I know this is hard to believe, but sometimes I have difficulty staying completely focused and find myself daydreaming about a lot of different things. I love to bike and have done it for years and for long distances with my 15-year-old carbon fiber Trek road bike. I love my bike, and it has done very well for me.
Moving out of the country and into the city has created some more practical problems for me when it comes to biking, and I have found it much harder to prep the bike and go out for a long ride. It was just a lot easier on the long and winding country roads and living somewhere that had fewer daily distractions. I find myself missing country living.. but I digress.
A few days before Christmas, while cooped up in my home on a cold winter day with COVID restrictions, I found myself daydreaming about getting outside and trying to be more active once again. Biking has always been one of my passions, and I started contemplating what it would take to make it more practical for me now that I live in the city. My road bike requires time to get prepared, and it’s not configured for getting around the city at a more leisurely pace, something that I was hoping to achieve in any future bike that I might own. I even want to use a bike for commuting to work, now that I live less than 2 miles from the clinic and the hospital.
I started to research new bikes and decided to consider adding a commuting bike to my fleet (of one). I had no idea at the time that Sheboygan had a new Trek bicycle store, and I thought I owed it to myself to check out the local inventory in order to educate myself.
Willow and I jumped in the truck and headed out for a quick stop before we planned to run other errands. The “quick” stop suddenly got quite a bit longer as soon as I stepped foot into the store and saw all the beautiful new bikes while enjoying the subtle aroma of rubber bike tires. My eyes instantly fell upon a Trek Allant+8S. The Allant is a bike I had read about and was merely curious. It is also an electric bike, something that I have never ridden, but I wanted to learn more. An electric bike wasn’t completely off my radar and I wanted to give it a whirl outside and see how it felt. Max, the manager, talked me through the intricacies of switching on the motor and how to increase the level of peddle-assist needed while riding. I took it out and was immediately thrilled! I had it up to 25 mph in the nearby Wal Mart parking lot with ease and was sold before I even got it back to the Trek store.
As soon as I stepped back into the store, I told Max that I wanted to buy it! That purchase was one of the most significant “spur of the moment” purchases I have ever made. It’s a different configuration than what I’m used to with my road bike, but I am confident I will quickly get used to it and use it more frequently around the city to commute and ride more for leisure!
Since I bought it two weeks ago, I’ve been out riding in the cold and snowy days without any problems, and the more I ride it, the more I want to ride it! The temperate weather of spring and summer can’t come soon enough!
For now, I am spending my time getting front and rear racks mounted and planning the bags I hope to use on it for my city adventures, and it’s been a complete joy. Even Willow, as you can see below, is over the top with excitement!
I even rode it to the hospital on the first day and showed it off to Natalie. I don’t think she was as thrilled as Willow though.
