If you want to know where in the blue hell I have been, I have an explanation:

That, my friends, is a 2009 Giant Defy 3 . her name is Jasmine, and her story is kind of interesting. Let me tell you it.

I have been looking around for a decent bike shop. We have a few to choose from around here. One of them treated me like a red-headed stepchild for daring to bring a Walmart bike into their sacred space and asking that it be made to work as well as could be expected from a $150 Walmart bike. One shop is jammed up for 6 weeks in advance, but has always treated me well. One shop treated me like I spent a million dollars in there.. I wanted to get the fork that came on my Walmart bike replaced with a simple rigid fork. They dug around the basement and found one that fit perfectly and sold & installed it - same day!- for $50 bucks. When I picked it up, they took time to chat with me about my cycling goals, what I hoped to achieve, the fact that I am going to ride the Summer Breeze Century , etc. And also made me feel good about riding my Walmart bike…one of the mechanics said “Look, you know it;s not high quality, but youare riding and that is the important thing. I tell everyone…ride what you have and save up for something nicer. But just ride, that’s the key thing!”  Nice to hear that instead of the usual bike shop snobbery.

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