A New Bike!

I bought a new bike this weekend. It wasn't my first choice of bike, honestly it wasn't even my second choice. That is O.K. it's not a bike for me.

My Darling Daughter has outgrown her 20" "Cream Soda", truthfully she had outgrown it last year.

Darling Daughter's Purple 20" Cream Soda

A 24" bike would work for her, but not for long. That is the trouble with kids is they keep growing, and parents are always trying to plan ahead. I am a "Serious"* cyclist so I looked for a suitable road style bike, preferably a cyclocross bike. There was some trepidation because last fall Darling Daughter borrowed a Redline Conquest 24 and participated in a local cyclocross race. This wasn't a spectacular success, the race was a bit much for her. Still, I remembered it fondly. I found a bike that I thought would be perfect at REI, the Novara Pulse a small frame cyclocross bike sitting on 26" wheels. I was excited, this would be the perfect bike. 

Of course it wasn't the perfect bike at all. Its first and fatal flaw was it only existed on a website  Darling Daughter  couldn't see or touch it. It is hard to get excited about a smallish picture of a bike. The next flaw was price, it seemed expensive. While other options would turn out to be more expensive, they didn't have the additional problem of cross border shipping. I was negotiating successfully, making progress against the objections and building enthusiasm when the Novara Pulse sold out. Well, that was a set back, and a blow to internet shopping. All was not lost, the whole family visited a local bike emporium and proceeded to check out actual physical bikes. This confirmed what I already knew, 24" bikes had no room to grow into. 700c bikes were to tall and 26" wheel bikes were as Goldilocks would say "just right". And Darling Daughter fell in love with one bike in particular. 

Darling Daughters new Trek 820

Not my first choice, but it is not my bike. It is miles better then the little 20" bike, as it fits. We've already had longer rides and she is really enjoying it. So a hardy welcome to the newist bike in the family fleet.

* not backed up in results of any sort.