"I just want to ride my bicycle..."

I have been biking regularly this past year or so. I feel much better with the exercise. It is an excellent balance to my swimming in the mornings. I started biking when I was a kid. It was a coaster brake style bike. I remember going all over on my bike. I would tie a balloon to the chain stay or clothes pin a playing card to the front fork so the bike would sound like it had a motor. I remember painting it red with a can of spray paint.

When I started college a new 10-speed bicycling fad had just started. Particularly young, environmentally conscience people wanted to ride these new style bikes. (kind of like everyone wanting an iPod now) I was interested and wanted a cool bike. The established bike shops carried Scwhinn or Huffy bikes that were made in the USA and sometimes had a few expensive imported bikes such as Raleigh (English) , LeJeune (French), or Bianchi (Italian). In fact, the demand for these new bikes was so great and many of our friends wanted some way to get a good deal, that I help established a partnership called Pedal Pusher Bike Shop. This entrepreneurial effort was run out of my basement. My three partners were my good friends: Fred Galata, Jerry Kavan (yes, uncle Jerry) and Mike Casanova. They helped with funding and sales while I was the main bike mechanic that assembled and set up the bikes for delivery when we received a batch of bikes from our supplier. We didn't make a lot of money, but we did each get good bikes and learned a lot about business. Fred and I expanded our interest by competing in amateur races in the area. We would travel as far as Kansas City or Ames Iowa to compete in Criterion's (about a 26 mile race). My first fancy bike was a Dawes made in England. I would ride it to work since I needed to watch my spending as I was putting myself through college. That bike was sadly stolen while I was at work. In broad daylight even though I had it secured with sturdy chain and lock. This was another indication of what the demand was like back then.

Eventually, since we had developed many good connections, I got a better bike. This was a Fuji racing bike (quite uncommon at the time). This was 1973. It was a pretty blue chrome molybdenum steel tube bike. I have included two pictures of me with it earlier this year. Many parts have been replaced and upgraded over the years but it is what I have ridden for 34 years. It was a premium bike at the time and is still a very good bike. Over the past 3 decades bike technology has had a great deal of advancement. Many engineers with computer aided design have worked on improving bikes. Particularly in the area of competition and professional racing. The Trek bikes that Lance Armstrong rode to win the Toure de France seven times, had hundreds of thousands of dollars of design and development invested in them each year. Each year being better than the previous year. Continually becoming lighter, stronger, more aerodynamic, more ergonomic and generally more efficient.

Well, I decided a while back (after I had the benefit of riding a friend's new exotic mountain bike) that I would treat myself to a new bike if I worked hard and got myself down to a weight closer to the weight I was when I was racing. I am not quite there yet, but Jill helped me decide that I am close enough. We find that when we get older, diet and exercise is very important; but seemingly much harder than when we were younger. It comes off slow and keeping it off is a great effort. The rewards are still great. I feel better and have generally fewer aches and pains.

So I am now celebrating, somewhat for this past year's efforts and also for the continued, anticipated improvement in the upcoming months. After much research, shopping and test riding, I bought a new bike Friday, August 3, 2007. It is also is a Fuji and is similar to the ride I am use to; only much better. It is smoother and I don't feel the road vibration and bumps as much. It is faster and has lots of very cool technology. It is nine pounds lighter than the blue bike weighing only 17.4 lbs. Oh, and it looks very cool as well. See the photos of me with a white bike.
The blue Fuji is a road bike for that style of racing. This new bike a triathlon style bike named Aloha 1.0 (reminiscent of the Iron man race in Hawaii). I intent to get many miles on the bike next week (including some hills) while I am in Omaha. I will be there to help my Dad and Mom while Dad gets a knee replaced. I have a bag the bike goes in when I travel. I pop the wheels off and put it in this canvas bag that fits in the trunk of a car. I often have a rental vehicle when I travel for my job. I have taken my blue bike with me a few times and the new bike should be even easier.