Rhapsodies

Well I’m happy to say an inconvenience that I’ve endured since the new year is over.

My old mule of a dirt bike, which had been pretty much been held together by spit and prayer for over a year finally broke down for good. You know it’s a bad sign when you bring your bike to the shop and the first thing they ask you is “how much do you like your bike” As in the amount of work would cost as much as a new bike.

So I took it home feeling like it was another sign that my life was falling apart, and took to walking and busing and getting out of the office a lot less because of it. Maybe I was feeling a little bit paranoid but I was beginning to get the feeling I was beginning to gain weight again.

Finally I had had enough of it and started shopping around for a replacement bracing myself for something way too expensive. Happily I found out that once I stopped looking for anything fancy the price dropped down pretty fast. And I soon had myself settling on a nice gray Raleigh.

So far I’m happy with it. Perhaps it is a reflection on how bad my old bike was that I’m being impressed by the little things. For example this one is my size which means I can look behind me for oncoming traffic which I couldn’t do on the old one because I was leaning down too much. On the way home I went up a hill that I usually struggle with as if they were nothing and it is noticeably faster. (of course the old bike I used to believe could be passed by little kids on tricycles so I don’t know just how much of a big deal that one is.)