The Cyclist

I recently rediscovered biking. I used to love it as a kid. But I haven't done much of it since then. So, after more than a decade without owning a bike, I decided it was about time to get one again (4 million Dutchmen can't all be wrong). But I didn't want to spend a lot of money. So, for the first time in my life, I entered the seedy world of Craig's List. I've perused listings before, but never with any kind of serious intent to buy. I ended up finding the perfect little hybrid Trek 720 (not pictured above) for under $100. It's by no means a nice bike, but it gets the job done.

And what a great job it is! I'd forgotten just how much fun it is to go on bike rides. And what's more, Denver has some great bike paths and trails. Today I went along one trail for 24 miles and only had to stop to cross a road maybe 4-5 times. Seriously, I love this city.

A story:

Last week, I actually took a pretty bad spill. The sad thing is that there's really no cool story to go along with it. I was in a low gear going up a hill and while trying to cross an intersection, I put too much force down on the pedal and the chain slipped, throwing my weight (which currently, is considerable) up against the handle bars and subsequently down toward the pavement. There was a dude standing there that saw the whole thing. He didn't say anything, just stared. After a spill like there's really no recovering. No giant pot hole or rabid Rottweiler to cast blame on. You just have to stand up, collect your shattered pride and keep going.

On the plus side, I got some pretty wicked battle wounds out of it. My leg got raked by the gears and my knee and elbow sustained some road rash. The best though was the massive gouge taken out of my side (and the accompanying bruised ribs) by my handlebar. My side turned yellow and purple for a little while. It's mostly cleared up now.

Well, road rash aside, I've fallen in love with the sport and look forward to a summer of many more thrills and probably more spills.