Facebook has reminded me that at about this time last year I was meeting with the owners of Island Bicycles, and travelling to Friday Harbor to check out job prospects. I've been having deja vu flashes, even dreaming at night about the morning fog and sunlight on certain stretches of road on the island where I bicycled on my way to work all summer. But there's no going back: sadly, the owners closed down the shop and sold the building over the winter. No going back to work there, anyway, but I will certainly visit again.
I sold my Surly CrossCheck a few weeks ago, after reducing my asking price to $300. The buyer was a young man who works in the produce section of an organic foods store. I hope they ride many happy miles together. Now I have my Cannondale Synapse for the road, and my old K2 Tradewinds hybrid for rougher rides. Sometimes I think about my N+1 bike - one with disc brakes and some type of front-end shock-absorber, maybe straight bars because I sometimes have trouble with the brake levers with my arthritic thumbs . . . But really, two bicycles in the living room is enough.
I have a couple of job prospects opening up in the next few weeks, but not in bike shops. I still want to work in some bicycle-related capacity, but not as a mechanic. I'm still too much of a beginner, and have those arthritic thumbs, and besides I'm developing cataracts in my right eye and have to squint a lot to see straight. I will try to work out the job arrangements to allow for a lot of summer riding, though, because my "places to go" list is long and I want to finish off some rides before I get to retirement age.
