Mea Culpa

Ok, Ok, I am now confessing to you all that over the weekend I bought another bike. That's number four for those of you keeping track. The specifics: Redline 925 with a flip-flop fixed/free rear wheel and moustache handlebars. I need to back up a bit.

On Friday, I met with my old college roommate who I discovered on a local bike forum. We met at Bryant Lake Bowl, and we both rode our bikes there. After a wonderful evening of catching up, we headed out the door onto the Greenway, or the bike highway as the girls call it. Kirk asked me if I wanted to try riding his bike. I did. He rides what is called a fixed gear bike. Basically, you cannot coast on this type of bike. If you pedal forward, the rear wheel goes forward. If you pedal backwards, the rear wheel will go backwards. If you try and coast, you will either lock your back wheel up in a skid, or the momentum of the pedals simply keeps your legs moving. Actually, that is how you can slow the bike down, pull back on the pedals and slow your momentum. I rode very slowly for a short distance, but that was enough. I knew I wanted to have this kind of bike, it is lots of fun.

So the next day I went down to a local bike shop and picked up the above bike. The rear wheel has a combination hub on the back. Put the wheel on one way and you have a fixed gear. Flip it (hence flip-flop) and you can ride on a freewheel, which is like every other bike, when you stop pedaling, you can coast. I have been out on it a few times, and it's just fun. Oh, and the moustache bars are just handlebars that are kinda shaped like an "M" except not as pointy. It's amazing how much weight gears add to a bike. This thing feels like a feather compared to the SS Deathstar with gears, a rack (and a pannier when I'm commuting to work). Plus since there are so few parts, cleaning up after a messy ride is very simple. Did I mention it was fun to ride?

In other news KyKy and The Madster are off at church camp this week. KyKy signed up for archery and The Madster for horseback riding for the week. Crikey. It sounds like they're going to camp to prepare for a Crusade. When I went to Shores of St Andrew as a kid, we made crappy art projects, went swimming, ate bad food, played capture the flag, sat through bible studies and campfires, and in my 6th grade year had world-class farting contests in the cabin after lights out. No horses, no bows and arrows. This also leaves 'Nika home alone with mom and dad. She has us all to herself, and believe me, she is going to take advantage of this. She has already asked multiple times if we can go to the opening night of "The Simpsons" movie on Friday. She knows what buttons to push.

TOYH is still slogging through her internship which will thankfully come to an end next week. On the whole it has been a good experience for her and has helped her narrow down what kind of work she would like to pursue after she graduates. But lord have mercy Jesus her schedule has been awful this summer. This was much worse than her taking a year's worth of chemistry in 8 weeks two summers ago. The best part of her internship ending is that the week she is done we are leaving for our yearly trek up to Mt Carmel for our family vacation. Mmmmmm vacation.