Easy Rider

I took advantage of the nice weather today, and went biking with my wife for the second day in a row. Last week, I took ownership of my birthday present that my wonderful wife Laura agreed to bestow upon me for my 50th birthday. I got a Giant Defy 1 Road Bike. I had an Iron Horse Road bike, for around 10 years, so maybe she got me that for my 40th birthday. My friend John that I am riding the RAGBRAI with is a handy bike mechanic, so he offered to tune the bike up for me. He noticed that the fork was loose. When he took a look at it he reminded me that it had earlier issues some years back where the threading nut had very few threads. He said it would hundreds to replace it as well as other maintenance like a new chain. That’s when I pitched the Birthday Bike idea to Laura.


Apparently, she had some big-ticket present in mind for me, because she did not flinch when I mentioned a bike in the $1-1.5K price range. Now you know why I love her!

So, on Friday, I took the bike out for the first time. It’s about a 7 mile ride to my friend John M’s house. He keeps a refrigerator in his garage stocked with craft beer, so we christened my new bike with Three Floyds Dead Guy Ale.

The rides on Sunday and Saturday were a little less casual, because I was riding with my wife, Laura. Plus we were fighting wind on the way back on Sunday.

My non-running routine was : 15 miles Friday; 24.5 miles Sunday; 36 miles Monday. The average speed for all those days was between 15-16 mph. I don’t think I have logged 75 miles on the bike in a 4 day period before. Maybe I will turn into a bike rider yet!