and when I rode her up to the shop (parking was a couple of blocks away) after having ridden the Civia, I couldn't help but compare how much smoother Lily's ride felt to the Civia's. At that point I realized that the Civia wasn't the bike for me and I wouldn't compromise the form of a not-quite-right loop frame against the function of my current hybrid.

Some might see this as a wasted trip -- I kind of did as I sat in standstill traffic on I-95 for twenty minutes thanks to road construction -- but it was actually another object lesson in specs on paper (or the web) not meeting the gut (and butt) feeling. And with that, one more obsession has bitten the dust and I was completely happy with my utilitarian Lily. At least I was until the adorable G.E. of Endless Velo Love pointed out that Public Bikes must have heard my whine about the Mixte frame and the 3-speed loop frame having an internal geared hub and it wasn't fair that the 7-speed loop frame had a rear derailleur instead. They have since released an eight-speed, internally geared loop-frame bicycle. The Public Bikes M8 has been my favorite test ride thus far; this C8 may just be The One.

Source: Public Bikes

Jersey girl

In my hunt for a way to carry belongings on my road bike on solo journeys, I overlooked the most obvious and universal portage solution: the humble bike jersey. My main reason for not considering this garment is that, up until very recently, I had only one jersey.

Looking like a pumpkin at last October's "Great Pumpkin Ride".

It's a cute jersey and does a fairly good job of fitting my non-standard cyclist body. But it's so specific to a certain time of year that I didn't even consider wearing it in winter and spring. Which is weird since I wear Halloween-themed PJs year round; my deeply-closeted goth must be extremely closeted when it comes to jerseys. At the time I wore this garment, I didn't really use it for holding stuff since I had a trunk bag on the back rack so the pockets were kind of superfluous.

My typical road bike ensemble has been a Ruu-Muu with a long sleeved shirt or windbreaker. The Ruu's back pockets are good for holding a hankie, my iPod, and a camera. I could probably stuff more in there, but it would start getting uncomfortable and bulky underneath the overshirt/windbreaker.

Post ride, front.

Yesterday, though, I decided to wear my new jersey from HillKiller Apparel for a short ride and I discovered the joys of honest-to-goodness cycling jersey pockets. Hankie, ID, cash (you never know...), phone, iPod, and keys all fit comfortably with lots of room to spare. I could stuff extra powdered drink packs and waffles and a banana back there if I'd wanted, plus my camera. So this is how it's done...

 My deeply-closeted goth is beyond delighted with both the form and function of my adorable purple jersey. Their plus size actually FITS which is not always the case. I'm going to contact the HillKiller guys and ask if they'll make some of their men's designs in a women's cut because I want more of their jerseys. In the meantime, I'm champing at the bit for my jerseys from Scudo Sports Wear (they made the Halloween jersey) to arrive.

Zombie Girls do have more fun.

Rawr

Every now and then I talk the hubster into meeting me along the trail as I ride home from work. On Wednesday he decided he didn't want to deal with the gym and said he'd meet me for the ride home. I warned him that I needed to do a little shopping as well, but those stops would be mostly surgical strikes.

I wound up leaving the office later than planned thanks to a last minute IM from the bossman and met Scott just before the blind curve on Smiths Switch. He turned around and fell in line behind me before a FedEx truck rumbled up behind us and then passed us with a WIDE berth. Heh heh heh.

Shopping and banking happened. The test run of my Avenir Softside shopping pannier happened (successfully). Not running down pedestrians happened. Seeing another cyclist in the shopping center happened ("He just left Eastern Mountain Sports so that doesn't count," said Scott). We headed for home and something new and exciting-to-me happened.

We rode up the blasted incline to the Route 28 overpass and I stayed in front of Scott the entire freaking time. I not only stayed ahead of him, I pulled away from him. Dude! Plus, I was loaded down with shopping bags, a tote, and my purse. I didn't need to gear down: I was in my middle gears the whole way up. I was breathing heavily when we got to the bridge, but I wasn't wheezing nor jelly-legged.

This morning's commute was pretty amazing. As rough as I felt on Wednesday morning, it was a complete 180 to this morning. I flew along the trail and street in my upper gears (even on the uphills) and beat my average speed of 12mph by almost 2mph. It. Was. Amazing.

Stop, Swap, & Save

As stated in a previous post, my friends and I attended a bike swap last weekend. This was my first bike swap and I was both overwhelmed and excited by the event.

General bustle.

Scott browses pants.

I'd hoped to find some cute panniers or other accessories like that, but there wasn't anything that caught my fancy in that department. I did, however, spy the most adorable hat helmets by The Band Box and, because of the bike show discount, snapped one up.

There really is a helmet under there.

