One year on my bike
19/1/06 15:15![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
owlectomyI've had my bike for a little bit over a year now--it was on the 12th or 13th that I fractured my elbow, and that was when I'd had it for only a couple days.
There's no idea of scale here, but--figure a distance of maybe 15 miles across and 25 vertically.
I've clocked at least 360 miles since July, and seen most of the cowfields, manure heaps, rural gas stations, and trees within an eight-mile radius of my apartment.
I'm more confident in traffic; I get honked at less than I used to, and I can glance back, signal, glance back, and change lanes without plowing into the curb. (Though lately when I glance back all I see is hair--must get haircut soon. I haven't had one in a year). I can strike a decent balance between shrinking in fear from vehicles and getting in their way gratuitously.
I have not had an accident since the elbow thing. That's progress.
I have spent way more on bike stuff than a person should, but it's still cheaper than owning a car--and less than most bike geeks spend: headlight, pump, helmet, new tubes for tires, padded shorts, tool doohickey, lock, and basket. (I still do not have a water bottle cage--I just carry my water in my basket). And a cycle computer which just broke, and will be $20 to fix. My incompetence as a cyclist is enough to reassure me that spending more money will not actually make me any more competent.
I go sloooow. I inch up small hills on my lowest gear, at a mere six miles an hour; I average maybe 8 mph for longer distances. I don't go longer distances; the most I've gone in a day is twelve miles, I think, when decent cyclists think nothing of going 40. But four miles along the hills of Franklin street used to seem steep to me, and seems much easier now. I know how to change a tire, and to bring my cell phone and enough food and water with me, so that I don't live in fear of having something bad happen to me when I'm too far from home.
I hope to make it to Rivendell before too much longer. And...I'm a little proud of myself for that. ^_^
There's no idea of scale here, but--figure a distance of maybe 15 miles across and 25 vertically.I've clocked at least 360 miles since July, and seen most of the cowfields, manure heaps, rural gas stations, and trees within an eight-mile radius of my apartment.
I'm more confident in traffic; I get honked at less than I used to, and I can glance back, signal, glance back, and change lanes without plowing into the curb. (Though lately when I glance back all I see is hair--must get haircut soon. I haven't had one in a year). I can strike a decent balance between shrinking in fear from vehicles and getting in their way gratuitously.
I have not had an accident since the elbow thing. That's progress.
I have spent way more on bike stuff than a person should, but it's still cheaper than owning a car--and less than most bike geeks spend: headlight, pump, helmet, new tubes for tires, padded shorts, tool doohickey, lock, and basket. (I still do not have a water bottle cage--I just carry my water in my basket). And a cycle computer which just broke, and will be $20 to fix. My incompetence as a cyclist is enough to reassure me that spending more money will not actually make me any more competent.
I go sloooow. I inch up small hills on my lowest gear, at a mere six miles an hour; I average maybe 8 mph for longer distances. I don't go longer distances; the most I've gone in a day is twelve miles, I think, when decent cyclists think nothing of going 40. But four miles along the hills of Franklin street used to seem steep to me, and seems much easier now. I know how to change a tire, and to bring my cell phone and enough food and water with me, so that I don't live in fear of having something bad happen to me when I'm too far from home.
I hope to make it to Rivendell before too much longer. And...I'm a little proud of myself for that. ^_^
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