I should warn you now that this yet another post about bikes. I've been taken over with a sort of mania, but there's also something about this that just feels right. It's like I've gone back to something I never should have let go of.
I flirted with bikes three times over the years since my childhood when riding my bike was a nearly daily occurrence. When Momma and I lived in Charlotte I was able to retrieve the last bike I'd owned in Atlanta, and I was soon riding quite a bit. Then one night, after riding home fairly drunk from somewhere, I forgot to lock the bike outside our apartment door and never saw it again.
The next bike I owned was purchased from a coworker about six (maybe, time is a blurry sensation at best for me generally) years ago. It was a cheap bike from a big box retailer. It rode like shit and sucked then and still sucks now sitting in the garage with its rusty shit wheels. I rode it around the house approximately ten total times over the course of a week and then never again. I wish I had that twenty bucks back. Fuck!
The next bike was last summer when I lived in the Fort. It was also a big box bike, but my mindset then was in a different and more biking places friendly sort of place. I used the bike a lot and then sold it to my ex landlord as I moved back to the house I'm now in. While I'd enjoyed riding the bike to work from the Fort I didn't think I'd ever ride a bike from this house to downtown assuming it was just too far.
And finally my sweet red bike that I love but might replace tomorrow. It's actually today by the time you are likely to read this as it's after eleven o'clock here. Regardless, I do now ride this bike that far often enough, and I've ridden it plenty of other places too. And I actually love riding this bike even though we're on city streets and it's made for narrow trails and dirt berms and jumps over the rough spot
Since I've begun riding the bike I've slipped into the edges of a thing that could be mania twenty years ago with no Momma, Big Brother, and The Boy. But that's not the world I inhabit, so I'll gladly enjoy the tease of it and try to be smart about stuff.
And apparently I'll start contacting some guy on Craigslist about his early '80's Schwinn with the newer "comfort" handlebars, and I'll have asked if he has the original set. And that whole tomorrow thing, yeah, I'm gonna wait for him to call and go look at the bike in the evening.
With any luck Momma will be there, because really the bike would be for her. If it's a good size for her and is in good condition and she wants it she gets it. In the day and a half since I found it and thought about her wanting a bike (she's mentioned it before) I've tried to have her in mind, but I keep looking at it. It's kinda like seeing a boy at a party that you like, but you know he's straight and interested in your friend.
It's really not like that at all, but I want the bike now that I've been looking at it and thinking about it, and I feel bad because I don't want the bike I already have to find out. That can't be good. And I still want to ride him on the street tires I might also go look at tomorrow, but then would I ever ride him how he's meant to be ridden? Would I ever take my beautiful mountain bike mountain biking?
Maybe I'll just keep buying bikes until I'm crazy early '80's Schwinn guy. Yeah, that's the best idea yet.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
don't never mind the bollards, srsly
Alas the rain again could also be a title for this post. As promised, the rain has once again moved into my stormy little slice of heaven.
To be honest a weather forecast isn't the same as a promise, but lately, if it involves rain, it kinda seems like it is.
I find excuses not to ride in the rain. With a few adjustments I could take most of the issues out of the problem, and I know that at some point I'm going to have to just do it. I've done it before, and other than a wet butt for a while it wasn't so bad.
My newest fixation is bike tires. One day, when I can actually have a nice day off, while the kids are in school and I have the time, I'm going to look into a new pair of tires for my bike. It would be a great joy to me to take the bike out and ride to the bike shop and ride away with tires made for asphalt.
Have I mentioned that it's a mountain bike? It's older, but it's a great bike and it rides well, but I can't deal with these tires anymore. I have knobby mountain bike tires, and that makes perfect sense for a mountain bike. But right now, it isn't really a mountain bike. It sees the ridges that make this town so much fun to bike through, but that ain't the same.
What I need is a tire built for the asphalt, and companies are apparently making tires specifically for people turning mountain bikes into commuter bikes. That's what I'm doing. Apparently I'm not starting something new.
I just love the way this bike works, and I love how he and I work together. I also decorated him tonight. That's right, I just called the bike he. Whatcha gonna do about it? The only other thing I've done to the bike was to add lights and adjust the seat. I did also put a reflective sticker on the front before riding home from work one night at the insistence of a coworker, but that thing is gonna have to come off. It's probably a not bad idea, but it's ugly, and I need to have a real light up there anyway if I'm riding at night.
I also mentioned a decoration. Two days ago, preparing for an all out grocery procuring blitz, I was sorting through the shopping bags to see if they were all there when I discovered the skull. It's a small metal skull that was part of a skeleton that has hung from the rear view mirrors of the last three cars that Momma and I shared. It stayed with me in the Honda when Momma moved on in her own car world.
I found parts of it when I cleaned the Honda out after the "accident" and didn't remember finding the skull. I seem to remember some other random parts, but I'm not sure now what I would have done with them since. I grabbed the shopping bags when I went to the impound lot that night and apparently didn't completely empty them out when I finally sorted through the bags later.
I'm kinda excited about the tires idea. I can feel the knobbies working against me I think. Also I want the rain to quickly fall and then move along. I get that it's spring in east TN, but seriously, I've kinda had enough this year. I'm ready to move along.
To be honest a weather forecast isn't the same as a promise, but lately, if it involves rain, it kinda seems like it is.
I find excuses not to ride in the rain. With a few adjustments I could take most of the issues out of the problem, and I know that at some point I'm going to have to just do it. I've done it before, and other than a wet butt for a while it wasn't so bad.
My newest fixation is bike tires. One day, when I can actually have a nice day off, while the kids are in school and I have the time, I'm going to look into a new pair of tires for my bike. It would be a great joy to me to take the bike out and ride to the bike shop and ride away with tires made for asphalt.
Have I mentioned that it's a mountain bike? It's older, but it's a great bike and it rides well, but I can't deal with these tires anymore. I have knobby mountain bike tires, and that makes perfect sense for a mountain bike. But right now, it isn't really a mountain bike. It sees the ridges that make this town so much fun to bike through, but that ain't the same.
What I need is a tire built for the asphalt, and companies are apparently making tires specifically for people turning mountain bikes into commuter bikes. That's what I'm doing. Apparently I'm not starting something new.
I just love the way this bike works, and I love how he and I work together. I also decorated him tonight. That's right, I just called the bike he. Whatcha gonna do about it? The only other thing I've done to the bike was to add lights and adjust the seat. I did also put a reflective sticker on the front before riding home from work one night at the insistence of a coworker, but that thing is gonna have to come off. It's probably a not bad idea, but it's ugly, and I need to have a real light up there anyway if I'm riding at night.
I also mentioned a decoration. Two days ago, preparing for an all out grocery procuring blitz, I was sorting through the shopping bags to see if they were all there when I discovered the skull. It's a small metal skull that was part of a skeleton that has hung from the rear view mirrors of the last three cars that Momma and I shared. It stayed with me in the Honda when Momma moved on in her own car world.
I found parts of it when I cleaned the Honda out after the "accident" and didn't remember finding the skull. I seem to remember some other random parts, but I'm not sure now what I would have done with them since. I grabbed the shopping bags when I went to the impound lot that night and apparently didn't completely empty them out when I finally sorted through the bags later.
I'm kinda excited about the tires idea. I can feel the knobbies working against me I think. Also I want the rain to quickly fall and then move along. I get that it's spring in east TN, but seriously, I've kinda had enough this year. I'm ready to move along.
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