It's completely unnecessary, but I'm a sucker for hats. Plus, being a crafty sort, I can easily change out that hat for any of my own and I won't have to destroy a Santa hat for next year's Christmas-time rides. Continuing the girly them was a pair of Sheila Moon "Thumbie" arm warmers.

I loved the orange version of these, but thought they'd clash with everything I own.

The guys from Hill Killer Apparel delighted me with their inspired bike fashions.

So adorable, in a grisly way.

As a horror fan I simply had to have the Zombie arm warmers. They generously threw in a pair of leg warmers for free. For some reason, I don't mind that they clash with everything I own. The guys didn't have any jerseys in my size; by the time we found the stall, their stuff had been picked over pretty well. But I'm tempted to order the Zombie Girls Have More Fun and Hell on Wheels jerseys, even though it pains me to have SO MUCH pink gear. I would totally snap up Riding Pretty jersey if it were available in my size.

Getting back to the sights, I saw my first Penny Farthing in the flesh (see what I did there?).

I couldn't back up far enough to get the whole thing in frame. :(

Plus a Missoni bike that made Scott's eyes wiggle.

Target sold the multicolor version last year. I don't know where this one came from.

I also spotted a Globe Daily 3 and immediately ran over to take a closer look. I've been stalking the step-through version of this bike online, but haven't found anyone locally who carries the brand. My local bike shop will order one for me, but I don't want to go through that hassle and then hate the bike. The bike on display was an extra large and was much to big for me to test ride it. The vendor was from a bike shop on Solomans Island, MD which is pretty far from our home, but not that far if we combined the trip with a visit to Scott's parents in Annapolis.

Browsing (and shopping) the bike swap was a fun experience and I'll have to keep an eye out for other swaps in the area.

A mostly good start

The hubster and I hit the trail on New Year's Day to return a few items to Tarzhay. The weather was sunny and warm when we left and I wore fingerless gloves and left the windbreaker at home. Scott runs colder than I do and wore more (and warmer) layers, but was still comfy on the ride over. When we got rolling, I had a ball updating him on how fast my cycling computer said we were going. I'm thrilled to bits that I'm a lot faster than I thought I was.

The trail wasn't choked with people, but there were more than the usual number of winter folks enjoying the mild weather. We got to the shopping center without issue, returned items, and then purchased a few more. We left the store and noticed the sky had clouded, the wind had picked up, and it was starting to drizzle. Scott suggested we seek refuge at Eastern Mountain Sports so he could browse sale items. He wound up not buying a thing while I picked up four pair (buy three, get one free!) of Smartwool snowboarding socks (because thick wool socks are a winter cyclist's best friend) and a Bern helmet. I've been lusting after the women's Berkeley model, but every one I tried at REI hurt my head. The men's Brentwood, on the other hand, fit beautifully and I walked out with the matte red with black visor version.

When we left EMS, I definitely regretted leaving my windbreaker and full finger gloves at home. The rain was heavier and with all the car traffic, Scott and I put our headlights on blink mode. I had to tell him to put the light on steady when we hit the trail, though. Blinky lights on a MUP are unnecessary and rude, I think.

The rain starting pounding down after we crossed 28 and we passed a few other cold and wet cyclists. Scott asked if we could skip our planned ride to the recycling center. Oh my, yes, that was off the table. And, of course, after warm showers and dry clothes, the sun came back out. Unfortunately, I'd broken a spoke somewhere along the way home and I wasn't going to ride anywhere until that got fixed (which it was yesterday when my bike shop was again open).

A tale of danger, adversity, and triumph!

Apparently the weather in Northern Virginia decided to turn into late spring while Scott and I were enjoying time with the entire family at my aunt's cabin in North Carolina. Happily, the streak has continued since our return and I was able to take Rose out for a leisure ride on Sunday.

I pointed her towards Reston with the intention of checking out a bike shop in Reston Town Center. It's been quite a while -- well over a year -- since I last visited RTC and I've never been through there on a bike. It was quite fun pedaling through a pseudo city center with tall buildings and lots of foot traffic. I got to experience the phenomenon of being completely invisible to pedestrians. They'd look up and down the street, checking for cars, and step right out in front of me. Awesome. The bike shop visit was just as awesome. I admit I wasn't being terribly fair to them by showing up in a flowery top and skirt, but I was wearing my bike gloves and had just locked up my bike right outside the front window. I wandered the store for five minutes or so and was completely ignored by the sales clerks who were much more interested in tending to the lycra-clad men. There wasn't anything in that store which I couldn't procure from my beloved Spokes, so no love lost.

After that experiment, I pedaled back down to the W&OD and figured I'd explore a few more neighborhoods closer to home, but as I got to the top of the Fairfax County Parkway overpass, I stopped to sip a little water and took a look at the Ffx Co Pkwy trail. When in the car, we're usually driving south to see friends or go shopping; we hardly ever have a need to take the parkway north. And with that consideration in mind, I turned around and hopped on the northbound leg of the FCPT. (I don't know if anybody else calls it that, but I don't want to spell out the entire name over and again.)

