General Jackassery

I got back into riding last summer because I wanted to loose weight and get in better shape. I ended up using the bike for much more than getting in shape and loosing weight. I used it to help find my limits, to see what I was made of. Over five years I rode the same bike and I put somewhere in the neighborhood of 10,000 miles on it. Cycling is something that I’ve always loved because you can ride and ride and while it might hurt to stay on the bike it is so rewarding in being able to be outside, to enjoy all the elements, to cleanse your mind and soul. It’s funny because I almost feel like a traitor. I rode this bike for five years and this morning I rode a new bike to work. Here’s to the passing of an old friend and here’s hoping that the new bike will carry me as far and as well as ol’ whitey!

Anyway, I guess I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, but I wasn’t in a good mood when I got to the Ice Complex to play hockey. That mood carried out on the ice and I couldn’t do anything right this morning. The final blow was when I fired a shot at the net and it deflected off the goalie’s blocker and into the face of a guy that I’ve started to gain a lot of respect for as a person off the ice. He’s okay, there was no blood lost, but things just didn’t FEEL right this morning. I was mad because nothing seemed to be going my way and I had just hurt someone that I really like. So, I asked if he was okay and when he was obviously mad I decided that I just didn’t want to be there anymore. I got off the ice and headed to the locker room only to be followed by Craig. He asked me why I was leaving, and told me that it wasn’t my fault that the puck hit him. I said I know, but I’m not having fun at all and I just don’t feel like I should be out there.

As I was packing my gear up, I decided that I was going to head back to the house (I needed to feed the dogs, give Nanook his medicine and feed the cat anyway) and pack a bag, get on my bike and ride to work. It takes some getting used to when you get on a new bike, there are little things about bikes that are different and you’d be amazed what an eighth of an inch can do to make you very uncomfortable. I got the new bike adjusted pretty well yesterday afternoon, but I think I’ve decided to go back to my old seat and seat-post. Again, I felt kind of like I lost an old friend riding my new bike to work, but I did still enjoy the ride; it was a chance to shake-off what went wrong this morning. I’m a little bit out of shape, but I can still ride a bike better than about 90% of the rest of the world. This morning, riding into work with a pack on my back, I realized that I was riding for me, I was riding at my own pace and I was really enjoying the freedom of a bike that didn’t have a computer on it. You have no idea how fast or slow you’re going, no idea what time it is, no idea how far you’ve really gone or how far you have left to go. By the time I got to work I felt 100% different than I did this morning when I woke up. I felt tired, but satisfied and happy. It’s nice to go back to the old roots of the bicycle, to ride for you, not for training, not for a race, not for a long ride but just to be on the bike.