This past weekend was full of activity. It started out with a trip to Michigan for my wife and I's 11th wedding anniversary. We had planned on it only being a day trip but the day trip was cut even shorter with the never-ending rain. In spite of the rain, we still had a great time. We were able to still walk out on the pier, stroll through town and even ate train side at a pizza place that literally would have required us holding our plates down if Amtrak had gone by.
We headed back to Indiana after we realized the rain was not going away anytime soon. On our way back we stopped at my favorite town in Indiana - Winona Lake. I have said it before and I still believe it, the place is magical. I leave there with a entirely different perspective on life. Plus, they have a wicked cool bike shop called the Trailhouse. My wife was in the market for a new bike, not a road bike but a everyday bike. One she can just jump on and not worry about clipping in, not having spandex on, but just one where we could escape and be alone together.
Never....I mean NEVER would I expect this visit to turn out the way it did!
Kristi, a shop employee was there and struck up a wonderful conversation with us. I visit often so they know me pretty well, usually every purchase is accompanied with "did your wife approve of this?" She asked what kind of bike my wife was looking for. I started in with "a commuter, something practical.... it has to be cute or she won't ride it...."
She then asked, "why not a trail bike?" I laughed and said no way would my wife get on a single speed 29er and go into the WOODS with me. Kristi went on to explain how much her late boyfriend and her had loved to ride, how he built her bike for her, how he was patient with her and went through the woods and they laughed, she even told us of a story of how she led a group of guys out on a training ride as he brought up the back - normally it would have been the other way around. She said she felt like a badass on her trail bike.
She single-handedly convinced my wife to give it a try.
It was raining on Saturday, so we said we would be back in the morning. At that point, they were calling for a 80% chance of rain. I was so bummed because I was sure if I didn't get my wife out right away her willingness to try a trail bike would subside.
On Sunday morning, I jumped out of bed at 5:00 o'hell-no in the morning (on Father's Day, no less) and saw that it wasn't raining! Not only was it not raining but they had completely revamped the forecast (something they NEVER do) and now we were looking at only a 20% chance of rain. We loaded up around Noon (even though a 20% of rain to my wife still means there is a chance of rain) and made the hour drive back to Winona Lake. We got her on a rental and we headed out to the trails! I laughed, I smiled, I honestly thought I had died and gone to heaven. My wife doesn't do nature, but she was flying through the trails like she had rode them a million times (it could have possibly been because she knew that the faster she went, the quicker she'd get the hell out of there). And she climbed, holy crap did she climb!
We went back to the Trailhouse and sized her up with a badass Redline 29er. They went through it with a fine-toothed comb, we loaded it up and took her home! That's right, my wife is a badass single- speed mountain biker!! And we are already planning our next trip - to Fort Custer in Michigan -recommended by Dave, one of the coolest mechanics around!
We no sooner get back to the house, get the bikes unloaded from the roof-rack and get them safely into the garage and the flood gates open with a massive downpour.
To me it was a sign of this was meant to be, to my wife it was see I told you it was going to rain!
We finished the night with dinner and a beer...and a ton of calamine lotion. In my excitement, I forgot the Off! and the mosquitos made us pay a high price for that.
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