The alarm went off at its usual time this morning- 04:30, but I was already awake. We had a cold, dry change go through about 3:30 and the wind picked up to about 30km/hr with gusts a bit stronger. The palms were lashing about and fronds were brushing the side of the house- no way to ignore it. And the temperature dropped several degrees in a matter of minutes as well.
Now normally on Tuesdays and Thursdays I do a bit of a group ride but there was no way I was going out this morning in that wind. The weather played a part in it but also I had no insurance on the new bike. Dee had made valiant efforts yesterday to move our home and contents insurance to a company that specialises in insurance for bike owners. No limit on the number of bikes or their value, whether you're racing or cruising, in transit anywhere in the world- sounded like the perfect insurance...."Yes we'd like that please....Send us the quote and we'll pay." Oh and we were advised we had to cancel our existing policy- which we proceeded to do.
The quote never arrived and after several calls, we found out that we were without any insurance as the underwriters for the new policy had not responded and so no new policy in place meant no ride in "somewhat less than ideal conditions" for this cat.
Today brought no further joy as the underwriters finally responded saying that because we live in a "cyclone-prone area" our excess (deductible for NA types) was $1500.00. So back on the phone to our previous insurers, Dee resurrected our policy with extra cover for the bikes with the promise from the rep that they would hunt down all of the information relating to possible bike related claims. That's more like it.....
And Dee's new MTB has been returned to the shop...it just wasn't right. I've gotta say that the owner of the Bike shop, Mike Prentice, is a real gem. He asked Dee yesterday how she was liking the Myka and when she responded to say she had only ridden it once since buying it, he wanted to know why. The short of it is that the bike was still too big.....now Mike has just returned from a Specialized dealers session in the USA and as soon as he saw the '09 Myka models he thought of Dee as the geometry brings the the top tube in at about 2.5cm lower.
Mike suggested we return the Myka and he'll put the money already paid against an '09 model- no questions, no problems, "we're going to fix it." Now I'm like everyone else and I buy my fair share of bike stuff on-line, but there is no way you can get that from an on-line shop and I will continue to support my LBS- "Good on ya Top Brand"
And here's a real eye opener from NYC courtesy of the "Globe and Mail" of Canada: You really need to watch the "You Tube"video to believe this story:
Cheers- ride safe
BoaB
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