Monday, July 22, 2013

Side Mission: The Bicycle

So, I had this thought that's been nagging me in the back of my mind for quite some time.

I live in a city where things are spread out, but not so spread out that public transportation is a big part of our city. I live close to a Wal-Mart, a CVS, a gas station, Michael's Craft Store, Target, Publix, my dentist, my doctor, and my gym. As in... of all those places, Target is the farthest away from me at a whopping 4.0 miles. Most are within 2 miles of my house.

Once I realized how much gas I'm probably wasting driving to these, I started to look for options. Walking is always the number one choice, but it is time consuming especially if I have to get cold groceries which can quickly turn nasty in the Florida sun. That would probably be a more suitable mode of transportation in the winter time, when it gets down to 60 degrees in the middle of the day.

So, back to my side mission. The bicycle. I've had this bike for a few years now, going on 3 or 4 I would say. It's a FreeSpirit AT1800, which is fancy for "Wal-Mart bike". It's nothing super fancy, it does have gears and hand brakes, but the gears are a little worn and the brakes a little slower... but it works.

I spent around 2 hours this morning getting my bike back to riding shape. It had flat tires, which I thought was due to holes in the tubes. After watching a VERY informative YouTube video on how to remove the tubes, I checked both tubes and made sure they were just flat and not holey.

So, I pumped those babies up to the right pressure and brushed the cobwebs from the seat, and she cleaned up quite nicely!




Look at her! I installed that kickstand this morning.... did a pretty fine job if I say so!


This is my "fat ass" seat. It's wider and WAY more comfy then the standard butt-swallowing seat that is DEFINITELY not built for a woman of my size.... yeah.



Got my law-abiding rear red flasher, and I actually put 2 white lights, for safety! 






So... why is this being called a side mission? Well, I took her for a spin this morning. I only lasted 20 minutes. Twenty of the best, yet most painful minutes in awhile. My knees were absolutely killing me after ten minutes, so I had to turn around. It sucked. Now, my knees feel better, but I still don't think I can do much more than that at the moment.

My side mission is to slowly start building up time on the bike. Building up muscle for my knees to tolerate the constant stress of pedaling. I think by the end of August I can make it to 10 miles.

With that, have some Queen!


2 comments:

  1. That is a pretty snazzy bike! Mine is from when I was in high school but I don't deserve a new one.

    I totally need a "fat ass" seat! I have a gel cover, but I find after a good 30 minute ride, my hoo-ha gets numb! ( Sorry, I couldn't resist saying hoo-ha!) (Ha! now I did it TWICE!) :-)

    Good for you for saying you were going to do it and then actually getting out there. I would have just said "aw...the bike is crap! Can't fix it...can't ride it!" Actually, the truth is I would have made Brian fix it...he is the mechanic of the family after all!

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  2. Oh yeah....2 things....

    You need a basket now!

    And is that a couch in your garage? Do you make the boys sit out there when they are bad? :-) lol

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