Prior to moving to the house we live in now, I walked or rode my bike to work nearly every day for about 4 years. It was easy because I only lived about a mile from work (2 different jobs). My bike at the time was a heavy 60's era Schwinn 3 speed "racer." When we moved to the new house, the hills and extra 2 miles made riding much more difficult but when my job moved 14 miles away to Burbank, the bike became obsolete, then came kids, excuse, excuse, etc.
I finally bought this, not particularly fashionable reconfigured bike from my friend Mr. Jalopy at his shop in Silverlake: Coco's Variety. Cocos is awesome - part urban mercantile, part second-hand store, part secret hipster hot spot.
The bike is a (guessing) '70's era Cyclone 10 speed frame with mountain bike components and handle bars (so that's 15 gears now - just enough to get my decrepit bones over the hills and 15 miles to work)
I added my old lights, a rack and panniers (also from Coco's) then tested the panniers out with a quick beer run. Mission accomplished. After one more training ride I'll start my commute rides with one a week to begin. I'll let you know how it goes.
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Good inspiration for me to start biking to work again. It's hard to put into the words the importance of a good bike shop.
ReplyDeleteI'm impressed. Be careful out on the streets!
ReplyDeleteAlright Ian, you start biking to work and we'll start a support group/biker club where we'll gripe/brag about our sore muscles and trade tales of cycling heroics which will hopefully impress Mel all the more.
ReplyDeleteThanks Mel, for the support and kind words of concern.
When I started bike commuting (previously worked from home) a friend advised to become totally dedicated. Don't even consider driving as an option, otherwise you'll find any old excuse to not ride. Ultimately, it was excellent advice.
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