Stop wishing and pedal what you've got!

On Saturday morning I started a post about wanting another bike - a fancier, newer, more expensive bike. I've been riding too little, watching too many videos, and dreaming of far-away (by bike) places with lots of hills and trees and rocks. That sort of thing gets me to wanting more stuff.

The Simple Bike

But last night the weather was mild and I was itching for a ride. I walked into the garage, looked at the gathered handlebars and went straight to the Huffy klunker. After two miles on the dark and uncrowded streets I found myself smiling and very thankful for what is, in reality, a pretty crappy (but enjoyable) bike.

Last night's ride on the HuffKlunk

The Huffklunk has turned into my short-trip bike and my play-in-the-dirt bike. While it may not be high-tech or heavy duty, I find that it's consistently tougher than I am and its capabilities far exceed my own, even on our local mountain bike trails. In truth, it's more bike than this mesquite hugger needs.

The Electric Bike

This morning, I rode the e-bike to work. About half a mile in, I found myself smiling again. It was cold, but the breeze felt better than it should. Yesterday I read (yet another) article explaining that e-bikers aren't cheating. The author made the point (once again) that the e-bike's greatest virtue can be seen when a person chooses to leave the car at home and ride the e-bike. There are many days I choose the e-bike over the car when I would've chosen the car over the regular bike. And days not in the car feel better than they should.

I sat at a couple of lights (with my stupid grin) and watched the people driving by looking hurried, harried, and stressed. I arrived at work five minutes early, feeling better and knowing I have all the bikes I need.

Count your blessings and ride what you've got! 

This Morning's DST shadow on the Juiced e-Bike

I hope you find yourself grinning as you get around. I hope you find satisfaction rather than want.

For any of you who were disappointed in this post and wanted to read a post about wanting a new bike, below is the unfinished draft from Saturday:

It's been more than a week since I've touched a bike. There's been meetings and dentists and ice and the constant barrage of mundane details that keep the bills (mostly) paid and the family (mostly) fed.

But I've not stopped dreaming. Two bikes keep haunting me -  the cargo bike has been talking. And a new one has crept into my head this week.

There's a guy in Dallas (Huntstyle) who takes us along for a video ride on his mountain bike adventures. This week I saw his rides in Dinosaur Valley State Park and the mountain bike trail at Possum Kingdom lake. Both are on the path to my daughter-person's home in Fort Worth and both are outside of Lubbock, which is starting to pale from thirty years of familiarity. Also, the eleven-year-old is a big fan of dinosaurs, and my lovely wife is always a fan of getting out of town. (Did I mention that I've been desperately missing the daughter person?)

(Man, that's a lot of rationalization for watching 20 minutes of mountain biking on youtube. Let's get back to that and that new bike discussion.)

One thing I keep noticing when watching Texas mountain biking is rocks. There are lots and lots of rocks. Some of those rocks are really big. The guy I've been watching riding those rocks is a few decades younger than me and he has a much cushier bike than I ride. And he takes a beating. His bike takes a beating. His back takes a beating. And he puts in a lot more miles than I do.

So here I am jonesing to ride those trails and that stupid logic thing kicks in - young guy on a cushy bike takes a beating - hmmm, maybe a rigid old guy on a rigid old bike would take a lot more of a beating. I wonder if the old guy and/or the old bike would survive such an adventure without involving an emergency room or welder.

That settles it! I need a full-suspension mountain bike. (And a GoPro so I can see where it all went wrong!) And this won't be like the HuffKlunk with its less-than-$100 budget. We're talking a can't-buy-it-at-the-grocery-store bike.

Full-Suspension sidebar - this won't be my first foray into fully-suspended - I got one of these for Christmas back when our president (who put solar panels on the White House) was encouraging us to drive electric cars, ride bicycles,  and put solar panels on our houses:

[That's all, folks! Be well and go pedal something!]