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New Bike!

May 06, 2007

I bought a bike today! It's a 2007 Specialized Allez Triple, and it's red and black. I went to three different shops, researched several different manufacturers, and test road three different bikes. I think I did a pretty damn good job if I do say so myself. I was really happy with the price as well, and spent less than I thought I'd have to for a brand new, decent road bike. Which is good, because I needed one of everything. As I've said before, one purchase leads to several more, so naturally I had to get a helmet, and a lock, and a pump, and a light, oh, and a tube and patch kit in case I get a flat. Oh, and something to put that in. This is the first bike that I've bought in about 12 years. I think the last one was a Huffy mountain bike from Sports Authority or something awful like that. Behold:

So. Excited.

It felt like I was at the shop for about 4 hours today, and for all I know, I was. The staff was really helpful and answered every one of my stupid questions graciously. I think I managed to talk to someone in just about every department.

“Do I need a spare tube?”

“That depends how much you enjoy walking. What size tube do you need?”

“Um...”

Then I find out what size tube I need, and get a the tube. Then I pass the girl that helped me find a helmet and proudly show that I had the forethought to get a spare tube.

“Did you get a patch kit?”

“A patch kit?”

“You have to get a patch kit”

“I probably need a pump too.”

“What kind of pump are you looking for? They're right over here.”

“What kind of pump do you have?”

“I have this one.”

“Good, I'll take that one. Now I need something to put this stuff in.”

So it goes. I'm looking forward to learning everything I can about my bike, and riding the bejeezus out of it this summer. I'm going to take a few rides close to home first, but in time, I hope to commute to work on my bike, weather permitting. Can't wait.

To celebrate, I went with Kim to the Georgetown Liquor Co. for dinner. So much food, so good, and so reasonable. We split a Plato Platter and a vegan French Dip that was on special. Plus soup, plus pasta salad, plus Manny's = yum. I'm definitely frequenting this place.

Speaking of Georgetown, has anyone noticed the new Sound Transit light rail maintenance facility? You can't miss the bright green poles, but something else caught my eye the other day that I thought was clever. They took (or rather, it was donated) the old Rainier Beer "R" and turned it into a sign on the side of the building that says "Rail". Since it's right across the street from the original brewery, I thought that was a nice nod to the past, typographically. You can see a photo of it in this PDF.

Posted by Aaron on May 6, 2007 11:31 PM| Permalink