On the 26th of December, I bought myself a new bike; a brand new Pure Fix Tango Fixed-gear bicycle, to add to my family of bicycles. I had plans of buying a Mercier Kilo TT when I came to the US, but instead ended up buying the Pure Fix. I wanted to buy a new Kryptonite bike lock, so decided to ride to the local bicycle store, and after that, I planned to have an Indian lunch at Sansar, in downtown Livermore, before heading on to the Shadow Cliffs Regional Park. The round trip was just over thirty kilometers on mostly flat terrain, so it seemed the perfect way to get to do a check ride of the new bike. Without further ado, here's the bike itself.

Since I've never ridden a fixie and the US roads are not exactly super safe, I decided against any experimentation with the bike in fixie mode, till I reached Sweden. Instead, I setup the bike in the single speed mode and took off. Straight away, the bike felt good. While it's not super light, it's still light enough to push hard and its 700x28C tires feel very nice. I had rented a Trek 8.3 hybrid with 700x32C which I used during my stay in Livermore and it felt very nimble, but the 28C on the Pure Fix feels just perfect for daily commuter rides. Rohan Kini of BOTS fame was one of the reasons I bought the Pure Fix, as he has had really positive things to say about the bike. When I told him that I bought a Pure Fix, one of his first recommendations was to upgrade the brake pads to something better than the stock pads, so I rode down to Livermore Cyclery, to pick up a set of Kool Stop pads and a Kryptonite U-lock for my Pure Fix. Having purchased them, I rode to Sansar where I had some Chole Bhature for a late lunch, before rolling on to Shadow Cliffs.

The bike rolled like a charm and I reached Shadow Cliffs, but it was already sundown. I could have got some great shots of the sunset had I opted for a quick burrito instead of the Chole Bhature, but I'm not complaining, as the meal was worth the missed sunset, I think :) I sighted a raptor of some kind, which ided as an Osprey. It was busy eating the remains of a fish while sitting on a tree. It was quite far away and these were the best shots I could manage in the fading light

I also sighted what could be a Yellow-rumped Warbler.

Shadow Cliff is definitely a place I'd like to visit again, if I get the opportunity, as it's large, has multiple lakes and is supposed to be home to a variety of water birds.