It was another cold and gloomy day but I felt the need to ride. I decided to head over to Backwoods to look for some type of cold weather headgear for next weekends ride. I didn't find what I was looking for at Backwoods but I did find an acceptable cap with fold down ear protection at Target. I met up with my lovely wife at Target and we took care of some of our Christmas shopping.
Crossing the Trinity River I got a look at the progress being made on the Trinity Trail. The trail has been lowered closer to the river and a fishing platform is being constructed. I'm looking forward to seeing the final results.
This is Backwoods new, much larger location on 7th Street. They were located further west across the street from the Modern Art Museum. They have a nice selection of camping gear and clothing. They'll occasionally have some great sales on footwear.
I took some time to discuss stoves and tents with one of the sales people. I like this tent in the display. I couldn't get close enough to tell but I think it's a Sierra Designs two person tent. The old tent I have now is a bit on the heavy side for bike touring. This one is sure to be much lighter and cooler than my old tent.
I stopped for coffee at, you guessed it, Starbucks. FortWorthology reported the sighting of a new coffehouse under construction downtown on Florence Street. I'm ready for something different.
While I was out riding I had the pleasure of meeting Russell. He recognized my bike from the blog and stopped me for a chat. Russell was in the process of tweaking his position on his Specialized Roubaix. He showed me the shorter stem he had just installed (I completely forgot to take photos). I told him about BABBLE and invited him to join up. Hopefully we'll be hearing from him soon. I also met a guy when I stopped for coffee, but for the life of me I can't remember his name (I forget my own kid's names sometimes). He told me about an old Australian track bike that he's building. He was a pretty interesting guy. We talked bikes for a while. He seemed to be genuinely interested in attending our next group ride. Hopefully we'll hear from him as well.
Hey, Starbucks is better than Quicktrip. Guaranteed!
ReplyDeleteget that tent and let's do a s240.
ReplyDeletepeace :)
hey myles...maybe try and get your starbucks to serve a 'flat white' like those in the UK are starting to serve. it's a good way to present espresso imho:
ReplyDeletehttp://tiny.cc/VmHiU
That tent is similar in design to mine, which has been quite satisfactory. Sounds like Chandra is ready to go...
ReplyDeleteI almost went out for a S24O Friday night, but wimped out. I'll try again when it dries up some.
@chris,
ReplyDeletewhat kinda sleeping bag do you use? thx
Sometimes cold and gloomy can make for a great ride.
ReplyDeleteSteve A-I have to agree with you, although QT coffee is better than the Folgers you used to get at most convenience stores.
ReplyDeleteChandra-I'm fairly confident that I'll have a new tent by next spring. A stove of some kind and a couple of panniers are the only other things I'm lacking.
fridaycyclotouriste-That's interesting. I only buy drip coffee from Starbucks because I don't care for all of the milk, plus it's cheaper than their other offerings. Flat White sounds like a good idea.
Pondero-I should be ready to go in a couple of months. Pick out a good spot for us.
Chandra-I've got a North Face Cat's Meow 15 degree bag that I bought back in 1998 or 99. I need to wash it in one of those front loading machines at the laundromat before I use it again.
Apertome-I've had some good rides lately in cold and gloomy weather. I'm avoiding rain for now. I don't have fenders yet.