An Introduction

This isn’t actually the first blog entry, but it’s the first one on the new site, so let’s pretend it’s an introduction, shall we?

There are a lot of blogs about cycling out there (at least, I assume there are a lot of blogs about cycling out there, I really just made that statement up because it sounded good) so why should you read this one?

Um…

Nope, sorry. I haven’t the faintest idea. Here it is anyway, though. If half of my loyal readers follow me from my old site, then I’ll have at least one reader, and, as that's one more than none, I can be content with that.

I’ve been off the bike for a few weeks now due to mechanical failure. Not mechanical failure of the bike, mind you, but of me. Now, lighter by the weight of one missing appendix, I am ready to tear up the road, except for the fact that the incision hasn’t finished healing up yet, a minor point I agree, but one that I think I’ll be taking into consideration for a little while yet.

When I talked to the surgeon and asked him how soon I could ride again, he told me that I could walk as much as I wanted to right now.

Steve says: “Any walk over a quarter mile sucks. That’s why I always carry a spare tube.”

Steve is known as Steve 21 because, when he gets to the front, he rides at 21 mph. It’s like clockwork. I’ve been on rides with Steve where his computer wasn’t working and he’s simply riding at a pace that feels comfortable. I check my own computer and how fast are we going? 21 mph.

A lot of the Seyboros are in various stages of disrepair at the moment, but all of us are getting better. Bobby was hospitalized with an irregular heartbeat. Dave is back on two wheels after an encounter with a car. Steve 21 has finally gotten his shoulder operated on. You may not know any of these people, so how about a little detail about one?

The Story of Steve’s Shoulder

(I am telling this story in my usual fashion, which means that, when I don’t remember something, I simply make stuff up to fill in the blanks. If you already know the story, then you’ll catch any mistakes I make and why are you reading this anyway? If you don’t already know the story, then it shouldn't matter to you which parts are only more or less true. Either way, it’ll work out.)

Steve and some friends were doing a nice ride, and Steve must have been going about 25 mph (a violation of his principles, I know, but a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, after all) when a dog ran out in front of him and pretended to be a speed bump.

Steve hit the dog and his bike stopped. In accordance with laws formulated by Newton lo these many years ago, however, Steve continued moving forward at 25 mph. (As they said for Superman: You will believe a man can fly.)

Unfortunately, what goes up must come down, and, to hear Steve tell it, he went up and came down quite a few times.

“I don’t have any road rash,” he told me a few days after the incident, “But that’s because I didn’t slide. I bounced. Half of my body is one big bruise.”

We like to ride bikes because it’s fun, right?

Well, if you’ve been reading all of this in the hopes of finding out who I am, I don’t suppose you’re much more informed now than you were when you stated reading. Sorry about that. I guess I got distracted.

Generally I would describe myself as a guy who rides bikes. Right now I’m describing myself as a guy who would like to be riding bikes. Once I get back on two wheels I’ll do a few rides to build back the fitness that is surely ebbing away as I sit here typing instead of turning the pedals, and then I have a goal which will indicate to me that I’m back: I’m going to ride Bike Route 40. That’ll give me a bit over a metric century, and, when I can do that, it will make me feel that good form isn’t that far away.

We can all dream, right?

In the meantime, my goal is to pedal around the neighborhood a bit to see how things feel. If your curious, tune in and I'll let you know.

See you on the road.