Finally sharing pictures! Let's see, the last thing you guys saw was the big day of snow... that means I need to share... all this!
It snowed lightly another day.
My niece had her 3rd birthday. I didn't get to go to her party, but look what I got her!
It's German, and I love how it isn't automatically PINK. I have nothing against the color, but everything for girls is pink. (They have a wonderful lime green one! And matching helmets! <3)
I got this for $15 from a lady who didn't think I'd want to buy it all scratched up. If her little boy loved it that hard, don't you think Natalie will too? She'll add her own scratches and scrapes!
Here is the photo proof of Zoomie's big blowout that I mentioned in the last post.
It's huge!
A lesser bulge of tire failure.
And from the side.
And now you know why I got these!
I like how I accidentally captured the branding just perfectly- it was not planned!
I LOVE these tires, by the way. I can see why everyone raves about them on the online forums.
Daylight savings took beautiful morning views like this away from me again. I'm back to fully lighting myself up like the aforementioned pathetic Christmas tree and pedaling along in the dark.
Oh yeah!
This happened during a trip home after visiting Jamie at work. He was getting the evening shift a lot and that meant I didn't get to see him in the middle of the day and by the time he got home, I should have been asleep. I missed him :(
The little shortcut path was slick and muddy, but it didn't occur to me that it would be until I was already on it. I was jamming along to music, feeling awesome, so I had a BLAST! I threw mud everywhere- slipped and slid a little through it, and tested out that traction on the new tires.
It sure was fun!
Jackson wondered why I stopped to take pictures.
Then it snowed some more. It was very pretty, but melted fast.
I love those reflective sidewalls!
We went grocery sopping at Sprouts and bought WAY more than we intended. Jamie had to haul it home.
Look at all that stuff!
A train on the morning commute.
Some geese decided to hold up traffic too one day.
I discovered a night scene setting. It sounds like it takes 5 pictures and puts them together. Regardless, I'm pleased with the results!
And now with my new route, I don't even get to see this anymore- it's full dark and I've been to my first stop before the sky lightens this much.
Hehe, static! It's unusual on the streamers, to say the least.
After all that mud, Zoomie required a bath big time.
This is why I had to go find a new chain- I didn't think this one was worth cleaning. It took all day and I ended up finishing the bath in the lighted breezeway. I finished at 11, well past my bedtime, but it was worth it.
All clean!!
Poor scraped-up Zoomie. <3
Yay clean.
I still love my frog watch. It didn't take long for me to get dependent on it for telling me the time- my wristwatch is always covered lately and my bike computer can now show more important things- like temperature.
Look, a fender sparkle!
This cloud is out of focus, I swear. Look, you can see the tree mainly in focus. I really did check and make sure I was wearing my glasses when I looked at that cloud, it weirded me out.
And lastly- I had big news:
JAMIE GOT A NEW BIKE!!
Ta dah!
It was a dusty display on clearance.
Jamie got another 10% knocked off for a few tiny dings.
Disc brakes!!
I guess it is a Mongoose Stat.
I'm trying to think of a name. I think either "Squishy" or "Dory", after the Finding Nemo character. Jamie said he had to get a suspension seatpost since he no longer has rear suspension. This put in my mind the mental image of him bouncing along as he pedaled, which made me think of squishy suspension... the idea just sort of stuck in my head once it got in there. Since Dory is a female character, I think this bike might be dubbed Squishy.
Tell me what you think or make other suggestions!
Vandal now belongs to a coworker of Jamie's, which saves us the hassle of trying to figure out how one person can get two bikes home (or two people for three bikes). I have to get my trailer hitch, though. It's still on Vandal from that grocery trip.
That's it so far! Life goes on.
I'll talk about my new route later, today was only the second day.
Goodnight.
As far as everything being automatically pink for girls, It's called "the pink factor." You buy everything pink for a girl and everything blue for a boy. when parents have a second child, there's a 50/50 that it will be of a different sex. If it is, parents see themselves forced to buy everything again in a different color. It's a marketing thing...
ReplyDeleteI also liked looking at the new tires. Out of curiosity, when are your going to switch over to regular tires? and what kind of tires do you think you are going to get?
As far as the suspension seat post that Jamie wants now... I would refer him to a fellow blogger, http://allseasonscyclist.com/
He reviewed a suspension seat post that he really liked, the Cane Creek Thudbuster Short Travel Seatpost... read the review, see what you (and Jamie) think.
Be Safe and Be Green
It said the weight limit was 250lbs :( Jamie is in the 280-300 range.
DeleteIt's supposed to snow all weekend, so I'm definitely not sorry I have these tires on even though the past week and a half has led me to believe it would never snow again. We actually had a 70 degree day!
The tires roll very smoothly, I would say they are even smoother than the cheapo stock tires I had on before, but that could be because in an attempt to ward off flats I had those two extra lining tubes in each tire. Maybe they were just heavy? With a Kevlar band in the Schwalbes, I went ahead and left out any extra lining.
I'm not sure if we'll get any specific brand. I tend to be loyal to what I know works, and these Schwalbes have me head over heels. I love them! I also love my Schwinn bike.
I guess it depends on what Jamie feels like springing for. He knew I needed new tires soon, but he was confused as to why I got winter ones with studs, so my extra "me money" paid for them. He still owes me tires :P
He tends to hate delays caused by flat tires even more than I do, which is funny. But, that means we're likely to get something with protection in the new tires too. Glass is the biggest danger- it weasels its way in like an unstoppable force. I did find a goathead thorn stuck in my tire once though. And another flat was caused by a tiny bit of wire, I'm guessing from the inside of car tires? I've had a lot of flats... I don't think Jamie has had even one. I do cycle a lot more than he does, but it can't be just that. I think the stock tires just really sucked badly.
I find myself riding exclusively on Bontrager tires at the momment. They are great so far, only a couple of flats, but that was during goat head season and that was on my mountain bike. To be fair, that bike doesn't have any kind of puncture protection and I was going off road. The rear tire is starting to look a little dingy, but I think I'm going to keep riding it until I can see the belt underneath or my tube gets too many patches.
DeleteAlso, Schwalbe announced not long ago that their active line, their budget tires, will all now feature kevlar protection. Just saying...
Be Safe and Be Green