The End of an Era.......or Two......

Last week I FINALLY settled on a new bicycle and ordered it before I could get confused and/or change my mind again. Last night the guy from the bike shop called to say it was here, and I told him I would pick it up on Saturday. When I got up this morning, however, I decided I couldn't wait until Saturday, and I went after school to pick it up. I took one picture of it, and it doesn't really do it justice, so I'll wait until the weekend to post it. By then the tires will be dirty, but whatever.

It's the end of an era for my yellow Giant bicycle, though. I bought it way back in 2004 as a reward to myself for completing my doctorate. I had "x" number of dollars in a savings account, and when I picked out my bike, it came to almost exactly "x" dollars. I had only one requirement, and that was that the bike was yellow. You wouldn't believe how hard that is to accomplish.

The yellow bike has served me well. I think I've put around 6000 miles on it, which isn't a lot by serious cyclist standards. I have replaced the tires once, the computer once, and I think I even cleaned it up once when Rozmo shamed me into it. It has carried me across the state of Georgia three times (before Katydid and I bought the tandem) and Iowa twice. It has never thrown me to the pavement, with the possible exception of that one time when I couldn't get my cleat unclipped at a stop sign, and I hit my head on the sidewalk. I CRACKED my helmet, and THAT my friends is why I wear one.

I feel like I'm parting ways with an old friend. But what makes me feel better is that I'm selling it to a former co-worker (whom I may NEVER forgive for leaving us this year, *ahem* *ahem* you know who you are *ahem*) who has just recently gotten into cycling. I know she will take good care of it, and I know old yellow will serve her well. I hope they put another 6000 miles on it.

The other end of an era is my online teaching job. I started thinking about how much I bitch about it and about how I really don't need the money, because after all, about all it does is screw up our taxes. When I got my teaching assignment for next semester and the course that has become MY course, the one thing I'm comfortable with and have been teaching for five semesters had been taken away, I decided the full-time hassles had started outweighing the part-time pay. They didn't take the course away from ME necessarily, but they have to fulfill their full-time and salaried part-time segments first, so I wound up with basically two courses I've never taught before. I had requested to BE one of those salaried part-time folks last spring, and they told us they would let us know by June 11th. I'm still waiting. I'm guessing I didn't get one of the positions, but I can ONLY guess, since we were never told one way or the other. I have been in our department longer than just about anybody, so I feel like I was passed over for one of the prime spots.

Anyway, I'm feeling good about my decision. I will finish out this semester, and then my free time will go back to being my free time. I don't have to log on first thing every morning and as soon as I walk in the door in the afternoon. I don't have to set a special ringtone for my online students and their parents and then cringe if I hear it. I can take a weekend for bicycling and not worry about grading assignments and posting news announcements.

I really wanted this job to continue into my retirement, because I thought I might need something to keep me busy. I really, really like the online world, and for the most part I enjoyed the job. Maybe if I weren't teaching full-time they might have considered me for one of the salaried positions, but I'm not going to wait around for another year and a half to find out. I'll FIND something to keep me busy after I retire.

Like riding my new bicycle.

Made My Decision.....

Having spent hours on the internet researching a few of the bicycle models available to me and creating a table of each one's features and pros and cons and price and specs, I have finally decided upon this bicycle.

It isn't the women's specific model, but the differences are minute. I'm not that delicate a female anyway, so I'm not sure it even matters if the frame is a wee bit shorter and the handlebars a millimeter or two narrower. It is the exact same price as the women's specific model, and if it isn't the red and black model I coveted or the red and white one of last year's model, at least it isn't ORANGE. It's jet black, and we all know that black is slimming anyway. And absolutely anything will go with it, so I don't have to worry about my cycling clothes clashing with my bike. One of the first things I will have to do is change out the seat, though. That detail IS a little bigger difference between the men's and the women's models.

I will probably buy a new helmet, even though my Livestrong helmet in yellow and black would match fine. It's all about the new.

If I didn't want jet black, I could also get the color in the picture below.

It's called "Berserker Green". And I think I know why.

It Had to Be Orange, and We're Back to Square One.....

When I decided a couple of months ago to spend one of my little nest eggs on a new bicycle, I didn't realize how incredibly complicated the process was going to be. I had an idea that I would buy one of two brands, both of which make bicycles specifically designed for women.

I investigated both, I visited bike shops, I talked to sales people (at least the ones who didn't speak in a techno-geeky language way above my head), and I researched on the internet. I finally decided on a particular model that actually came in a color I liked (it's not like you have limitless choices, like cars) and went to the bike shop with a  modest wad of cash in hand.

I didn't realize it was the end of the model year (who knew?) and they had no more of the model I wanted. Zip. Zero. Zilch. Nada. The very nice salesman told me to give them a call periodically to see when the 2011 models were available.

