Another New Bike

Today, after all our errands (getting social insurance numbers, and a bunch of shopping) I went shopping for a bike for myself. I knew I could order a Norco with an internal hub at the nearby bike shop, but that wouldn't arrive until Thursday, and Sarah was itching to ride (me too) so I started calling around to see who had any internal hub bikes in stock. I got a hit with Bikes On The Drive and bused out there.

It is on Commercial Drive, a neighbourhood of funky shops like Hawthorne in Portland. They had four models of internal hub bikes. I knew then that I'd be riding home in one.

I settled on a Brodie Section 8. I am in love with a bike again! It's got the internal hub, as well as internal brakes - something I had on my Giant bike in Ipswich but wasn't expecting to find here. And the rear brake is a coaster! One of the shop staff mentioned that it has the advantage of letting you slow yourself down when riding downhill with your arms in the air. Always a plus. But this is so simplified. It has just two cables instead of the usual six - just one for shifting, and one for the front brake. I may go years with no maintenance other than fixing flats and keeping the tires filled. And it also doesn't have all that comfort stuff like a suspension fork or saddle post. And it's quite lightweight!

I had to wait for the staff to finish assembling the bike and to add the light mounts, so I went up the street and had my first local microbrew, an amber ale from Russell Brewing. Tasty! The sun was out by now. I picked up my bike and, cycling home, micro on my belly, seeing the forested mountains in the sun (for the first time on our trip, not hidden by rain), and realising: hey, I'm back in the Northwest, and it feels great.

I'd phoned ahead before leaving, so by the time I arrived, Sarah had her hair up and her helmet on, ready to ride. And we did ... first in the parking lot, then on a gravel path along the golf course behind our apartment, then on a nearby football field, where she practised shifting gears for the first time. Then a bit along the road behind us, that's also a bike route, and carried on to the bike path that cuts through nearby Kensington Park. Plus some back and forth.

We have a three day weekend of decent weather ahead of us, and I'm sure we'll be doing more cycling together. It's also a chance for us to relax a bit and enjoy our new home city.