It was over six years ago that I last went for an actual bike ride. An ensuing move to a gated community in the middle of the Appalachians in a geographical location called Deep Gap started the decline. The only flat surface around there were the decks that surrounded each house and most of the roads in the area weren't paved - not the most conducive to a road bike. Following that was the first move with a child which led to the realization that the truck was filled and there was no room to insert a bike without unpacking and repacking many items. I donated that bike to a deserving student that both I and my wife had as a student at the university and was helping us load the truck. Four years passed, another child joined the household, and still I didn't have a bike.
In my infinite wisdom, I figured that I could get a bike and be ready for a triathlon in one short month. It's not a regular swim, bike, run triathlon. No, that would be too easy. I chose a paddle, bike, run triathlon. Did I mention that the last time I was on a kayak (and the only time) I managed to tip it end over end? I didn't just turn it over, but actually tipped it backwards so that the front end went up and over and dumped me off backwards. In my defense, my wife and I were given no instruction other than to go ahead and take out a kayak that was sitting on the beach. As we walked the kayak back to shore we found out that the kayaks were supposed to be drained before going out. Ours wasn't. That explained why the moment one of us leaned, the kayak would tip. All of the water in the kayak would rush in that direction. There was a lot of water and we provided a good half hour of entertainment for the spectators on the beach. At least we were in Belize.
I finally got a bike last weekend. After searching for used bikes in the area, I had some luck. I was getting very discouraged. Moving from Madison, WI, I though finding a used bike would be easy. They have entire showroom floors filled with used bikes at a couple of locations there. Not quite so easy here. I found a wonderful little shop in Bloomsburg, Paul's Bicycle Shop. Getting to the shop was the hard part. I had to bring the 5-year-old with me who had been a good sport going to a community yardsale in the morning, but I wasn't sure if she had two trips in her for the day. As we got to Bloomsburg, I realized with a growing sense of dread that it was the beginning of the Bloomsburg Fair. Following the GPS directions, we were taken to a street about a block from the fair and everywhere you looked, there were signs in yards selling parking. 15 minutes later, I found a spot on the street about four blocks away, surrounded by $2 parking (it was about $5 right by the fairgrounds). As we walked up the alleys towards the shop, all we could see were all of the rides. Being 5-years-old, she was convinced we were going to the rides. By the time we were at the shop, we were half a block from the rides. Somehow, I got her to understand that we weren't going on the rides and she didn't throw a fit.
The moment I saw the shop, I figured I had picked the right place. It was tiny. It was crowded with bikes and supplies and barely had room for people. It was a shop run by somebody who just likes bikes. He had about 20 used bikes, three of which were road bikes. There was an old Peugeot, a Fuji, and some yellow beast for which I didn't catch the brand. The Peugeot and the Fuji were about my size. I took the Fuji. It is an old Fuji Supreme that I'm guessing comes from the early 80's. It's just the kind of bike I was looking for and with, if I remember correctly from my few days as a bike mechanic, a 10mm wrench, I can fix most anything that I need.
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