ready to roll...

have wanted to start biking more for fun. used to bike loads when i lived in los angeles area. my old ten speed seemed to have seen it's days though and for several years i've only really had a beach cruiser. this little mountain bike was on sale at the local bike shop and after test riding a few bikes i decided to bring this one home. looked like it had been in the shop for quite some time and had been test driven many times. have always been a sucker for a sad story.
was originally thinking i'd get a hybrid, but then i figure i live close to some non-concrete trails and don't want to rule out biking out there. if i really get into the concrete trail biking again i'll get a road bike one day..for now i think this one will suffice for my sporatic bike needs. will be nice to have gears again and i nearly crashed test driving bikes as i've been using pedal breaks for a bit now. luckily bike riding is just like riding a bike!! once you know how you can pick up the skill fairly quickly.

hopefully we have many fun rides together.

miss breezy curls up with blossom. at one point i had 2 cats chasing a fleece toy and a dog chasing a tennis ball at one time. entertaining pets is exhausting. as you may be able to see it was a cloudy, kinda rainy day. met with tanya and her pups for a walk out campbell airstrip. we took the mushers trails the backway and then hooked back into the main trail. they had taken the bear warning sign down so for sure there wouldn't be any bear sightings. haha. i let rio stay home for that one. was going to take the bike around the bog when it stopped drizzling, but by then rio seemed set on going for a walk so off we went without my bike. may have to start biking to swim and back. will need a good lock for that though. will have to check out the bike lock up options at the gym. had one bike stolen as a kid, that always bites. came out from class and it was just gone.

felt cold here though cold is relative. we were in the 40's and it's may. barrow had a high of 15 today and deadhorse had a high of 5F. so we are relatively warm here really. gas prices across the state vary as well. today anchorage gas was $4.22/gal. in the villages the gas goes for $6-9/gallon. milk is $18/gallon in some villages as well. having lived in ketchikan for 6 years i know the prices in the communities outside of the big city of anchorage can be pretty steep. add to that any travel expenses. flying from ketchikan to seattle could cost a person more than the flight from seattle to europe. kinda crazy. beautiful places to live though if you can afford it.

more news is coming out on the death of osama bin laden. apparently, he wasn't armed when he was shot and he wasn't holding a wife as his shield. she put herself between him and the seals and ran at the seals to attack them it sounds like. who knows really, the story will no doubt change day to day. all the post action analysis is starting up. gets crazy now. time to turn off the news and just get out hiking, biking and swimming.

one thing does seem true, either there were some pakastani intelligence/military aware of bin ladens presence and protecting him to some degree or they are kinda incompetent. don't think either choice plays out too well for them. hopefully, they find some useful stuff in what they took from the compound. no pictures released, but sound like he took the blast in the face so that may not convince people that it's really him.

on happier news, a baby polar bear was found up north appearing to be thin and abandoned. she's now at the anchorage zoo here and looking for a home. very cute.

not much on my mind today, just happy and excited about the bike. could be fun. not excited about the bike shorts, have they made those more attractive yet?