Sunday, July 8, 2012

North Carolina...Part 1

I was lucky enough to travel to North Carolina for my grandfather's 90th birthday.  This allowed me to see many of my extended family, and have an opportunity to ride in an area that I have never ridden.  Since you could not care less about my family, I will focus on the riding...You are welcome.

Shortly after arriving my father picked Bella and me up from the airport.  My sister was going to land about an hour later, so me made the plan to head over to Queen City Cycles in Charlotte.  Turns out that the bike shop did not open at 10, so we went back to the airport, picked up my sister, dropped stuff off at the hotel, and then went back to Queen City Cycles.

I immediately noticed the shop was nice and clean.  I then noticed that I was not greeted and had to try and identify who worked at the shop.  Once that was taken care of, I was excited to get my rental bike.  The employee wheeled my bike to me, it was a Pinarello FP Quatro with Sram.  I have never ridden with a Sram drive train, but I knew it would not be difficult to adapt.

I have never rented a bike before, but I did have some expectations on how it would go...

1 - Bike would be clean...Damn, cross that off the list as the bike was not clean.
2 - Drive train would be clean...Nope, looks like it was last cleaned 3 months ago.
3 - Quick bike fit...Check saddle height and fore/aft positioning.  Nahhhh, why do that, slap the thing on and send me out the door.

After leaving the bike shop it was off to the hotel and the first evenings activities.  I was also excited that the next day would be my first day on the bike.  The plan was get up early, beat the 100+ temperatures, ride with my cousin's husband, play 18 holes of golf, and finally celebrate my grandfather's birthday.

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