well here i am in my early 40’s and i am the proud owner of seven bikes. we have a “two car” garage and my wife uses her half for her vehicle, and i use my half for my bikes.  my poor car has to withstand the elements year round in order to accommodate my bike family. if only i had a bigger garage. it’s not like just have 7 bikes and ride only one or two; i ride 6 of them, and one is kind of out of commission right now.

bike #1

one is a 1993 white diamond back with an internal 5 speed hub, and midge drop bars. it’s a very distinctive bike and i get compliments on it all the time.

bike #2

a 1979 girls azuki 10speed that i bought off of craigs list. it’s no longer a ten speed, and it is now spring green with an internal 3 speed hub and a black basket in front [i will have pictures on this site soon].

bike #3

1982 bianchi san remo [birthday bike]. i’ve had the bianchi for years, and this year after my trip up to the rocky mountain park, i decided that the components were not suited for long tours. they were just too old, and loose. two weeks ago i completed the renovation and this has to be the best bike i’ve ever owned.

bike #4

old raleigh 10 speed. i don’t know much about this bike except that it was given to me by a coworker. i’m just starting to renovate this bike, but it may take a while because i don’t want to spend any money right now.

bike #5

2000 schwinn moab. this was my racing bike for a few years, and now it is a single speed. this bike was so awesome, especially when i had the crossmax tubless wheels and full XTR components. currently it has a worn shock, that i am trying to replace.

bike #6

2001 schwinn peloton. i got this bike when i was mountain bike racing and i wanted to have a bike the i could train on the roads with. i also used it to commute to boulder when i worked there.

bike #7

2007 gary fisher single speed 29’r. this was probably my mid-life crisis bike. this is such a cool bike however. it took me a while to learn to climb technical stuff with it but now that i am used to it, i can go anywhere.

so recently the wife has been pressuring me to sell one of my bikes, and i kind of feel that i have too many as well. i was going to sell my girls bike, but then i just can’t do it. i put a lot of thought and work into that bike, and it looks so beautiful. i decided that i would sell my non-refurbished bikes. either the peloton or the gary fisher.

i’ve been mountain bike riding with this guy from work, and loaning him my gary fisher. he really liked it and i offered to sell it to him for a reasonable price. he was really excited about it. i told my wife that someone wanted to buy one of my bikes and she was really excited about that. unfortunately i was not happy about it. i thought about all the good times i had on the bike, how cool it looks, how excited i was when i bought it….. i just couldn’t do it. i lost sleep over loosing my bike. i’m sure my bike would have gone to a good home and all that, but i just couldn’t bring myself to selling it. i apologized to my friend, he was a little disappointed, but he understood. i’ve been so happy ever since.

the moral of the story? i guess it would have to be something like: if you can provide a good home for something…. keep it.

it seems that nothing is quite working out these days. my life has been turned upside down because of the demands of my job. i am struggling to keep my life as normal as i can, but riding my bike has taken a back seat….until this past weekend. it’s not like i finally looked in the mirror and saw my fat ass or anything. instead, i filled up my car with gas, and almost went into shock when i saw the pump roll over 40 dollars. by the way i drive a honda civic that has an 11 gallon tank and gets about 35 mph. i can’t believe that it is now cheaper for me to have the oil changed on my car than it is to fill it up. i don’t know how people with less fuel efficient cars do it…..

here in colorado, companies are required to pay a certain amount for miles driven while doing work related activities in your car. this doesn’t include driving to and from work [but it should]. it only includes things like driving to and from the airport on a business trip, or driving to a meeting in another city or whatever. the state reimbursement rate is now up to 51 cents per mile. this means that it now cost someone 51 cents a mile to drive their car. my drive to work is 17 miles one way, so each day i should get reimbursed about $17.34. i don’t get anything, so it ends up coming out of my pocket. i’ve been working at least 6 days a week, that’s over 100 dollars a week, or 400 a month! no wonder this family has no money. i can not drive any more…. that’s it. i can’t afford it. that’s not even counting my wife and my son’s driving.

i have all kinds of excuses to not ride today, but i’m just going to do it anyway.

have a nice day.