about getting from point A to point B in the most interesting ways possible

If you're a large woman in America, your whole life is an opportunity to feel self-conscious, embarrassed, resentful and way too big. You can hide in the corner or on the couch, you can go to therapy, or you can put on your lycra bike shorts and get out there and move.
—Jayne Williams, Slow Fat Triathlete

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May 27, 2005

bike, bike, bike! permalink

First of all, I pass the book meme along to Neca or Nancy or Tszuj—have at, have a good time!

Speaking of Tszuj, her latest entry had this gem:

We're thinking about going in on a group order of "Scoop!" tee shirts (they say "it's a Pilates thing" on the back). Last week in class, after a particularly brutal set of ab-intensive work, someone said "my scooper is pooped". I think that would make a good tee shirt...hmmmm....

...
So, I didn't do pilates last night. After spending the day bouncing off the walls and trying to channel that energy—not so well, really—into work—aaannnddd, it's hotter than h-e-double-hockey-sticks outside, and the building A.C. has failed, again—I came home, we wolfed down some macaroni-cheese-&-tomatoes, I changed into my pilates clothes, and we ran over to the Bike Gallery.

My long-suffering sales associate/shop girl/bike guru sent me out first with a Townie24 (that's 24 speeds, dude!). It was a lovely Mela-shade of blue, so it would have matched the scooter (if I was trying to color-coordinate my transportation). The gears were heavenly as I rode up the hill to Alameda, and all around, but the bike felt kinda adult, and I'm definitely not looking for adult.

So I went back out with the pink Townie3, and while riding up the Alameda hill was not heavenly, it wasn't bad, and I dug it. It definitely doesn't feel adult. So I went back in to fill out the paperwork and empty my wallet.

They didn't have the fenders or rack that I'd like, but I did have them put on a big ole basket on the front. It disconnects easily, so if I were going to the grocery, I could just bring it in with me. How crazy is that? That rocks my world!
...
So, of course, I rode it in this morning. And I loved it.

My purse fits right in the basket. So nice. The bike is so comfortable. I went a leisurely pace, I thought, and had no trouble with any of the minor hills. I had no trouble with the only major hill too. And while Portland athletes are pretty friendly, just about everyone I saw smiled, waved or said hi. Including people in cars.

I was shocked to see that I made it to work in 25 minutes. Um, that's 5 minutes faster than with the other bike. And with the other bike, I'm totally winded by the time I get here.

Riding in was so much fun that I'm thinking about maybe riding to the eastside for lunch!

Oh! And, with the other bike, my private parts would totally numb out within 20 minutes. With this one, all of me remained alert and chipper!

VJ and her new townie

Posted at May 27, 2005

Comments

woohoo! is that THE bike?? awesome, i like it!!

gotta keep those private parts alert and chipper! sorry i couldn't resist something along those lines. hehehehe. excuse me i'm 12. ha ha.

Posted by: brent at May 27, 2005 12:10 PM

5 minutes faster! That sounds like the old hiker's truism...red laces make you faster. (I'm pretty sure its a lie, but for a while, I had red laces.) Now your boss will expect 10 minutes more per day! and you need pink & white streamers for the handlebars.

Posted by: Scooter at May 27, 2005 1:21 PM

Hey, pretty snazzy!

Posted by: susan at May 27, 2005 2:12 PM

Nice bike! I love it! I have a similar style that I got specifically because it made me feel like a kid. :)

Hey, I wanted to let you know, I can't add you to a filter on Livejournal unless you have an account there (which I think you know). But if LJ continues to be a pain and not let you create one, email me at cheesepuppet@mac.com and I'll give you the name and password of an account that I let my folks use! You'll be able to login and read the private posts that way.

Posted by: Cheesepuppet at May 27, 2005 4:20 PM

She's a BEAUTY! How cool! And what's her name!? I'll have to give some serious thought to the book meme. Hmm.....

Posted by: Nancy Toby at May 28, 2005 8:06 PM

Great bike - great smile! :-)

Posted by: neca at May 30, 2005 5:18 AM

I just ordered the pink Townie3! I was searching on line for opinions of it and found your site. As a "larger" woman I really enjoy this site! I can't wait to get my bike next week and take it for a spin.

Posted by: glendabab at June 2, 2005 11:32 AM