Bicycle

Two or three weeks ago, I discovered the chain on my bike had completely dried out and was showing signs of rust. It was a particularly wet winter this year so I guess that may have contributed also. My bicycle is over ten years old and it rides reasonably well but it does squeak a lot, even after it’s been serviced. It’s also showing signs of rust on the body. Not terrible shape but could be better.

This bike wasn’t all that expensive although it wasn’t a cheap one either. I started to consider the value of a getting a new bike versus the cost of service and repairs. I have been looking around at the costs of bicycles lately and the first thing I discovered is the price hasn’t gone up as much as I expected. Also there are lot more casual bikes available and those are pretty much the same price as what I have. The only drawback I’ve found is they don’t have that many gears, seven being the highest on the ones I’ve seen. While I have never used all 21 gears on my current one, I do often use the second set of seven. But then I haven’t used them all that much lately. I probably could get by with the limited gears and I’d gain a rack on the back for storing packages plus a basket at the front. I have a basket already but it doesn’t hold all that much, which makes the idea of cycling to the shops less practical if I can only carry limited amounts of goods. This option really expands the amount of shopping I can bring back. Not to mention it allows more space if I take my camera along for the ride.

I found a model that I like quite a bit so my plan is to put aside money over the next few months and buy it once I’ve reached my goal. Meanwhile I have taken my bike to a local, independently run shop for a service and to see if the chain needs to be replaced. It’s interesting that this small shop charges a far more reasonable price than any of the bigger stores around. I rode the bike to the shop yesterday and walked back. It took me about 45 minutes to walk less than three kilometres which was pretty slow for me. A kilometre is usually about 11,5 minutes to start with and often goes down to 10 minutes when I’ve built up to a good pace.

On Sunday, I managed to walk 12 kms in just over two hours, which was a pretty good time for that distance. Also, it’s quite a bit longer than my usual walk. I normally walk from 6-8 kms at most so this was a bit of a stretch. My feet were pretty sore after that walk and my body was till a bit achy yesterday when I cycled, walked and then did 90 minutes of tai chi and tai chi fan. Some of my muscles were really feeling it when I got home last night.