Dark rain clouds during my ride.

As a child I learned how to ride a bike as my mom or dad pushed me up and down the driveway.  I continued riding well into my teenage years.  I would ride for hours on end around my community riding up and down hills that today I look at and realize that I know I couldn’t do it without stopping midway and take a breather.

Sometime in my early adult years, and really for no apparent reason, I stopped riding and again for no apparent reason I sold my one and only bike that my mom and dad bought me for Christmas. It wasn’t until after I got married and after my first child was born I bought a bike from one of my coworkers.  It was a bike that his daughter bought some years prior and she had decided to sell it to get some extra cash.  The bike was a Trek and I paid $150 for it.  When I first got the bike I had to put it in the shop to let them get the bike tuned up for me to ride it.  They put new cables, brake pads, tubes and tires and gave it a good cleaning.  After all was said and done I put an additional $250 for the repairs.  I bet I rode that bike 5 times between then and the time my girls were old enough to ride.  There was always some adjustment to be made to the bike.  The gears would never shift right, the brakes always rubbed and the tires always were flat whenever I wanted to ride.

A buddy of mine at work talked me into getting the bike out of storage.  I used the term “storage” loosely here.  It was stored underneath by deck outside where it caught the brunt of all the rain, sleet, snow and ice for over 15 years.  I dug the bike out, scraped off most of the dirt dobber nests and proceeded to the hose pipe to hose it off.  It needed a lot of work.  To the shop it went, again.  Two new tubes, tires, a chain, cables, brake pads, and a lot of work on the derailer.  The shop kept it for two weeks before I saw it again.

After 1,200 miles, four wrecks, two trips to the ER, another chain and a new rim I finally broke down and purchased a new to me 2013 Cannondale.  I’ve still got the Trek, after all it is an antique. Right now my Cannondale is sick.  I’ve got the back tire in the shop getting a new spoke. Hopefully I’ll be riding her by Wednesday.