Trying the new bike and pondering improvements

On Monday evening I bought the bike. I couldn't wait to bike to work on it! And the next morning I did. It was a lovely day for it! I wore biking shorts under my skirt. No leggings needed. And it felt good! It's a lovely bike. I got the hang of the gears quite soon. And I didn't mind the low handlebars. I got to Menai Bridge rather fast. And carrying it up the stairs was lovely!

Going back was the same. Nice and fast! I'm liking this.

The day after, though, it rained. And that had two disadvantages: first, I was seeing Jenny in the pub, and you can't really bring a bike into the pub, so that meant leaving the bike outside in the rain. I also only use a small lock on it; one of my normal locks would be as heavy as the bike itself. Defies the purpose! But the pub Jenny and I always meet in has lots of windows looking out over the street, and thus where my bike was. Nobody tried to steal it!

The other problem with the rain was that this bike had no mud guards. I got a rather wet arse. I know adding mud guards only adds weight but comfort matters too! I ordered some. And a pannier. And a bell. Just useful stuff for commuters! And I had already bought a sort of rain hat: it fits over your helmet. During a long commute in pouring rain these ventilation slits in your bike helmet aren't all that... and now I'm even extra fashionable in the rain!

 Bike with assembled additions

What's more in line with the nature of the bike is that I also ordered shoes. And cleats. The bike (of course) has clipless pedals, and you can bike on these in any shoes perfectly fine, but they are made especially for special clippable shoes. Which I don't have! But eBay does. And it had the cleats (the actual connector) too. Soon I will too, and be able to use the bike a bit closer to its full potential! I've never been clipped in. I'm sure it's a bit of a learning curve. But probably worth it!

 Putting the cleats on the shoes