Bought a Bike!!!

I have finally bought a bike!!

Last week I took Specialized bike with a carbon fibre frame for a test ride. I had no intention of buying it, but I was trying it for size. I also had road tyres put on it as the first time I'd tried a Specialized bike, I found it a bit slow going. The carbon fibre frame was not surprisingly a lovely bike to ride and it seemed to be a good fit, so the Bike Shed ordered in a slightly less posh version in my size! On Saturday I went in to try the Specialized Tricross Sport. It obviously wasn't quite so light and nippy, but on the whole it seemed like a nice bike to ride, so I decided to go for it. Eeeek! It was all a bit scary and it's a bit of a long way from the steel touring bike in racing green that I'd had in mind, but hopefully this will be a solution that will work for me. I chose new tyres, a rack and panniers to kit out the bike ready for our trip at the end of May, so fingers crossed I'll be ready in time! Unfortunately I couldn't bring it home with me as I'm putting it through the cycle scheme...but hopefully I'll have my nice new shiny bike soon.

We took a short trip out to Topsham yesterday. Unfortunately we decided to go a bit later as the forecast was for heavy showers which would be clearing later. We left a bit later having not seen any showers and made our way out to Topsham. The ride out went fairly smoothly and we seemed to be there in no time, which was great. We sat on the Quayside for a bit appreciating the warmth of the sunshine and watching the ducks waddle by. Just as we decided to move on and lock our bikes up to have a wander around town, the weather started changing and it suddenly became very cold. We had a look around a few shops and then headed into Route 2 for some coffee and cake. Yum! We took a back road out of Topsham as Ant had promised me it was a bit more hilly...lucky me! The route was fine, although I was finding I was feeling nervous on downhill sections where the road wasn't too smooth. As my initial rides were all on the flat, I hadn't realised that I had lost so much confidence, so I'm going to have to try and get over that as quickly as possible - especially when changing to a new bike which is going to be more bumpy than my mountain bike! As we came past the Double Locks, the rain poured down and we got absolutely soaked. I arrived back cold and wet and wondering why I'm so determined to put myself through all this. The weather is looking nicer for today though, so hopefully we can get out and enjoy some more pleasant riding! I had hoped to rejoin the CTC rides again this weekend, but although I am building up the distances I can cycle, I am still just far too slow and would never be able to keep up with the group. It's going to take a lot longer than I'd hoped to get back up the level we were cycling at before and I'm beginning to realise just what a challenge we have up ahead. Hopefully with some lighter nights, better weather and the arrival of my new bike, I'll start to enjoy going out cycling a bit more.