Then again, thinking of waiting for REI Co-op's spring sales and member dividend, I browsed through the bike selection in REI's on-line catalog. Sometime before I had noted the Cannondale Synapse Alloy 7 Compact, which got good reviews from REI customers, as well as in cycling magazines. It has an aluminum frame with a carbon fork, and the rear triangle is designed to dampen vibration, which sounded especially good to me, with my tender spine and arthritic joints. Also, the women's version came in a 51cm frame with a shorter reach to the handlebars, a much better fit for me. And priced at less than $1000.
I hesitated for a few days about buying sight-unseen, and never mind test-riding. Besides, due to marketing agreements REI can't even ship online orders of Cannondale bikes to their Bellingham store. I would have to go pick the bike up from Seattle, Bellevue or Alderwood Mall.
Still, I wanted to get back to riding as soon as weather permitted - right after the groundhog declared early spring. And I have lingering doubts about the local bike shop that sells the Salsa - the shop that let me go home with the Surly that has been such a bad fit. The Surly Crosscheck is a great bike, and I probably shouldn't have been such an easy customer, but still . . .
Finally I said, what the hell, go for it. The bike was delivered to Alderwood Mall promptly, but it was several days before I could arrange my schedule to go pick it up.
I have been meaning to try using local commuter bus services for a trip south, rather than Amtrak, Bolt or Greyhound, and this was my opportunity. I had to leave Ferndale at about 5:30am to get to downtown Bellingham; I rode my old K2 hybrid bike, which I left parked at the transit center. I caught Whatcom Transit's 80X bus bound for Mount Vernon at 6:40am. At Chuckanut Station in Skagit County I caught SKAT's 90X at 7:30am, bound for the Everett Transit Center, where it arrives at 8:25am. From there Sound Transit's route 512 departs about every ten minutes, so I stopped for a snack and my second cup of morning coffee before continuing on to the Ash Way Park & Ride near Alderwood Mall. A local bus route goes direct to the mall, but the day was turning sunny, if coolish, so I walked about a mile instead.
The REI store people were friendly, quick and helpful, the bike was ready and waiting: sleek, glossy black with a sloping top tube and Shimano integrated brake/shift-levers. I took it out to the large Alderwood Mall parking lot for a quick test ride. I have used bar-end shifters, thumb-shifters and barrel-type index shifters, but never STI shift levers. It was easy to figure out how to shift up, but I had to stop to read the instruction manual to figure out how to shift down.
A little practice with that, then I headed out to the street and rode back to the P&R lot, where I bravely loaded my beautiful brand-new bike on the front rack of the bus for the return trip to Bellingham. There is a mid-day gap in the northbound 90X schedule between 8:30am and 3:10pm, so I had to kill some time in Everett. I rode around near the station a bit, but was too nervous to go far. Since I hadn't brought a bike-lock with me, I brought the bike inside the station when I wanted to get a sandwich at the coffee shop.
As I was about to order, a security guard came over and warned me, "No bikes in the station!" Trying to look cute and appealing I said, "But it's brand new. I just picked it up from the shop, and I don't have a lock for it yet." He relented, telling me to leave the bike just outside the door where he could watch it for me while I got my sandwich. I sat outside in the sun to eat, and got both sun-burned and chilled in mid-fifty degree temperatures.
The bicycle and I both survived the ride on the freeway back to Bellingham, and I rode it ten miles back to Ferndale. Yesterday was another sunny day and I got out for a twenty mile ride. I like it.
Unfortunately, we have been having torrential rains on saturated soils and the rivers are near flood stage every other day. If the groundhog did return to his burrow he must have drowned in there by now.
Unfortunately, we have been having torrential rains on saturated soils and the rivers are near flood stage every other day. If the groundhog did return to his burrow he must have drowned in there by now.
