Ah yes, I'm sure we all once had dreams of doing something big only to have life bust in and shake us back down to reality. Some never seemed to have that problem and what ever challenged them, they took it on and beat it's ass to a pulp. I once had some kind of dream, I'm not sure what it was anymore but I had one nonetheless.
It didn't have anything to do with biking, but I have always like to ride, and in high school it was the best form of escape for a transplanted Minnesotan during the day. I had the good fortune to have an elective cycling class for PE. So not only could I bike in to school (which had it's own problems...) but then I got to forgo having to play soccer or baseball or run a mile or more, all of which I sucked at doing or plain hated altogether.
I recall a few years later when living in LA riding to visit my girlfriend, because well I didn't drive. I rode from Culver City up and over to Century City. I guess it wasn't enough to save our relationship from the scrapheap of romance though but it was a good effort I think. I stopped riding at that point because I moved to the high desert and riding a bike there made little sense to me at the time.
I eventually moved to the south, was given a beater 10 speed which got stolen , then finally got a car and then a few motorcycles. After I moved back to So Cal and I started working with an avid cyclist did I get a bike and get into it. This lasted until my son was born and then I got rid of the bike and my thighs languished. After a job change and an influx of disposable income did I buy a another bike, but it is a cruiser though and as cool and fun as it is, for what it is it's limited in ability and scope. I also bought it because it looked really cool...
Recently during a doctor visit the nurse found my blood pressure to be a bit high for me (131 over 85 or some such) I also thought that to be a bit high as I thought it used to be more like 115 over 70 or so. So hmmmm I thought I need to take care of that. After thinking about it some and a few people I kind of knew were getting into cycling, I figured I should get a bike and today I did just that since it's Father's Day tomorrow and the wife asked me what I wanted and I told her I wanted a bike. I preempted her of course because I had a good idea of what I wanted. I thought I'd start doing some limited commuting and I bought something suggested for the task. And in total Popeye style, it's a bit on the hipster/rebel side if you would:
It's a singlespeed/fixed gear and it's a work in progress, or should I say that I'm a work in progress... Time will tell and from my short ride today, it'll be a fun challenge.
