Surrounded By Nonexistent Bicycles

I'm in Wichita, KS this week on company business. I usually make this trip about once a month. If you've ever spent much time in hotels on business trips you know that it can get pretty boring trying to find something to do when you're not actually at work. There's usually at least 8 hours of non-sleeping time to be used up.

I've been to the mall of course, but I'm too old to be a mall rat, and there's only so much time you can spend wandering through candle and soap shops. I tried finding woodworking stores but apparently nobody in this entire city cuts wood as a hobby. There are several "outdoors" stores that are good for a few hours worth of stooging. (You know, the stores that are full of guns, millions of fishing lures, furniture made from antlers, and ultraheavy camping equipment.)

One place I almost always go is to the local bike shops. And on this trip I decided to hit some shops along the way, too. In preparation, I emailed most of the bike shops in central Oklahoma and southern Kansas to see if they had any touring bikes in stock. Two or three of them responded positively, so I marked them on my map to visit, along with the regulars. Alas, so far the closest thing I've seen to a touring bike is one Bianchi Volpe. Everyone says they can order a Trek 520 or a Cannondale T800/2000, or even build up a Surly LHT. But no one seems to want to stock touring bikes.

I'm guessing that when gas prices go back up there will be an increased interest in actual transportation bikes. Till then, if you want to see a touring bike you'll just have to look at pictures of it on the web.