It's Raining in Florida and No Bikes in Seattle

Usually rains on the west coast of Florida come in the afternoon about 5 pm just as you head home from work. The torrential downpours stop in about an hour and everything cools down, the skies clear and the next morning is bright and sunny. Well the last few days have been upside down. It's raining in the morning, afternoon and at night. We've had some big storms come off the Gulf of Mexico and are getting the rain we never got January thru May. So, needless to say I have had a couple days off. I got my shifter cable fixed on Monday for $20. I guess these cables can snap like mine did after extended use. They're fine until they snap. I think I will replace them as a maintenance item after the next 15,000 miles. I also have spent time trying to find a bike for Brett to ride in the RedSpoke ride coming up. We thought we would just rent a bike but I found not too many rentals available in Seattle. Not REI, not Greg's Cycles, not Redmond Cycle. Found Mountlake Cycle had two bikes that might work but they wanted over $300 for the week. So I checked Craig's List and found a few bikes that might work. I sent emails out asking if they would consider renting. I got some nice replies about being creative but it seems the market for used road bikes in Seattle is quite healthy as all responded they had sold their bikes already or weren't interested. So I changed the approach and offered a little less than full price for the next few bikes I found. I got replies that the bikes were already sold. So next I started offering full price on some very nice Specialized road bikes that were almost new or lightly used. I finally found one person in West Seattle that responded positively. I'm hoping my daughter Kim will be able to pick up the bike today and store it at her home until Brett and I arrive in Seattle. The plan right now is for Brett to ride the bike in RedSpoke and then I'll sell it on Craig's list for hopefully no less than my purchase price. So the cost of having a very nice bike to ride in RedSpoke for Brett will be close to zero. Hope it works.