Slowly Getting Out Again - On Two Wheels

Yesterday, Sam and I went on a brief, albeit it exhausting bike ride. After being cooped up over the last couple of days, trying to force myself to rest (everyone keeps telling me this is what I need, but I truly believe that being still is just making my body parts atrophy - though I realize that isn't possible after only a couple days), I wanted out - desperately. Sam suggested lunch, and since my meds have made me oddly hungry over the last several days, I was all for it. I must say, I think I take my health entirely for granted most days because our 1/2 mile bike ride to the destination - yes, you read that correctly - one half mile - nearly killed me.

Upon our return home, Sam said he wanted to get a kickstand for his city bike. After my stating that the bike shops in town are all closed on Sunday, Sam mentioned that the sporting goods stores are open, which I knew immediately meant another ride. I sat down on the steps to rest. "I just need to breathe for a second," came pouring out of my mouth. It sounds crazy, but I literally couldn't breathe after such a short ride. I started thinking about the overpass I'd need to climb, the hill to get back home, and I wasn't entirely thrilled with the prospect. However, I was enjoying being out, so I said that if it got to be too much, I'd just wait until he made it back to wherever I gave out.

Surprisingly, I made it the entire distance (and by entire, I mean slightly over 3 miles, roundtrip). You'd have thought I'd just rode a century the way I was gasping for air, but honestly, I think it was completely worth it. Being outside, in fresh air, is simply irreplaceable, not to mention, I wanted to try out the new ride (yes, another bike - story to follow in another post).

As for the kickstand we needed to obtain, the Soma that I had thought I was going to sell just wasn't getting any {reasonable} offers, and since I really didn't want to give it away (my comment was that I'd rather let it gather dust, or donate it to someone in need, than sell it for a mere pittance), Sam said that maybe he could ride it as his city bike. I thought it was perfect because then it would get used, and because we had everything except tires for it, the build was easy (at least in the respect that we didn't need to buy parts for it). The only thing missing was a kickstand, which I believe to be essential for something one intends to ride around town, running errands, etc.

Pre-kickstand sitting outside

As you can see, it's still in need of some bar tape, which we also have sitting here - it just needs to be put on, but we wanted to make sure that the handlebars/set up are going to work before wrapping it all up. While even Sam admits that the frame is small to ride, he thinks it will work for the trips that are just around town. I promise that next time I'll take some better photos, but it truly is a great looking frame. It's currently set up as a single speed (it's oddly set up as a single speed too, as we're using a double crank, that just isn't used), but it seems as though it's going to do what it needs to do. It's going to get used, and I don't feel like we're losing money on something that wasn't even used.

So, while I got to test out my lungs a bit, Sam's Soma was tinkered with to get it to a good place. While we both may need a bit more tweaking, I think we are both going to be just fine.