We spent a good part of our day riding around on our bikes. We did a short ride in the morning, then came back home. Just in time to meet our mailman and get our Performance Bike packages–horray! We got a couple of lights (since I love nightime riding–very peaceful, somewhat scary), water bottles, and some “hoists” for our bikes.

In the afternoon I installed the bike hoists in the garage. Basically, they are rope and pulley things that lift the bike off of the ground. If you had a really high ceiling, you could use them to get the bikes way out of the way. We wanted to get the bikes off of the ground because of the lovely rats. You see, the rats down here love to get into cars (etc) and eat at the cables. For some reason, they like the taste of insulation! So, to (hopefully) prevent this, we now have our bikes 4 feet off the ground.

(At night, the two “puppies” [now young dogs] get put in the garage where the bikes are at. So, our bikes get guarded by them, which is nice. It’s kinda interesting–they really do know who “should” and “shouldn’t” be around. If a stranger comes in, they are all barking and growls. I guess that’s what you want in a dog. It’s funny, because they are still pretty small, but they sound like they’d rip your throat out.)

I wanted to break in my new Nite Rider light, so Ev and I just went out for a ride. I’ve had Nite Rider stuff before (mounted on the handlebars), but this one mounts on your helmet. Let me tell you, you may look goofy with the light on your head (you look like a coal miner), but it’s a thousand times better than the handlebar mounts. You can look around and see what you’re getting into. (I wish cars did that–especially on these roads–who cares what’s in front of you–I want to see the next turn!) Plus, the battery pack is small–it slips right into a jersey pocket. (My old Nite Rider had a big battery pack the shape of a water bottle. Nice design at the time, but you wouldn’t want to put it in your back pocket!)

The ride was nice and peaceful, plus it’s a lot cooler, so you don’t get so dehydrated. In all, I think we passed one car altogether. It will be interesting once we have a full moon, then we’ll be able to see the whole valley at night.

So a thumbs up on the following bike gadgets:

* Cateye TL-LD 1000 rear light. Super bright. A couple of modes and true 180 degree (almost 360) coverage–since it has two LEDs on each side, in addition to 10 (two banks of 5) in the rear. Down here, you really need a rear light, even during the day.

* Nite Rider Digital Head Trip 3.0. Made in the USA! A solid 15 watts of blazing power. Many modes (4 levels of brightness, flashing, etc). Small battery. Simple to install on the helmet, though a tad heavy (that’s the price you pay for a metal lamp). Even comes with a nice zippered storage case. Not cheap, but well worth the money.

And a general Thumbs Up to Performance Bike. They shipped fast (the next day) and have very reasonable shipping rates. We ordered the stuff last Wed/Thr and got both today (Tue), which is really good.

P.S. Sorry to those of you in Chicago who have to listen to this outdoors stuff in February. Right now it’s coming up on 11 PM and is 73 degrees outside. I see it’s 28 in Chicago. Sorry.