Bicycle Stuff

Get some air in the bike tires - May'll be here soon

Finally had a decent day combined with a little free time yesterday. Did some outdoorsy-gardeny things then put a couple of miles on the old Raleigh touring rig. I miss being able to commute on the bicycle but the ride to the college/retirement village is about 25 miles. That's a bit more than I want to tackle. Big difference in fuel cost now. The old Dodge is costing me about $100.00 per week now. I used to average that per month. Plus more maintenance costs. However, according to People For Bikes, 50% of trips people take in their cars are of less than three miles. I'll still be doing the short hops on the two wheeler.

In the latest issue of the magazine from The League of American Bicyclists, I see where they're sponsoring the National Bike Challenge again. The Challenge runs from May 1 - September 30, 2013. "Ride solo, create a team, or pedal as part of a workplace to get healthier, have fun and become part of a national online community. Plus, every month you'll be elgible to win great raffle prizes!" I checked the site and even though there are quite a few colleges listed, mine wasn't among them. I'm planning on giving the info to the lady who I think would be in charge of something like this and see if she thinks it's worth a go. I've been pretty diligent about getting my walkies in every day. Be nice to change up and get back out on the bike from May to October. I was planning on that anyway but if the college does anything with this, I'll sign up.

And last but not least, because of the grabber, I'm thinking my long distance bike touring days are behind me. For the most part my attitude now is "been there, done that". However, I'd really like to do the Climate Ride. Five days/320 miles "along California's North Coast and Redwood Empire to San Francisco!" Cross the Golden Gate on your bicycle. That's exactly the section of California I hope to see when I finally make it out there. It's May 19-23 if you're interested. Sign up and start training.

Get out and get some exercise and watch the diet, people. One of my shop teacher buddies had a massive heart attack last week. The dude's a few years younger than I am and he's lucky to have made it. I've only got a few readers here as it is - can't afford to lose any!