Old Roads, New Ride

Methinks this week is going to be a little bittersweet; sweet because its my last week working and bitter because I'm going to be saying goodbye to many things and people that I care about.  Granted, I'm not going to miss the afternoon commute past the crack houses, but, ya know...

I plan on riding in everyday to finish strong, but we'll see.  They're forecasting rain all week.  I'm not sure the board of directors would appreciate me coming to a meeting all soggy, but what are they going to do? Fire me?  Anyway, just in case the plans change or there's flooding and today happens to be the last day I ride my bike to work, I decided to take pictures along the way and document the commute.  It just happened to be a beautiful morning.

The FX was my steed of choice this morning, all ready for the afternoon rain.

In the mornings I pass a few mansions (this one belonged to Harvey
Firestone Jr.).  They contrast nicely with the crack houses I pass on the
way home.

Highland Square

I usually cut through this church's parking lot.

One of the neighborhoods I ride though as the sun is just coming up.

I couldn't have asked for a better sunrise this morning!

It really was a gorgeous morning and if it turns out to be my last ride, it couldn't have been any better.  This afternoon we're supposed to get thunderstorms so I may not get pictures for the ride home.  If I do, I'll put them up tomorrow.

In other news, I did get a new bike on Sunday!  I decided to go with your suggestions and keep the FX- which is a good thing since its supposed to rain all week.  I'm going to need those fenders!  Here's the newest addition to the fleet, a Raleigh Revenio 1.0:

Its puuurty.

The kind folks at Century Cycles in Peninsula set me up with my first road bike.

I just wanted an entry level road bike, nothing fancy, no carbon.  A friend suggested the Revenio which is on sale at Century Cycles.  They thankfully had one in my size (which may or may not be the smallest size available).  Paul took the time to fit me and get me going on a test ride, even though the store was packed with weekenders.  Let me tell you, for my first ride on a real road bike, it was both fun and a little intimidating.  Try taking a test ride on a frame your not used in Sunday traffic in Peninsula.  Good thing I have ample experience riding in traffic.  However, I do not have ample experience with a Raleigh Revenio.  The Varsity, basically, has the same riding position, so it wasn't the handling that threw me.  It was the brakes, of all things.  Since most of my riding is in the city, I tend to slide up to the flats when I stop so I'm a little more visible.  It's a habit.  However, there are no brakes on the flats for the Raleigh.  It took a few times for my brain to grasp this concept.  It was a bit hilarious.  But, this bike is much lighter and quicker than anything I've ridden before and I was quite pleased that I could easily maintain a pace of 20mph.  Its amazing how different it is from the Varsity.  Its like switching from an old muscle car to like a 350z or something (not that I really know about such things).  Paul said I needed to get about 200 miles on it so I can come in for adjustments prior to the move.  They also said they will pack all six bikes for shipping to Luxembourg.  That was a relief since I have little confidence that the moving company will know how to properly pack a bicycle and we don't have time to mess with it ourselves.

Unfortunately, I didn't have too much time to ride the Revenio yesterday as we are knee deep in sorting all our stuff for the big move.  Despite a couple of panic attacks, I am confident that we will be ready in the two weeks allotted before the movers and Realtors come for their assessments.  Cat 1, however, is not convinced.