Cycles, Fraud and Sweaters... Oh my!

Ok, so I've finally started the Bombshell sweater and I'm loving it. It's so incredibly easy and yarn is so fluffy light and soft, I'm just totally ADORING IT!

However. (there's always a however isn't there?)

One thing that unfortunately knitting does not promote is health.

While it's a healthy hobby as opposed to ya know, gangs, drugs, and other sordid past-times, it still forces one to sit on their bum for long periods of time. And if you're anything like me, you like to have a little treat nearby to nip at once you've completed a row. Not to mention yes I'm still a smoker, so every once in a while, I pack away the project to puff away, then resume knitting once the smoke has cleared.

Don't get me wrong, you do burn calories while knitting, just not as many as you would say... biking.

So, this past weekend we went bike shopping. I had bought myself a Specialized Hard Rock women's mountain bike way back in 2000. I was too shy at the bike shop to give it a real test ride, plus I hadn't ridden a bike in probably 10 years at that point, so for fear of eating the curb, I just said "I'll take it!" Big mistake!

What I hadn't realized was that they sold it to me with the tires flat (they just needed to be pumped up) and rather than buy a pump and ride it, it sat collecting dust from Chicago to Los Angeles.

One day about a year or two ago, Chris got out his trusty pump and filled my tires... we loaded up our bikes and headed to the Rose Bowl. If you're not from the area, the Rose Bowl (where the big college game happens each New Years Day) has a cool bike path about 3 miles long around it. Lots of folks go there to walk, ride, run, hang out and we'd started walking there for exercise. We decided this time to take our bikes.

This is when I found out how truly awful the bike I had bought way back when, was. I'd always had a 10-speed road bike or borrowed my brother's BMX style dirt bike; never had I actually sat on a mountain bike and felt how unstable and uncomfy it was!

So the bike went back out into the wash house and started collecting dust yet again.

Recently a little bell went off in my head (strange how it sounded similar to an old fashioned bike bell). Why not get a bike that suits me and actually ride it?!

Most bike shops will accept a "trade in" like a car dealership. While they won't give you too much credit, bikes aren't that expensive, so a discount is a bonus!

We poked around the internet just to see what the pricing was on bikes, they weren't too bad. Most good styles were available for under $200. I decided a cruiser was more suiting to me, I could sit more upright and the seat wouldn't make my seat ache for days after.

Saturday, we headed off to one bike shop only to discover they were closed. Thank goodness for Blackberries because we found another just down the street.

They gave me $75 for my old bike and we got me this cool beast...



I like it partly because of the Pantera name, which is a favorite band of mine. To make it more girly since it's actually a man's bike, I got a cool pink basket to carry my knitting (and other stuff too).

We loaded her up into the car and headed home. Since it was a big sucker we had to loosen and turn the handle bars and wait until we got home to put the basket on. Getting on it was like a dream. No wobble, no nervousness... just smoooth sailing! And it's a 7-speed so I can get up hills (sort of - LA has some STEEP hills).

What we didn't know was that while I was making my purchase, someone was off in another land taking money out of my account via an ATM.

They wiped us out.

Bank of America thankfully gave me my money back and we're filing a police report. And thankfully, we were at the bike shop making a purchase at the time so it's proof we weren't stealing our own money! (The money was taken at an ATM about 50 miles from our home)

It's a scary experience, you feel robbed, as if someone came into your home and took everything. But I did get a bit of information that might help to the capture of these jerks. Since I still had my bank card in my posession, and so did the Chris, it's suggestive that our card was skimmed. This happens at just about every gas station here in California. Some dishonest employee or owner decides he or she wants to steal your PIN number and make off with your money.

I had to mosey into the bank to cash a check since I haven't gotten the new cards yet and wouldn't you know it, one of the bank employees said I was the 4th or 5th person to claim the same thing since last weekend. And we all have a common link, we all paid for something with our cards at the same gas station at some point just prior. So the police are going to have a field day with this one!

So for now I'm just working on my sweater and getting stronger with my bike. My first rule is that I can't buy more yarn until I can get to my LYS by bike. Abuelita's is only about 5.5 miles from home so I should be able to manage it (crossing fingers).

Unfortunately though Los Angeles is NOT bike friendly. People get injured often out here because of the inconsiderate drivers. Pasadena, where I work is very bike friendly and has a deep biking history. However, there's still LA drivers who would be happy to flatten you like a pancake. We aren't going to do any heavy city-riding until our bike helmets come in, why take the risk?

Eventually I would love to be able to bike to work, but I haven't quite worked that one out yet. Since work requires that I dress nice and we don't have any facilities in the event that I get all hot and sweaty. Plus I'm not sure if there's someplace safe to keep my bike. I know it sounds like excuses, but until they make LoJack for bikes... I don't trust people, no matter how bike-friendly Pasadena is... I don't want to risk it!