I'm kindof ashamed to admit it but I haven't been on a bike in almost 20-years. The last time I biked, it was when I was in University. I would bike across town - without a helmet - to the co-op job I had at the time. The bike I used was an old-school CCM bike, which weighed a TON, had faulty breaks and was originally given to me at the start of high school.
Now that I have more disposable income, and especially since the pandemic started, I've been meaning to rectify this 20-year gap and get me a decent set of wheels - two-wheels that is!
Westboro, the gentrified area just west of Ottawa is sortof the local mecca of bikes and other sporting goods stores (along with nearby Wellington West). The area includes:
What was primarily holding me back from serious bike shopping was all the news stories about just how hard it is to buy a bike these days due to the high demand and disruption in supply chains caused by COVID. Still, a few weeks ago I decided to bite the bullet and start shopping. After checking out a place in Quebec, I started with Bushtakah, which is an Ottawa store.
I had a super positive experience shopping at Bushtakah. The staff person I spoke to was nice, not pushy and knew his stuff. He also didn't make fun of me for my lack of cycling knowledge! Eventually I put down a deposit for a Trek FX 2, which is a mid-range (price wise) hybrid bike. Delivery of the bike was scheduled for November (so four months away) but in these crazy times, that seemed reasonable.
However, guess what? I must be born under a lucky star because my bike was delivered 3-months early! So, after only one-month of waiting I'm now the proud owner of a pretty fine piece of equipment if I do say so myself.
I've only just tried cycling around my street so far but it's so light - it's like hovering over the air! I feel like a kid again.*
* a kid with a little pot belly.
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