05.18.2019 Sunny Saturday

A $250 dollar bike is probably worth what he paid for it, if that! The last time I had a bike with pedals on backward, it was in China and the bike was only $50 new! Luckily back then there were roadside repair stalls every few miles (in a city with 12 million people where, at the time, most biked to and from work, they were a vital necessity, like gas stations in the US) so I was able to quickly and cheaply remedy the situation.

40 minutes of running this morning. Thank goodness weather was better and I ran outdoors. My legs and feet did not seem to appreciate 40 minutes in one direction around a 10-laps-to-the-mile concrete track yesterday. (The gym requires everyone to run in a designated direction, which alternates by day of week. I guess daily runners/walkers get balanced out.) Later one hour of stationary biking with 35 minutes of single-leg drills at the gym. (It's really hard to do those effectively on my own bike and trainer right now.)

Then out for pho (Vietnamese food) and Vietnamese coffee. Glad we found a good place here!

50 minutes on the trainer this evening. Allergies are finally easing off. I could actually taste my coffee this morning.

I paid $250 for my first road bike, a Fuji newest. I still have it and ride it around the neighborhood with my boys.

The first new bike I ever owned was a Fuji Tahoe MTB that I bought for myself with summer job earnings the year I left for college (since I was going to a hilly place). I think it was in that price range. It did last a long time, almost 20 years, and served well for commuting and pleasure riding on and off road, until my dad started riding it for some reason (it was a women's model and not the best fit for someone seven inches taller and a hundred pounds heavier than me) and managed to crash and wreck it. Actually all my other bikes except the Chinese bike, my current tri bike and the road bike I bought when I started tri in Vietnam have been secondhand, come to think of it.

When I was a kid, my dad always bought our family's bikes at an annual police auction. We had some real junkers. Most of mine served their purpose until I outgrew them, but my dad perhaps should have spent a little more on his own ride--I remember one time riding behind him to the store when his bike--really--suddenly just split in two. I think the frame had corroded from inside or something. Luckily he was not seriously hurt, but we attracted quite a crowd of onlookers standing by the road next to two halves of a bike, laughing ourselves silly!

Edited by Hot Runner 2019-05-18 9:49 PM

My Saturday wasn't so sunny in the afternoon when I headed out for my bike ride. I was shooting for 25 milesish, but it was cloudy and the weather app on my phone said it was going to rain in 83 minutes. I think they nailed it that time. I was at about 18.5 miles when the sky opened up for about 5 minutes. After it stopped I was thoroughly soaked, the temperature dropped quite a bit, and the wind really picked up. I was only a mile away from home though, so I am glad I opted to cut the route a mile or so short.

As for cheap bikes, I bought my daughter a department store bike a few years ago. I think the parts would have probably held up fine if they were assembled properly. Both tires burst when inflated to proper pressure due to them having a half twist or better in the tubes. Naturally if they can't put that together properly, they didn't stand a chance with either derailleur. The front one is so messed up, I never was able to get it to work and ended up just cutting the cable. As flat as we are here, she doesn't need to change the front rings anyway. One bolt on the handlebar stem was stripped so the handlebar would drop slightly, so I had to drill out the hole and put a new nut and bolt in it. That bolt is probably going to outlast the rest of the bike. Other than that, it's perfect! I guess it did last long enough for her to outgrow it.

J White