I'M BACK!

I traveled 2,000-ish miles, stopped in 20-ish communities, visited about 100 businesses and met about a thousand people. I stayed in very nice places, met fantastic people, got amazing tours of amazing places, and ate great food (and had dessert at least twice a day) but really it is very, very nice to be back home with my Christopher.

You can read alllllll about my journey at the Tour blog.

When it was all over (last Friday) I celebrated by having four "tour-tinis" (a lovely mixture of pear brandy and vodka), some wine, some beer, some tequila, some more beer... I did this at our great, grand, final party in Portland, a bar, a hotel and then a hotel bar from about 5:30pm until 1am. This from the girl who has a beer or two a week and is lights out around 10:00 these days. And Christopher, the driver, was the one who had a headache the next day.

And then on Sunday I continued the uncharacteristic binging and bought a really (really really) nice bicycle! As some of you know I've been riding an old steel frame thing (circa 1983) that weighs a ton, shifts terribly, handles like a Buick from the same era, was way to big for me and has a lot of very hard miles on it. This isn't the sort of bike serious riders see and say, "What a great classic!" Rather they say, "you really ride that?" I commuted, crashed, trained, did triathlons, knocked it over, left it in the rain, did Cycle Oregon (a mere 435 miles in one week), did a century-ride (100 miles in one day) and so much more on it. The guys in the bike shop kept asking me, and my parents when they would visit the shop, when I was going to get a new bike. It is actually a very fine bicycle. It is just better suited, at this point in its life, for an easier life than I would give it. A casual 20 or 30 mile ride here or there and it would be fine. But I like to ride a lot, ride far and do things like go up icky steep hills and ride with fast boys.

I walked into the bike shop Sunday with the intention of starting the careful, considered process of researching the options, figuring out what I want, shopping around to see if I could find the same thing or something comparable used or at another bike shop for cheaper, etc. etc. I even said, "I'm not going to buy a bike today." But one thing led to another and next thing you know I was demo-ing a fantastic bike much nicer than I intended and WAY out of my intended price range. But after a 90-minute blissful ride I couldn't let it go! I could turn corners effortlessly, ride up mountains, had control of my bike, and didn't feel every bloody pebble or crack in the road (all carbon is NICE!) Luckily the WAY out of my price range bicycle was on super sale ($600 off the official, $400 off the store's normal price!) and that put it only $100 above my price range. So I bought it. At the beginning of winter (hence the sale) when it will be forced to languish indoors far to often...

But there are nice winter days when we'll get to go riding. I can't WAIT!