I bought a mountain bike!

For a few months now I've known that I wanted to buy a mountain bike. Having just bought the Boardman in January, I wasn't ready to buy another bike right away, but I knew that I wanted one. This is despite never having actually ridden one before!

But we have ended up on bridleways and other trails enough for me to see that they're nice places to cycle  (and would be nicer with some suspension!). I thought it would be nice to not have to worry about cars sometimes. Also, Alberto and I are planning to complete the Camino de Santiago, a historic pilgrim's trail in Spain, this summer. A mountain bike is necessary for that.

So, I had been keeping my eyes open for good deals, waiting for Autumn when I knew the sales on last year's bikes would begin. And wouldn't you know it, it's now Autumn!

Alberto was just participating in one of his favorite hobbies--window shopping on cycling websites, when he came across the Corratec Expert Xvert Disc Hardtail. It was the 2009 version and was on sale from £650 to £350, and in my size! It was a clearance sale and we didn't know how many they had in stock, so I felt I had to make my decision quickly. I bought the bike!


I placed the order and then waited an anxious 48 hours for it to be delivered. Luckily, Alberto happened to be at home in the middle of the day when the bike arrived, because having to pick the box up from a post office would have been a nightmare--it was huge!

I'm still not sure how he managed to get it into the house.

Since Alberto likes to live vicariously through my bike purchases (as he has not bought a new bike in 3 years -- meanwhile I've bought 3 in just over 2 years!) he kindly unpackaged it and put it together for me so that when I got home from work it was there waiting for me.

My beauty!

I was a little busy on the road bike last weekend, so have only been able to ride it in the neighbourhood, not out on the trails yet, but I'm looking forward to doing that very soon!