The reminders were there (nursing bra, diaper bag), but I was kid-free at WOW! First time in three years. I could actually look at everything I wanted to and didn’t have to ask anyone to please stop chewing on bike tires. I saw one woman with toddler at the event and think I managed not to look superior. By the way, Women on Wheels is “A special night to help motivate and educate women cyclists” at Gregg’s Cycle. Motivation includes free food and drink, good live music, and special in-store savings.

Unless there was a big bike parking area behind the shop, I didn’t see many bikes. So that was odd. I wish our house move had happened a couple weeks later, because the old house was a flat half mile from Gregg’s and I could have used my beach cruiser for the first time in years, but I took my road bike (sans double trailer for a change) for the two-mile uphill trip.

I couldn’t stay for the whole event, but I got my two beers (I don’t remember the drink tickets from years past, but I’m sure it’s just my poor memory and not a new thing) and plenty of Theo chocolate and saw the first speaker, Kat Sweet. She is so cool! I wanted to give my mountain bike a big kiss when I get home and apologize for keeping it locked in a dark garage for so many years. Duthie Hill sounds really nice so we’ll check that out this summer…assuming it stops raining by then.

Saw a lot of nice bikes. The Specialized Ruby, a step up from my Dolce, looks really sweet. The sales rep almost convinced me I need to replace my perfectly good bike. I asked the Cervelo rep if it’s true that Seattle has the highest per capita number of Cervelos (those pricey bikes are everywhere!), but apparently they don’t keep track of that. I nearly bought a super-on-sale purple Castelli jacket, but I wasn’t feeling the purple. I’ll probably regret it tomorrow. Oh, and I couldn’t kiss my mountain bike upon returning home because it’s too buried under other bikes in the new garage. But I waved to it and said “See you soon! I have the most amazing surprise for you this summer.”