In the past few months, since all the upheaval in my family’s lives – that is, moving, buying, and remodeling homes – there has been very little time for me. There was, however, a gentleman that appeared out of nowhere and started pursuing me. I won’t go into much detail other than that I’d known him as an acquaintance for several years and thought he was pretty nice. We tried to have a relationship. #fail. Actually, he “resigned” faster than we could even get it started. WTH? I have no idea why other than the myriad of reasons that he cited of too much in my life ahead of him in priority (not really true, but everyone has their own perceptions) and it was too hard for him. Ouch (a lot of ouch) and next.
After that, and all the other stuff, I realized it was time for me. Seriously. For reals, this time. I had some savings set aside to eradicate my backyard wilderness and turn it into an outdoor living space worthy of an episode of Desperate Landscapes. The work involved however started to feel like just another chore that would never get done and besides, I realized that no one ever comes over to visit anyway, so what the hell? All that would happen is that I would continue to stay at home, stare at the gazillion things needing done around here, get depressed, isolate, and eat. None of that supported my continued goal for a healthy lifestyle and fitness. (And, I’ll save most of this for a different blog post, I’ve gained 10 pounds in the last year and a half that I now have to re-lose making me 20 pounds from goal. Ugh.)
If you know me, you know I love bicycling. My beloved bike – a Giant Cypress W – has been a good and steady friend to me, but I busted the front brakes slinging it in and out of the back of my SUV and tangling the handlebars all around. When I dropped it off at the LBS (local bike shop) to be fixed, I stopped for a bit to chat with one of the lady bike geeks there. I started to drool over a faster, slicker Cannondale. I couldn’t get that pretty bike out of my head. I was obsessed. I realized that this was the best way to spend my money right now. Instant gratification and spoiling of MOI. Me. Only me.
Two days later, test riding three different bikes and hours talking to aforementioned lady bike geek, this sweet thing is mine.
Yes, it’s not a Cannondale, but this baby is lighter than the Cannondale. It’s a Giant Rapid 3. I upgraded the grips, the saddle, and Wednesday, I’ll be upgrading the pedals. (Separately, I ordered a tow hitch and bike rack for the SUV.) I also splurged on some new biking shoes that are the clipless/cleatless type – I guess that’s how you describe them. They clip onto the pedals, but you can’t see from the soles where they clip in. They look like normal shoes. But oh, so cute! And you know a girl’s gotta have cute shoes.
Talk about an upgrade in bikes. In two days, I put 26 miles on this baby and oh. my. god. She’s fast, smooth, light, and breezy. Did I mention FUN?
My oldest went on the inaugural ride with me and we had a BLAST.
If you bike at all, you know about the convention you must follow when you bike on a path and pass others. If you don’t bike, I’ll tell you… as you pass, you pass on the left and you are supposed to either ring a bell or yell out “On your left” as you pass, so you don’t startle the walkers or slower bikers, and so they know to move to the right. In the past, I’ve been the slower rider. The bikers on the road bikes going hella fast always yell out the loudest (and often the rudest) and startle me.
This time, with my daughter, she took off ahead of me, and I started on the bike and quickly moved up the gears and in no time, I was the one going hella fast and passing her. I started cracking up hysterically and could barely get it out without laughing my ass off as I passed her and shouted “ON YOUR LEFT!” followed by wild laughter. Hi.lar.ious.
Maybe you had to be there.
“You’re a nerd” my daughter uttered. Yep, that’s me. And proud of it.
Expect to hear a lot more from me as I start this wonderful relationship with my bike. At least it won’t be scared to death of what else is going on in my life.
Tagged as:
Attitude,
bicycling,
family,
Fitness,
Giant bicycles,
Health,
life,
life unscripted,
real life,
Relationships,
self-care
At dinner the other night with my mom at the retirement home, one of the ladies at our table told us how she had just got a new set of “computerized” hearing aids. She had been unable to hear, really, for nine years, she said. I quietly observed her as she went around the room telling people how she could now hear everyone and the clarity with which she could hear them.
