I kept telling myself I needed a few more gears than three. And I finally did something to fill that "need." In the first world, a bike with more than 3 gears isn't much of a need. But it's one of those things that would give me a little more motivation to get outside and go biking, which a) improves my health and b) gets me off of Facebook. :D So when my aunt offered to give me a bicycle that was just what I was looking for -- the right size, 10 gears, everything -- I jumped at the chance. A mini tune-up later, and it was ready to rock! I took it out on the first group ride of the season yesterday, looking forward to tackling the hills on the 17-mile route with ease (or, at least more easily than I tackled some of the same hills on a 10-mile ride last year with my 3-speed). I was nearly halfway through the ride, quite happy with how the bike was working out and how sure I was I'd have the energy to finish the ride, when the unthinkable happened. OK, m...

Yesterday I took my first bike ride of the year. Just a short one -- 3.5 miles was all I had time for -- but it was blissful to be back out on two wheels, taking in the fresh air and the gorgeous scenery in the setting sun! This year I'm going to try to ride at least 6 miles on days when the weather is decent. And by decent, I mean at least 50 degrees out and not raining. There's a thoroughly shaded pathway I can take if it gets above, say, 85 degrees out -- in fact, you can see the general area of it in this photo (it's the part directly ahead with all the trees). Not the best when it's impeding snow melt, but great if you're trying not to dehydrate in summer.

Actually I learned this yesterday. But I don’t care. My bike started having a problem with the gears early last week – they’d suddenly disengage from the pedals. It’s really frustrating when that happens mid-ride, you know, because I end up walking all the way back to wherever I started from. Fortunately I was able to keep the bike engaged in first gear by constantly squeezing the gearshifter, but that’s all I could do. No second gear for me. So I was bereft of the bike for about a week. Sunday morning, I asked the bike repairman who goes to my church what he knew about that sort of problem. And he was able to tell me just what to do. Apparently, on an old bike with all the gears inside this little hub, there’s a special point at which the bike’s gears will catch the pedals. And that’s where the gear cable’s supposed to be aligned. But sometimes, the cable gets stretched – or I mess it all up as I change the inner tube, not sure which – and suddenly, it’s not pulling hard enough on...

When I came home for Easter, I intended to take my lovely old green Schwinn bike back with me. Then, my sister informed me that one of my inner tubes had a pretty good leak in it. So I decided to replace the inner tube, like I did to the other wheel last year, and go on with my life. I've done that before and I was confident I could do it again. This morning, upon pulling out my bike and taking off the back wheel (with the dysfunctional inner tube), I realized that the tires were old. So old and decrepit that there were cracks all over and it had no tread left where the wheel touches the ground. Therefore, I got my mom to go to Wal-Mart with me and get me some new tires too. I was bound and determined to fix my bike, even though I'd never replaced a tire before. I figured, it can't be much harder than replacing an inner tube, and that was pretty easy. But then came a difficult, frustrating, and tear-inducing part. The tire would not go on the rim. I tried for over an...

This is my bike. Its serial number is LJ574526. Which, according to this chart , means it was built in November of 1973. I get lots of comments on it... and one professor's wife insists she will buy it off of me if I ever want to sell it, because she had one just like it when she was little. Just today somebody asked how old it was, and said it was cool. This picture is not my own, by the way. It was taken by someone photographing my college's campus beautification day. Mine was not the only bike around... but it showed up in *two* of the photos. I guess the photographer just liked it. In neither picture do you see the fullness of its beauty, but oh well.

I should make a whole category for bikes, really. So a five of us biked about twenty miles yesterday evening before sunset! Same route as my last twenty-mile ride, only this time we actually found this little ice cream stand just beyond the place where I turned around last time. We got ice cream, enjoyed ourselves, took pictures and went back (just in time for me to get to my small group meeting). It was my fourth ride on this route, I believe. I must have a good bike. I'm not sore. In other news.... I scheduled classes today.... um, I'm helping with the latest drama production's costuming.... yeah, just random stuff. Pretty much enjoying my last few weeks of freshman year.

So I did end up going on that bike ride, only it was postponed until almost eleven o'clock at night... which was okay, I guess, but since I'd never seen the route before I kinda wanted to go again in daylight. But wouldn't you know, right after that I got sick (possibly with whatever my brother had last weekend) and couldn't go until I got better. So I went yesterday.... the weather was absolutely gorgeous, and if I hadn't been able to get out for awhile I would've gone stir-crazy (again). My friend and I covered more than just the original new route though. We ended up going on a twenty-mile (round trip) ride before I had to go to small group last night, just because there was time. I loved it! And I'm not even sore yet today.

I've been in class or working practically all day, and wouldn't you know it--it's been marvelous outside, with the sun shining bright and the wind blowing gently! So I've become stir-crazy... and I've decided to go on a bike ride! I'm going to take a new route today, and I'm dragging a friend along with me. Last night at ballroom dancing, a few friends and I worked on making a group dance out of the Hustle... and really did make good headway on it! We've managed to work four moves in, besides the basic. You can't imagine how odd we look, though--for one thing, we all move closer into the circle at one point, so we look like an expanding and collapsing starburst the whole time.