Bikes

Like most stories from my childhood, this one is pretty embarrassing.  The last bike I owned was a used, three-speed Huffy I had when I was 14.  It was great for sneaking out of the house in the middle of the night and riding the back country roads to visit girls.  Nowadays, it would be pretty embarrassing to be seen cruising around on.  For almost our entire married lives,  Jenn and I have wanted to get bikes.  And for most of that time, something has always gotten in the way:

2003: We had recently graduated from college, paid for a wedding, paid for a honeymoon, paid the deposit on our first apartment.  After a whole lot of paying the man, we decided no bikes this year.

2004: We saved up every penny for the down payment on a new house.  Our house is near some really great bike trails. The irony is sickening.  No bikes.

2005: We needed a new car and didn't want much in monthly payments so we made a big down payment.  The CRV has been worth every penny...but no bikes.

2006: The winter before, our furnance died, and after a couple of nights spent wearing sweatshirts and stocking caps to bed until the repair man could come, a new heating system was in order.  We'd also survived two summers without air conditioning and it was miserable.  Sorry bikes, maybe next year.

2007: Italy.  The trip I'd been dreaming of for six years since I'd been in college.  One of two things I wanted before we started having kids: Get my masters degree and go to Italy with Jenn.   Yeah, bikes can wait.

2008-2011: To quote Jenn's favorite Beatle, "Life is what happens when you make other plans." Among other major life events, we found out early in 2008 that if we wanted to have kids, we'd be saving up a boat load for an adoption(s).  One boat load = no bikes x three years.

This brings us to a couple of days ago.  We went to a downtown bike shop with tax refund in hand and determined not to let another year slip by.  We found a really great place that didn't stick their noses up at us because we wanted hybrid bikes to haul around our kids.  Forty-five minutes later we had two bikes, four helmets, a bike rack, bike pump and other miscellaneous items that added up rather quickly.

It's shocking how easy it was to spend that much money--but the important thing is we finally  have bikes!  I can't wait to ride the Mount Vernon trail that runs along our house and take it out along the trails behind our house in Colorado.  Most of all, I can't wait to buy Brynn the "tiny bike" she asked for as we headed out of the house.