Instead I watched the internet like a hawk. Every day I clicked on the manufacturer's website, and every day I was disappointed. Until today. I first noticed some very subtle changes to the sidebar, and then I realized the 2011 models were posted. I could just feel that new bicycle underneath me already.

I went straight to the same one I had chosen in last year's model, only to find that this year it is available in......

.....orange.

I don't DO orange. I don't have orange clothes. At a rest stop on the 68-mile bicycle ride last weekend, I admonished Katydid for eating cheese puffs. Because they are orange. I only drink orange juice because it is in fact yellow in color. On BRAG last summer, I almost refused to ride in my nephew's wife's car when she drove up because it was orange. But I gave in, since my only other options were driving the RV to a little restaurant downtown or riding the bicycle I was pretty tired of being on.

I freaked out a little bit at the orange color, until I discovered that this model mercifully comes in a choice of two. That's about the maximum number of choices you have in bicycles. The alternate color scheme is black and white with red accents.

Now there's a color combination I can live with. I called the bike shop, ready to get this process underway, only to find out that bike doesn't come in a triple. I won't go into what a triple is or why I'm hell-bent on having one, but it has a lot to do with gears and my being old and slow and being passed going up a hill by a 75-year-old woman who was WALKING her bike.

So now I'm back to some of the same choices I thought I had already come to grips with. With which I had already come to grips. Whatever.

Do I go with another brand to get a color combination and the carbon fiber I want AND a triple?

Do I give up on the concept of having a women's specific bicycle and ride what the boys ride?

Do I (again) let them talk me into believing that a compact crank is just as good as a triple, when six years of riding a bike with a compact has demonstrated otherwise?

Do I abandon my color obsession and go with one of the popular schemes for 2011, most of which involve the color teal? Yuck.

It's not like I have to decide tonight, but I have already sold my current bike (thank you for allowing me to keep it just a little bit longer, Sara!), and I want a new one before it gets too cold to ride.

And I have to know what color it is going to be before I buy all the accoutrements that go with it.

Guys have it so easy. They don't care what color their bikes are. Or if the accoutrements even match at all.

I'm So Dizzy, My Head is Spinning.....

With my apologies to whoever sang that song in the 70's......

Katydid and I went bike shopping today, and I'm more confused than ever.

I know some things I want on my bike, but there are so many choices to make that it is completely baffling. And of the definite things I want on my bike, some people try to talk me out of those very things.

My main requirement is that it have a triple, or three chain rings. That provides an additional set of gears on the low end, mainly for climbing. Or for really slow people like me.

The very first guy we talked to said he was going to try to talk me out of a triple and into a compact. I said the last guy who sold me a bike talked me into a compact, and I was going to hunt him down and kill him.

He wisely said then, "I want you to have a triple."

What brand? The two I'm trying to decide between are Cannondale and Trek. Both have women-specific designs, which I like very much. I've had a Trek and loved it. I've had a Cannondale and loved it. The last bike I had was a Giant, only because it came in yellow and it was something the guy could get. (Not every bike store carries every brand .... evidently you have to be ALLOWED to sell certain kinds.....) More on the color issue later.

Then there is the decision between carbon fiber and an aluminum frame. Many people swear by carbon because it's lighter. I'm all about lighter in my bike, since I'm not having much luck making MYSELF lighter. Personally, I blame it on the lack of a triple. One salesman will swear by carbon, and the next will be an aluminum devotee. Sigh.

Then of course there is the matter of size. As one cute little salesman said today, very diplomatically, "Since you're not very tall......." How sweet of him. I had no idea that I would require a 47-48 cm bike. Who knew?

And there is the matter of test riding. Out of all the bikes we looked at today, I got to sit on one of them. These bikes aren't typically in stock, so you basically wind up buying something out of a catalog. Or off the internet. I could have stayed home this morning.

It may seem silly, but color is also important. It's not like buying a car, where you decide on the model and they have it in a gazillion different colors, one of them bound to strike your fancy.

Oh no.

Each model of bike comes in AT MOST two colors, some of them only one. Where do you compromise? If the model you really want comes in a butt-ugly color (like grey with teal accents), do you go with a different model to get the right color?

That sort of feels like going shopping for a BMW convertible and settling for a Toyota Camry because it comes in the right color.

The price ranges are enormous too, so that doesn't help a lot. We looked at bikes everywhere from $849 to $4200 today.

To top it all off, most of those bicycle shop folks talk way over my head about gear ratios, components, and lots of terms I can't even remember. I hate feeling stupid, so I just nod a lot. One of them asked me what my rear cassette looks like on my current bike, and I almost told him he was getting a little personal. I'm doing good just to know what a derailleur is.

I'm having dinner with my buddy Rozmo this week, and she is much more knowledgeable than I am. Perhaps she can help answer my questions, or at least tell me what questions to ask.

I remember when the most difficult decision to make about a bicycle was whether it had a basket or not.....