A few weeks ago Raelene started talking about how she wanted a new bike. She did a lot of research, talked to people, started reading an excellent book, and narrowed her choices down to a select few. I did my best to help, but I was an avid cycler 20+ years ago and so my knowledge is extremely dated.
As part of her research, Raelene talked to a number of different bike shops. But it wasn’t until last Thursday that she found one she really liked. The guys at Blue Heron Bikes in Berkeley were really nice and helpful, and she had fun test riding a couple of different bikes. I even tried a Yuba Mundo cargo bike, which handled a lot better than expected and was a lot of fun to ride.
On Saturday we went to The Pedaler Bike Shop in El Sobrante. The Pedaler is also an awesome bike shop, and we both fell in love with the “urban utility” Trek Allant bikes there. On Sunday we returned to purchase two of them, his and hers. We also ordered bags so we can haul stuff,  car rack, a trailer bike for Corinne, helmet, lamps, pumps, etc. I’m sure we were not the first people to walk in and purchase two bikes with all the stuff, but I imagine it doesn’t happen that often. They seemed very happy to help us.
The bikes had to be ordered special, but Trek has them in stock so they should arrive soon. My guess is we’ll have them the weekend after next. I am really looking forward to going on family rides, with Corinne behind me, as well as taking my bike out for pre-dawn for photo excursions.
We’re already talking about next bikes, but mostly because bicycles are so much fun. Raelene wants a mountain bike, and I know that sooner or later I’m going to be itching for a sport bike again (long distance road riding was my passion years ago). With rising gas prices continuing to rise, that cargo bike is going to make more and more sense as well. In the mean time, though, we are going to enjoy running errands and cycling for fun on our new urban utility bikes.