The crossing at Elden was a little dicey and I hopped off the bike and walked the crosswalks. Beyond that there were only a few at-grade crossing with wide open rolling hills which I happily careened down with a huge-@ss grin on my face. After a few miles, I reached Rte 7/Leesburg Pike and had to figure out how to get from there to Sterling proper. Happily, there was a pedestrian path on the bridge and I was able to make it to the other side of 7 without incident. Unfortunately, the path on the other side of 7 emptied into a neighborhood of cul-de-sacs which then emptied back onto 7 but further east. There was no way to get across the Parkway and no way to head home on the west-bound side of 7. I needed to go about half a mile to get onto Dranesville Road and there was no apparent way to get there and I was NOT going to ride my bike on a six-lane divided road with 45 or 55mph (I can't remember what it is through there, but it hardly matters since everyone speeds) traffic. I whipped out the phone and examined a map of the area and discovered a path on the east-bound side of 7. Hooray!

The path wasn't in great shape, but any port in a storm, you know? I crossed Dranesville safely and opted to ride the sidewalk (I know, I know) until I realized that the road had bike lanes. Whoo hoo! Of course, I was on the road for only one block, but I soaked up as much bike lane goodness as I possibly could. Then I was finally back in my stomping grounds, if a couple miles north of my house.

I was tiring out as I was about fourteen miles into my ride and the mountains hills in that part of town are deceptively steep and/or long. I started craving grapes which meant I'd have to stop at the grocery store on the way home. But I was tired. Silly girl, just stop at the store; there's no sense in going home and driving a mile and a half. I couldn't argue with that and stopped for grapes. And salad fixings. And milk. And cereal. And soup. And ice cream, for good measure.

Have I ever mentioned that I'm not so good at spatial... things? My mantra is "it'll fit!" and it usually does, but there's some pretty creative real life Tetris that has to happen in the process. Did I also mention that the only portage I had on my bike was my front basket and rear rack and my little Po Campo purse? After spending a good ten minutes arranging and rearranging groceries and taking the cereal bag out of its cardboard box and bungee'ing a couple of things to the rack, I set off. The overfull basket wobbled and creaked and I had a terrible vision of the brackets snapping just as I crossed the boulevard spilling groceries and me into oncoming traffic.

I pulled over and reassessed my portage set-up. I removed the groceries from the rack and used the hooks on the basket to attach it to the rack. I knew those hooks wouldn't hold the basket in place when I hit the first bump and I bungeed the ever-loving heck out of that basket. I stuffed the other groceries into the bag and hoped for the best. With my purse attached to the handlebars and my bike listing ever so slightly to port, I headed home.

Fully loaded.

By this point, I was pretty wiped out and my middle gears were becoming too hard to operate. I downshifted just before the entrance to my street and threw my chain. Really? Really really? Thankfully, I almost always have a handkerchief in my purse and it did a fairly good job of cleaning off the chain grease so I didn't accidentally smear it all over my clothes.

The upside of being in a lower gear when I hit my neighborhood meant that the steep hill was MUCH easier to climb and I arrived at home without being completely out of breath and shattered. Which is good since after unloading the groceries, I had to take my husband to urgent care for a tetanus shot to counter the rusty nail he landed against while goofing around during a parkour-esque run. (We drove and he's okay. Amputation wasn't necessary.)

Scariest experience ever

I didn't ride to work yesterday because my body was completely wiped from the rides on Sunday and Monday and I was too much of a wuss to work through it. I did, however, miss my being on my bike so much that I rode it up to Safeway for some post-work grocery shopping. I wore my work clothes (yay, cycle chic; or at least as chic as I ever get) and my little Bell W/O blinky lights. Unfortunately, I didn't consider the fact that the day's light was pretty dim when I set out and would be completely dark by the time I escaped the check-out line. Oops.

In fact, Scott called as I loaded up my basket (and I do mean loaded. good thing I have a bungee net to keep the overflowing groceries from spilling into the street) and asked if he needed to rescue me. I am a self-rescuing princess most of the time and decline his offer, sure that my little blinky lights would keep me safe. I did set the front light on non-blinky mode so that I could actually see the road and not give myself a seizure.

Problem the first: I was wearing my work clothes. My non-reflective, dark work clothes. Dummy.
Problem the second: Front LED light is decent for twilight visibility but not so good for illuminating the road ahead of me.
Problem the third: The neighborhood I ride through to avoid the traffic on Sterling Blvd has no street lights.
Problem the fourth: I just bought a super bright LED headlight and taillight and left those suckers on the dining room table.

