Christmas cheer
Haven't been able to ride at all in the past few weeks with our winter weather, especially the recent weather taking almost all of our expansive county, including neighbors Canada and Mexico, into the deepest freeze and deadliest cold in decades. Bone chilling doesn't even come close to describing this Arctic "bomb cyclone" that swept in the other day to plunge us all in the bitter cold.
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But the weather is only temporary. As soon as any bit of warmth appears (which will be next week when the warm weather rushes back in to give us balmy springtime temps just perfect for riding) I will gleefully be back on the roads with a shiny new Christmas present I have for the upcoming 2023 rides - a new 2023 Gazelle C380+ 28mph Class 3 carbon belt drive ebike.
And the best part is...the new ebike is a result of me holding the winning ticket at my bike shop's Christmas raffle!!!!
The shop held a raffle this winter to support a local non-profit that aids the area poor by providing financial help, food, and clothing. The raffle ran from November to December for ticket buying. I purchased 12 tickets to the tune of $200. And then I kept my fingers crossed. Really tightly. For two solid months.
The winning tickets were pulled at 2pm on Christmas Eve for each of three prizes offered. At 2:01pm my cell phone rang. I glanced at the caller ID, and felt my heart leap. There could only be one reason the store would call. The store owner was on the other end, and the first words out of his mouth were "I'm about to make your Christmas very special."
Anything else he tried to say was drowned out with my screams of delirious delight. I kid you not I was actually dancing around the room, screaming and laughing my head off, rupturing the poor guy's ear drums. I do remembering him laughing at my very vocal glee, and when I finally calmed down enough to actually hear what he had to say, he verified I was the winner of the ebike.
OMG!!!!!
I am still on Cloud Nine. My husband (who is still recovering from Covid which he picked up for free at a celebratory party we attended almost two weeks ago) is thrilled as well. A big plus is the new bike's battery is identical to my current Gazelle's battery - giving me now a third battery to use for the metric century, and full century, rides. I had already decided i would be buying a third battery this winter so I could at least give
@RabH a run for his money in the 2023 ride distances. Now instead I will have not only an extra battery, but a whole new bike, thanks to winning the raffle!!
What a great ending to my cycling calendar for 2022!!! Come on 2023! I am soooo ready!!!
![Beaming face with smiling eyes :grin: 😁](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/7.0/png/unicode/64/1f601.png)
![Beaming face with smiling eyes :grin: 😁](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/7.0/png/unicode/64/1f601.png)
![Beaming face with smiling eyes :grin: 😁](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/7.0/png/unicode/64/1f601.png)
![Beaming face with smiling eyes :grin: 😁](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/7.0/png/unicode/64/1f601.png)
![Beaming face with smiling eyes :grin: 😁](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/7.0/png/unicode/64/1f601.png)
![Beaming face with smiling eyes :grin: 😁](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/7.0/png/unicode/64/1f601.png)
![Beaming face with smiling eyes :grin: 😁](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/7.0/png/unicode/64/1f601.png)
![Beaming face with smiling eyes :grin: 😁](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/7.0/png/unicode/64/1f601.png)
Woo hoo!!!!!!
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