I Like to Ride my Bicycle

I've got a new bike! Well, at least it's new to me. My old bicycle was a Giant Iguana. I got it in the early 90s when I lived in DC and had little use for my car.

Back then my car sat in Grampa's driveway until I drove it to Arizona to give to my sister, and then tried to hitchhike back. That didn't work out so well, and I ended up on a four day Greyhound bus journey home. But that's a whole other story. My truck is now sitting in sitting in Grampa's driveway, and I was back to riding my Giant Iguana. At least when I was on land.

This morning while riding my bike to the showers I got a flat tire. I have a repair kit and fixed it. My neighbors had a tire pump. The pump had a pressure gauge. The tire sidewall recommended a pressure of 40-65 psi. Previously, without a gauge, I had just pumped the tire until it looked full. This time I pumped it up to about 60 psi. Then I pumped up the other to about 60 psi. Maybe 30 seconds later there was a loud bang. Sounded like a gun going off. Maybe a minute later, another loud bang when the other tire exploded. Well, it is an old bike, and the tires had a little dry rot.

Amy was going to drive me to the Walmart to get new tires and inner tubes, and what the hell, brakes. (Everything on the bike is old and tired.) But my neighbors suggested that the bike rental store where we rented Amy's bike yesterday also had old bikes for sale. They did. The bike cost 40 bucks. Just ten dollars more than it cost to rent Amy's bike for two weeks. It doesn't look quite as nice as hers, but it's pretty sweet. It's got a nice fat seat, one easy gear, and is driven in a comfortable upright stance, unlike my old mountain bike. I'm pretty excited.

I parked my old bike at a bike rack nearby without a lock. Hopefully someone will take it. I feel bad about just throwing it away. It's served me well over the years and even provided my income during a brief stint as a bicycle currier in my younger days.