Bicycle lifestyle

To inaugurate my blog's new bikey direction, I'm going to bring everyone up to speed on my transportation situation. I was bitten by the bicycle bug this year and now I'm all about bike commuting. Last month, I bought a used Bianchi Strada that's tuff enough to roll through the crap streets and fast enough to do the ~12.5 mile route in under an hour. I rode either to or from work so far almost every day since June 6 (that was five weeks ago!). It is awesome.

After a few weeks with that (mostly) maintenance-free bike, I was ready for a challenge and plunked down $20 on a real fixer-upper, an old Batavus Monte Carlo. Not only did I fix 'er up, I also converted it into a single-speed just for kicks. Now I'm hooked and I want to keep tinkering, so luckily there's Volunteer Night at the Sibley Bike Depot. I also want to get a road bike for serious speed/distance travel, but that's not in the budget for the near future.

Meanwhile, I'm riding every day and want to use my bike exclusively for daily trips by the end of the summer. When winter comes, who knows? I don't want to give up biking. Maybe I'll ride all year, maybe not. Until then I'm just swinging a leg over and taking the bikes out any chance I get and loving it. A local shop/cult sums up my newfound philosophy more nicely than I ever could: Bicycles are freedom, get some.

Categories: bicycles