Novelties

This week brought warmer temperatures and happier folks here. At Redbike the guys and gals are building bikes as usual. When I dropped by on Saturday Bruce was building a DeVinci CX4 road bike:

Mechanic Craig is back part-time to save up for his wedding. And for the first time ever at RB (I believe), there are a few women learning the basics of bike-building. It's a novelty to see women working here, although they're working on a trial basis. If they have the aptitude & the attitude, they'll stay. Wouldn't it be great to have women working here? It can be intimidating for women to walk into a bike shop run only by males. When Bruce started working at RB, I felt awkward hanging out there. What do you think about women working in bike shops; does it improve the customer service?

 I browsed the shoes shelves and spotted these very cool men's urban bike sneaker. They're SPD compatible:

 Can you believe they're cycling shoes?

The Sunday ride from DaCapo Caffe had a bigger turnout than usual. There were a lot of riders from different bike shops, braving the icy paths.

I had planned to go for a run, but I didn't want to risk injuring my ankles in the ice. I decided to take the Brompton for a slow mini-ride around my neighborhood. Bruce took it to Vegas in September in it's carrying case:

Confession: I didn't know how to unfold the Brompton until today. It took me about 20 minutes to figure it out with the help of YouTube.

Our Brompton comes with a small carrying pouch, perfect for carrying an alternate pair of shoes:

This reflective leg band can double as a bracelet, no?

I wore my Yakkay helmet...too icy to risk a head injury!

I enjoyed my ride but it was pretty icy. I stuck to the dry roads as much as possible but sometimes i had to get on the sidewalk. The sidewalks were way icier!

Pure ice.

I fell once and bumped my head, but I am just fine. I expected to fall so I rode slowly and cautiously.

I can't wait for more adventures on my Brompton once everything dries up!