A new passion of mine in 2009

So when I went to Utah back in June I rented a road bike and went on a few rides with my brosef. You can check out the story here. When I got back up to Spokane, I started going to the gym every day and riding a stationary bike they had there that was built like a road bike. I would ride it an hour a day to get in shape. In the back of my head I knew a road bike was in my future, I just didn't know when.

I've been in touch with Dane about this and he informed me a week ago that a bike shop in Provo was selling a road bike exactly like his for a great price. The more I thought about it the more I realized I have yet to spend my tax rebate and I also have some money coming in from my law books I've been selling back. I had some loose money hanging around, but not much. It needed to be a great deal. He went and checked it out for me and we decided that the bike frame was going to be too big for me.

I was bummed but it got me motivated to start looking around here in Spokane and just maybe a shop around here would have a bike that was just right for me on clearance or something. On Tuesday I spent all afternoon going around to four different shops and looking at their selection. They were all nice places and had great selection, but I was smitten with one in particular: the Specialized Allez (pronounced Allay-- darn French). It was a perfect size for me and the color was a deep red (admittedly my favorite color-- don't worry though I am still a BYU fan) and the store it was at was having a sale that night from 10-12. The bike would be just right at my price range!! I was stoked!! I called Dane and he told me a few other things to check out before I bought it and once everything looked like it was good to go, I couldn't wait to hit the pavement with my new bike.

I was able to issue the pavement a beat down yesterday morning for the first time. For any and all who have been to our house in Prosser, you probably know the hill that takes you up to Patterson (I call it Patterson Hill). Anyways, it is steep and about three miles to the top. I wanted to test out my climbing abilities (or lack thereof) and so I decided to hop on the saddle and start climbing. Twenty-two minutes later I was looking over the Lower Yakima Valley! It was a tough climb and really gave my legs a workout. But I never stopped pedaling, which was my goal, and so that was success. The ride down was the fun part. I maxed at 33 mph! It was fun. Just to teach me who is boss, my bike claimed a few casualties on the ride down the hill. I had my iPod headphones in and they fell out of my ears because of the speed and the ocasional bumps. Because of the wind they were flapping behind me and my back tire severed the ear buds in half almost instantly. Just a constant reminder to respect the bike!

Last night my brother and his wife arrived in town and they are biking enthusiasts as you can see here. We got up early this morning and decided to start heading west. We wanted a nice ride that stayed fairly flat and would give us a nice pace. We found all those things in the Yakima Valley Highway. We rode all the way to the west edge of Grandview and back. All in all it was a great ride. I knew Dane was a pro on the bike, but Bridget surprised me. She spanked me going up all the hills, was always right on my back tire on the straight aways and when she was the lead biker, she kept a decent pace.

I had to come back to Spokane today to finish packing all my stuff up and I won't be back till Monday night or Tuesday. I had to leave my bike in Prosser, which makes me sad, but I look forward to seing her when I get back (is this love?).

Below is a picture of my bike, then a picture of me and my bike today after the ride to Grandview and back, and then a picture of my new bike helmet and a jacket I bought to keep me warm in the cold months (mine is black and white, not red and crimson).