That ride home was the scariest damn thing I have ever done. Every time a car came up behind me, I started praying "please see me, please see me". Every time a car came towards me, I prayed the exact same thing. The intersection with the boulevard where I would turn left in my truck but go straight on the bike NEVER has anyone turning left from the other side. NEVER. And of course, last night there was a car turning left. My guardian angel kept me safe and the driver saw me. I rode slowly through the neighborhood (see: dim headlight) and kept as close to the curb as I could. I usually take the lane so I'm not weaving in and out of parked cars, but I didn't trust the occasional neighborhood traffic to see me.

I made it home safe and mostly sound although I was pretty shakey, and I promised myself that I wouldn't leave the good lights at home. Yes, I know I did some very stupid things last night; there's no need to berate me in comments. I can and do learn from my mistakes.

The Lady Cyclist dream versus my sweaty reality

I am fascinated by the Lady Cyclist movement. That is, women who wear regular work/play clothes while biking instead the Under Armour tees and Canari padded shorts like I do. These women are wearing slacks or dresses and heels whilst biking city streets on their way to their places of work or meeting up with friends at a pub or market. It seems so much more elegant than wearing workout gear. They hop off their bikes, dab away the sweat, and get right to whatever they want to do at their destination. I hop off my bike, lug my trunk bag into the gym locker room, shower, dress, apply make-up, and then settle into my cube while still sweating a bit and being red-faced despite the shower.

I want to be elegant like them.

Monday night, I experimented. Scott needed to run some local errands and I wanted to ride my bike. We combined our needs and wants and rode to the drug- and grocery stores in street clothes. Well, sort of. Scott donned his pair of shorts which look like normal shorts but have a padded bike short liner, a t-shirt, and sneakers. I kept on the shirt, camisole, capris, flats, and jewelry I had worn to work. I'm not wild about riding on Sterling Boulevard and don't like riding on sidewalks -- even though it's legal in Virginia -- now that I'm getting more comfortable with riding in traffic, so we took the scenic route through the neighborhood and rode through parking lots to the drug store. I was huffing and puffing from the hills and a little sweaty. I realized that I should have brought a rag of some sort for mopping up. Oops. Scott, for some bizarre reason, had removed his trunk bag and all groceries went into the basket on the back of my bike. By the time we got home, I was drenched. I'd soaked through my bra and the waistband of my capris wasn't faring much better. The worst part is that it was the cool part of the day and we'd ridden only three and a half miles round trip.

So, I suppose the moral of this story is that I shouldn't try to be an elegant biker just yet. I'm not cruising down the streets of New York or Seattle or Chicago to get to work. I'm cycling past industrial parks and car dealer lots and a golf course and open fields. Plus, I'm lucky enough to have a shower at my destination and I don't have to wear sweaty clothes all day.

However, none of this is stopping me from browsing Cruiser, Townie, and Euro-style bike manufacturer sites and dreaming of being an elegant biker cruising around a picturesque town in a dress and heels.

Successes all around

Last night I pedaled up the Rte 28 overpass and I didn't need the granny gears to do so. WHOO HOO! My heart was racing and I was gasping for breath, but I made it all the way up and didn't even stop for a breather at the top of the bridge. I followed that trick with pedaling all the way up Holborn to home. Naturally, I was a sweaty, gasping mess when I got off the bike, but I felt like a rock star. I felt so good, in fact, that I carried in my trunk bag and swapped it for my basket so I could do a quick grocery trip. Madness.

Scott flagged me down on the boulevard -- he'd been running errands and had just left Safeway -- to ask me where I was going. He shook his head at his nutty wife and headed on home once I assured him that I'd be able to carry all the groceries. After shopping and loading up the basket, I took the long way home through the neighborhood -- instead of the short trip along the boulevard -- and got home just as N arrived to help Scott replace our leaky kitchen sink faucet.

While they worked in the kitchen, I readjusted the position of the bike rack because having the trunk bag and basket press against my backside is rather uncomfortable and quite distracting. When that was fixed to my satisfaction, I adjusted Scott's bike rack so he could ride comfortably as well. I also attached a cellphone mount to the front of my bike so I can track my rides more efficiently and easily stop/start the MapMyRun app at stoplights instead of leaving the phone tucked in the trunk bag or shopping-bag-in-basket. I'd attached a small handlebar bag -- after having Scott remove the handlebar basket assembly -- for stashing my wallet, keys, and phone, but the bag is trapped by the gear and brake lines and hard to access. My new seat bag should be big enough for the tools and gear I stored in the Schwinn's seat as well as keys and money. I'll find out when it arrives, anyway.

Back in the kitchen, N got the new faucet installed after Scott made an emergency Lowe's run for more hoses. The faucet is beautiful, the sprayer has actual water pressure, and N didn't slug me when I exclaimed that we needed to replace the sink basin because it looked so dingy in comparison to the faucet. I was so happy to come down to the kitchen this morning and find a non-leaky faucet. Yay!