Fool me once shame on you…

When I work in my bedroom I look out and the window to this view each day and sometimes daydream about running and biking through those hills in the distance. I feel a little like Huck Finn imprisoned in church on a Sunday, yearning to kick off his shoes, throw off his coat and run through the fields. 

Marin Headlands in the distance

Once in a great while I head over the Golden Gate Bridge and go for a run out in those hills but I haven’t biked on those trails in quite awhile especially because my mountain bike, “Black Beauty” was stolen a few months ago.

Black Beauty - A Noble Steed

But all that changed today when the UPS man arrived at the door with “Black Beauty II”.

Black Beauty II - Dawes Lightning Cross

This is a cyclocross bike. A cheap one. You’ll notice it’s not cluttered with any name brands or corporate logos. I got it from BikesDirect.com, a factory direct online retailer because no store would stock the Dawes Lightning Cross. It’s more or less a road bike with mountain bike tires. Cyclocross races are sort of a combination of road cycling, mountain biking and running. Type “cyclocross” into YouTube and you’ll get all sorts of interesting, hilarious and painful blooper reels.

I opened the box and could barely contain my enthusiasm as I assembled my new bike. The fact that the instruction manual that came with it was for a completely different bike should have been my first clue that this was all going together a little too easily. The second clue should have been that there were some extra spacers and screws left over once the bike was assembled. Nevertheless, my spirit was soaring and I charged out the door channeling Ol’ Huck.

The first four minutes were outstanding! Then I heard the “click, clack” sound of a broken spoke. I was forced to walk the bike back home to take to the bike shop for repairs. It was reminiscent of the (mis)adventure Trent and I had biking from Zambia into Malawi in 2006. Those bikes were also factory direct. We were fooled into thinking they were of a high quality because we bought them right inside the factory. In the first 10 minutes my chain broke and we spent the next 2 days picking up bike parts that had rattled off along the way.

Trent and a helpful friend make the first attempt to assemble the bike.

Bike Shop - Mchinji, Malawi

If it were not for this kid and a dozen like him who made numerous repairs for us along the way we might still be walking along that highway. My savior today was the Sports Basement and almost two hours after I started I set out again for my inaugural ride. After surviving the first downhill without any parts falling off I made it over the bridge, through the tunnel and when I hit the trail on the other side I finally had my Huck Finn moment. I sped up the trail yippin’ and hollerin’ as I passed by wildflowers blooming on the side of the trail, turkey vultures soaring overhead, a couple of wild turkeys walking across the trail and even the Oracle team boats practicing for America’s Cup beneath the Golden Gate Bridge on the way back. All in all a pretty good ride! 

Today I learned a valuable lesson: maybe there is a reason these bikes are not available in stores. In Zambia, I was fooled once by the promise of adventure offered by a cheap ride and today, well, the jury is still out as to whether I was fooled again by BikesDirect.com…we’ll have to see how many repairs are needed over the next few days and weeks!