The first bike I tried when I visited Riv was the Cheviot I purchased. I’d ridden the same Specialized road bike always, and I’d bonded with it profoundly, but I hadn’t ridden a bike much in a long time. I tried a Surly Long Haul Trucker—and really wanted to love it—but thought it felt really stodgy somehow. It was a dull feeling, despite fitting me nicely. It made me want my twitchy road bike. I’ll add that I used to be 5’4” and now I’m 5’2” (I lost two inches by my early 40s, which I’m mentioning cause my legs didn’t shrink). Anyway, when I saw the Cheviot, I thought it was the most beautiful bike I’d ever seen, and when I rode it, I was stunned. It was ridiculously comfortable, smooth, but NOT stodgy. I rode it up and down the short steep entrance to a parking garage, over and over, sitting down, something I’d never have done on my road bike. I had to have that bike—and I insisted it had to be that exact one. I fell in love with it in a way that’s hard to describe. I hadn’t wanted something so much in a long time, but I’d never thought about paying so much for a bike. I’m still glad to have it. I love riding again and have used it as my town and touring ride. I use it to get groceries. I commuted with it, though I’m paranoid about leaving it locked anywhere. The only place I’ve had trouble riding it was when trying to climb a steep, super-narrow dirt hill; it felt like I might flip over backwards. That might be from having the wrong tires? Maybe my position? I wondered if it was because the bike is relatively long? I don’t normally ride trails like that one, so I don’t have enough experience to account for it. But—I found my Cheviot really difficult to transport on my bike rack. I wrote a post about it, got tons of ideas about how to resolve the problem, none of which worked. So I bought a small Joe Appaloosa to stick on my car, for when I drive to ride. I consider the Cheviot to be a Jaguar (not that I’ve driven one) instead of a Cadillac. That’s just cause I think a Jaguar is sexier.
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