Last week, I bought a bike off of craigslist. An old bike. Like, a really old bike. That’s okay, though, it was only $30. I had the guys at a bike shop check it out, and while they suggested around $150 worth of repairs if I wanted the thing to run like new for a couple of years, they said it would be fine as-is for a few months. I’m using the “first-car” principle for my first bike (okay, sure, I had one when I was a kid… but I haven’t ridden one in probably 15 years). Rather than go ahead and pony up a few hundred bucks for a new one (or $800 for an electric one that looks really sweet, I thought I’d get a cheapo bicycle to practice on. That way when I smash it into things or fall under a bus, I’ll only be crying about my wounds and not the money I just wasted on a new bicycle.

The first thing I did to it (last week) was take off the little foot holsters. I’m prooobably not going to ride it with flip flops on, but those things bug the heck out of me anyway. I had to go to Gilroy over the weekend to do some outlet mall shopping (I got to watch college football all day Saturday, so in return I agreed to take The Girlfriend to Gilroy). While there, I got a new pair of slip-on shoes from Bass. They’re amphibious, too, which is a good perk for when I go kayaking. Mostly, though, I figured they’d be easier to put on than tennis shoes… and more safe to ride a bike with than my flip flops.
Since its purchase and foot-holster-removal, though, the bike has been sitting on the back porch. I was too busy to give it a test-spin over the weekend, and I haven’t been getting home until after dark. I leave for Greece next Thursday morning, and after that my plan is to bike to work every day (well, every day that it’s not pouring down rain–which hasn’t happened yet). So that leaves me with seven days (counting today) to practice. Yikes!

I took the thing out to the parking lot this morning, debating whether I wanted to do a trial-by-fire or practice a bit first. Let’s just say I was… shaky. Way shaky. It came back a little bit, but I was never exactly Lance Armstrong (or even that kid down the street who rides around while saying “Look ma, no hands!”) in the first place. After doing a few laps around the lot, I was starting to feel a little bit better–but still skeptical of making it the 3.5 miles to work. Yes, I know…3.5 miles is super easy… when I use the exercise bike I routinely hit 8-10 miles in half an hour. But the exercise bike doesn’t wobble. And you don’t have to worry about getting hit by a bread truck. And–most surprisingly–you don’t need any arm strength. After doing laps around the parking lot for 15 minutes, the thing I found most shocking was just how much I had to support myself with my arms. To be fair, this is probably due to the fact that (1) it’s a road bike, which means it has the weird horseshoe handelbars, and (2) it’s probably a little too small for me, as the seat is jacked up quite a bit higher than the handlebars (and the all-important breaks).

I was saved from making my do-or-die ride-to-work choice by the fact that the seat was so old it had rotted through and the leather broke. So I’ll be heading back to the bike shop after work for a new seat… or maybe a cheapy from WalMart.