My LBS opens at 12:01 on Sundays. Lizzie and I walked to the store, pushing
Goosey. It's her first real bike, I'm so proud! Especially since she is
SOOO happy with it. We walked in and Mike the owner was busy so another mechanic came out and asked us if we needed help. I told her we're here to buy a bike. She asked if we knew which one. Ha! Lizzie told her which one, even the size. I was a proud bike geek at that moment. She told her that she was ready to take her home.
After the uneventful purchase that included a new lock and free
water bottle and cage, we headed out with the fabulous new Raleigh
Cadent FT1. Look at me
checkin out the new machine (jealous much Amie?) and Lizzie looking so cool and relaxed!
We rode through Piedmont Park to let her get used to the gears and brakes and stuff. But she was a total natural on it. It's like the bike was custom made for her.
Since she was so comfortable we rode over to Atlantic Station even riding a little on the streets. Again Lizzie rode awesome on the new bike! Since she was comfortable, she was confident! Which is such an important part of city riding. We had lunch and looked around a bit, then decided to head to Centennial Park going through Georgia Techs campus. I've been wanting to do this ride for awhile and usually get sidetracked.
We cut through downtown and went through Old Forth Ward.
It was our own Tour de ATL....
We stopped by one of Lizzie's friends- Sally B- her shop at Irwin Market. (She wanted to show off her new bike.) It's a really cute metal building that has several 'shops' in it with a bunch of kitchen tables in the middle and a little living room area with couch's for hanging out. And it has a great sign as you can see, and paint job. 
We then rode along Freedom Parkway on the bike trail and back to my neighborhood. I've been having some issues with my rack and needed to go back to Home Depot so we rode over. Then I wanted a beer so we carried our bikes down the dirt cut through by Home Depot to go to Mellow Mushroom. I had a sandwich and we shared some pretzels.
The tour wasn't on at 5 since it was Sunday and we were both tired and have a long week ahead of us. We rode back to my house. Lizzie was tired. We rode all day.
Our ride ended up being 13.5 miles of fun times. She rode really great for being the first time riding in Atlanta. Again I was really proud. We've been talking about this for about 3 months now. It was really fun to have it all come together today and top it off with such a great ride.
As we sat at Centennial Park she decided to name her Cadie. I think it fits.
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