A Family of Felts

When I woke up yesterday morning, I was exhausted physically and mentally. My thighs were somewhat fatigued from my trek up the Grind the day before, my calves were still tight as could be (just as they’ve been for the last couple of weeks) my eyes were droopy, my head was sleepy. The last thing I wanted to do was put my running shoes on. Lucky for me, yesterday was a rest day!

I decided to take the day off work and extend my long weekend, but with no exercise on the agenda, what oh what was a running princess to do? Go bike shopping, that’s what!

Mario found a new bike shop in Fort Langley, a cute, little historical community about a half hour from where we live, that listed Felt bikes on their website. I was a little dubious at first, given that another shop in Port Moody also said it sold the Felts, but only had like one in stock, so I wasn’t exactly holding out much hope that I’d find my bike.

Mario decided to ride his bike out (he ranted posted about the experience on his blog) while I drove the car to meet up with him. I got there a little early, and was just kind of browsing through the shops, when I came across one that jetsetted me right back to my childhood, mostly pre-diabetes. The shop – Into Chocolate Specialty Sweets – was located at the back of an alley, and the second I walked through the doors childhood memories flooded through me. It had chocolates and candies from days of yore – sweets like Thrills gum, which I used to love as a kid, despite its taste having an uncanny similarity to laundry soap, and the multi-coloured old-fashioned candy sticks that I was first introduced to by a friend at an Imax Rolling Stone concert that her mom took us too, and the Gold Mine bubble gum that I’d chew all in one sitting, and the butter rum lifesavers that I’d pilfer from my dad when he wasn’t looking, and the rocky road chocolate bars – yum! This store was like heaven for me, and when Mario called halfway through my flashback, my heart sunk. I wasn’t ready to leave yet, I still had chocolates to investigate … fear not, we so went back 😀

So many yummy chocolates to try, where oh where do I begin? I've got cherry and almond, cherry and pistachio, chai tea and spicy chili!

Before heading over to the bike shop, we stopped for lunch at Tracycakes Bakery Cafe, a quant cupcakery located in a small, heritage house that kind of felt like we were back at the cottage in Manzanita as we sat outside in the backyard, with the clouded over skies,  and the soft music playing in the background. But as cute as the atmosphere was – and it was super cute – I was a little disappointed with the meal. I wanted a vanilla bean tea, but they were out of that, so I settled for a bombay chai, which was actually quite nice. I ordered the ham, swiss and tomato panini with a side of vegetables, but they were out of swiss, so I had to settle for cheddar, which was okay. But the part that majorly disappointed me was the vegetables. The menu clearly stated that all sandwiches come with a side of vegetables, but when I looked at my plate, the vegetables on it was barely even a garnish – just one cucumber cut in half and two baby carrots! Are you kidding me? Thankfully Mario ordered the chili with multi-grained chips that he didn’t mind sharing.

Finally, the bike shop: Fort Langley Cyclery. Mario had already rode by it on his way into the Fort, and was drooling over the bike they had displayed in the window: A Felt F5 in blood orange – he likes orange! Hmmm … could it be … could we soon be a Family of Felts???

He looks good next to a Felt, hey ... although, he'd have to switch teams from Euskaltel to Garmin-Slipstream

They didn’t have my bike, but they did have the model below mine, which helped me figure out the sizing. Apparently, I’m a tall, who knew? Although, the guy helping us told me not to get too excited about my new “tall” status, as Felt’s tall is more like the Starbucks tall – not so tall at all! Mario liked the shiny black and pink colour of the model I was trying out, and it was nice, but it wasn’t the colour I wanted, nor the bike I wanted. If I’m upgrading, I want a full carbon-fibre upgrade, thank you very much. They told me they could order my bike in, which, I kid you not, had the effect of butterflies swooping through my belly. Now, I’ve just got to come to terms with selling my tried and true Zing and her little fold-up buddy Storm – we don’t exactly have room for me to have three bikes in the condo.

Me and my lovely Zing on our first ride together
And with my manly looking Storm ... pre road cycling bike shorts!

We ended our Fort adventure with some gelato. I had a half scoop of pistachio and a half scoop of strawberry, while Mario had a half scoop of mandarin orange sorbetto and a half scoop of pineapple. Yum! A great rest day indeed. 😀

3 thoughts on “A Family of Felts”

  1. Hey Kate – I was referred to you blog by Robert Freeman…Robert and I have been friends for over 40 years. he was my first love. With blessed gratitude, we are still close and he has talked about you for several years now…with much fondness. Enjoy your new bike and all the life stuff that makes you smile – debbie

  2. robert Freeman

    Okay, I gotta get a bike. Risk the thieving bastards who will try to steal it from me. Thrills. I used to like them too – but why? They do indeed have “an uncanny similarity to laundry soap.” I might have shared one or two with Debbie 🙂 If she caught me with any Thrills left in the pack 🙂

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