YESSS!!! My new bike is assembled (for the most part, but little do they know about the accessories I’m going to have them install for me) and ready for pick-up. Now all I have to do is wait for my REI credit card to arrive so that I can get the dividend credit! I hope it comes VERY, VERY SOON, because I want my bike!!! I’ve been looking at the weather forecast for Bozeman and Billings and everywhere in between for the weekend, specifically Sunday, and it looks like a decent chance of rain (only because I want to pick up my bike). I doubt my credit card will be here by then, anyway, but I can hope!!! The other factor I’ve been looking at is how to fit my bike in the back of my truck and lay it down so that all the adjustments don’t get out of whack and nothing gets broken during the drive back to Billings. I don’t necessarily want it to get rained on, either! I have a container in the back of my truck that I’ll have to leave at home in the garage and I have sandbags in the back that I can move around to support the bike where it needs to be supported, but my toolbox could be a problem… I don’t know. I might have to take the other truck – the one with no toolbox or anything else in the bed – and some kind of old blanket or something to pad the bike and support it with while it’s laying on its side on the way back to Billings. Some straps or bungie cords might be good to have along, too, to tie it down loosely with and make sure it doesn’t bounce around back in the bed while I’m driving. Lots of considerations. After 20 miles or 6 months, whichever comes first (it’ll be the 20 miles), I’ll have to take it back to REI for a tune-up, too. Gotta get this figured out! I’ve got a bike to get home so I can ride the countryside and get in shape while I see the sights!
So excited! I’m getting a rear rack for sure, and possibly a front rack (depending on what they have in the store), pedals (can’t forget those!), fenders if they have such a thing for a 50mm-wide tire, a frame bag, a seat bag, some water bottle/stuff sack/anything racks for the frame, and definitely a U-lock for this bike!!! We’ll see what they have for panniers and such, but some of this can wait because I have to get to where I can ride a good, long distance on my bike first! I want to get set up, though! ‘Tis the season!
Speaking of seasons, it’s also outdoor climbing season up here in Montana. My friend and mentor Lou had a fantastic idea for a goal for the Genesis Challenge, which was to get one of Organic Climbing’s Briefcase Pads (for bouldering) and to bike to each of Bozeman’s six boulders and send five or six problems on each boulder in a day! That would be sick!!! I would love that!!! All I’d need would be my Black Diamond Bullet 16 crag pack with my climbing shoes, my tincture of benzoin compound, and my chalk bag in it, my Briefcase Pad, and my bike! I’d park somewhere central where I could access my truck if I needed to during the day, and that would be sussed out during the planning stages of this adventure. That’s a great goal!!! Lou is excited that I’m going to be biking because it’ll get me really fit and make my legs good and strong for climbing. I’m counting on that being the result of biking everywhere I possibly can! Endurance and cardiovascular fitness are also in there as goals. I want to be active this summer – a lot more active than I have been. I have to get this excess weight off of my body!!! I know I’ll feel much better when I do and I might as well use the things I love doing to accomplish that goal! Gotta get in shape! There’s no better time than the present!!!
CLIMBING 4 THE REST OF US 