Monkey's Red Baron

Hallo lovelies!

I got a bike!! 

I'd been planning to buy a bike for ever and ever but as you all know, I'm a world class procrastinator...  

We've had a few sunny weekends since I got home from Turkey and now that we live a bit further away from town, it was the extra motivation I needed to get off my butt and get shopping!!

I saw another bike the first day I went shopping, but it wasn't quite ready to be sold, the guy said he would call me to come down and take the bike for a test ride once it'd had a full tune up but he was trying to get me to leave a deposit which I didn't really want to do... As I wasn't sure I would get it back if a) I decided I didn't really like it after a test ride or b) the cost of the bike went up if they had to do more work on it than they anticipated... 

The guy took my number but never called me back.. I was a bit disheartened but knew there were plenty more bike shops to investigate around town!

On my way home after training for work last week (yes, I have a job! It's only super part time, but it's super fun and keeps a bit of money coming in and gets me out of the house, which is the main thing!) I decided to detour and pop into another little bike shop... 

They had quite a few pre loved bikes in store but none that would fit me... They had this bike in the service area as they were just finishing tuning her up, after a few adjustments once they'd taken it for a test ride, I got to take it for a toodle and loved it! I was hesitant about buying it and actually asked them to hold it for me overnight so I could sleep on it....

I got halfway home and saw loads of people riding past on their bikes and it was enough to make me turn around and go back to bring her home!

It came with a bell and mudguards... now all I need is to put a rack on the back or a basket on the front so I can carry stuff around! It's really quite difficult cycling with a handbag over your shoulder as I discovered on my ride home!! I've been using an over the shoulder bag (messenger style) to get my stuff around over the weekend, but it would be really handy to have something that I can transport cupcakes/shopping/groceries in without squishing it all! I'm thinking mostly cupcakes!! :) 

We've already been on a few adventures over the weekend.. to the bakery, to the pub, to the markets!! So much faster getting around town on a bike rather than on foot!!

Bring on more sunny days I say!!