shopping with dad

One thing I wanted for my stay in the foggy city of Saint John was mobility.  I was hoping to find some old beater of a bicycle with a for sale sign in someone's front yard but that hadn't happened.  It was Dad's idea to visit Hayward's Bike Shop on Lock Lomond Road.   I was skeptical. This wasn't a place I would have considered.  Obviously, it was a bike boutique with high end bikes beyond my price range.

Sure enough, look at these beauties with the super fat tires.  These marvels of engineering are made for handling mountain bike trails in gravel and snow.  They are wonderful rides but definitely more than I needed or could afford. 

 I love the maple leaf rims on this one.

But Hayward's also takes in old bikes and refurbishes them.  We told the man, who immediately dropped what he'd been doing the moment we entered the door, what we were looking for: a cheap bike that wouldn't fall apart.  He turned and wheeled out the perfect bike, just like that.  There were 2 affordable options but the first one was love at first sight and touch.  It certainly didn't look like a secondhand bike but that's what it was.  Polished and tuned to perfection, with a new chain, it was ready to ride and well within my price range.

There it is.  What a beauty.  I like it better than my Huatulco bike. It is staying here for future visits.

Dad insisted on buying new lights for the bike.  I wasn't going to bother.  The plan was to just ride during the day, no lights necessary.  I didn't even like the lights we found in stores.  They were over-priced, cheaply made and they all took batteries.  This is 2022!  I asked him to wait until we found something better but I couldn't stop him.    

These terrifying monsters were menacing customers at the

first hardware mega-store we visited.

Dad humored me and stood between evil skeletons to provide a sense of scale.   Just look at how fearless and calm the man is!    

More than once, I have been glad he went ahead and bought those lights without my blessing.  A few times in the first week, I had over-estimated how far I could travel and return in one day.  In the early evenings, traveling into the dying sun, all west-bound traffic is partially blinded and I love to have those red warning lights flashing for the drivers coming up behind me.

So, now I am more mobile than ever and better equipped to see the whole city.