Today's Ride: Tour de LBS

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Not a huge ride today, although the weather was again unexpectedly mild. In the Northwest, “mild” means some sunshine came out and it got above 50.

I dropped down Fremont Ave. to the Burke-Gilman Trail and tooled around the north end of Lake Union, winding up over in Montlake. The Montlake Bike Shop is a cool place to see eye candy; they carry Santa Cruz and Ibis and usually have a demo bike or two in stock. Having the opportunity to demo a new bike is nothing to turn your nose up at these days.

This was almost a “tour de LBS” (local bike shop) day. I stopped in at Fluidride by the shipyard. They’ve expanded westward, breaking through the wall and setting up a glass counter with repair stall behind. The added room is nice; the former shop was a real cubbyhole — pretty dark and cramped. They’ve got so much elbow room now that they’re setting up a special “Evil Bikes” display: All black, with track lighting, to show off the new Evil line’s white-on-white. White is a great bike color btw, something I never appreciated till I got the custom pearl white finish on my Intense 6.6. Fluidride carries not just Evil but Cove, Transition, Kona, Iron Horse and just about all high-end lines except Santa Cruz. The expansion is not quite all in place yet but will be rockin’ when finished.

I also swung by Downhill Zone and Gregg’s Greenlake Cycles, missing R+E Cycles because of an errand detour. Let’s see, that’s five bike shops within what, a 3-mile radius. And I didn’t even take in Free Range Cycles or Cascade Bicycle Studio in Fremont! Or Recycled Cycles on Lake Union! Bike shops, they’re everywhere in Seattle!

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