The Cynic Says……

Well, as of the end of July 27th, I’m sitting at 863 miles for the month. 137 more to go for 1000 for the month. I’m not totally sure I’ll manage to hit it as I have the 28th, 29th, 30th, 31st left to ride. Four days, 137 miles = 34.25 miles per day provided I don’t take any days off from riding. First off, I’m not sure I want to do 35 miles a day everyday for the next 4 days given that I’ve already been doing about 35 miles a day everyday this week. I mean, on one hand I want to say I’ve done 1k miles in a month but on the other hand I don’t want to kill myself and/or burn myself out. If I do the group ride on Friday like I usually do then that’ll be at least 45 miles so the other days I won’t have to do 35 EVERY day. Problem is, I may end up having to work over a couple of hours so I might not be able to do the group ride. I’m not totally sure at the moment and I guess I’ll cross that bridge when I get there. Also, I don’t work either Fri or Sat so making myself do 35 miles when I could be sitting at home slamming shots of jager and listening to loud music is a chore in and of itself. Either way, 1000 miles or not, I’ve enjoyed this month probably more than any other month of riding that I can remember. 1369 miles on the bike so far (including most of last month) and I’ve had 1 flat tire, a creak in the bottom bracket (needed pulled and lubed/loctited), a sticky pawl in the rear freehub (pulled apart and re-lubed) and one wheel truing that wasn’t entirely necessary but I had done because I’m anal like that. Overall, I can’t say I’m displeased given how much rain I rode in during the month of June. I’m still looking at getting another bike to use as a commuter with fenders, rack and panniers. Riding my road bike as a commuter is a lot like driving a Porsche to and from work and to get groceries…. lots of fun, but hardly practical.

Speaking of being a bicycle commuter, I must say I really enjoy people’s reactions when I tell them that I don’t own a car and commute via bicycle. Apparently it comes as a complete shock to most people. So much of a shock that people think I’m fucking with them when I tell them such. If I had a dollar for everytime someone responded with “you’re shitting me/fucking with me” I’d be a pretty rich motherfucker right about now. I guess people are so used to owning a car and it’s become so much of a social expectation that you own a car that when someone “goes against the grain” it comes as quite the shock. People also feel the need to tell me that I “need a car”. To which I respond “why?” I mean, I can do everything that I need to do on a bicycle just fine. A car would provide virtually no advantage over my bicycles. Well ok, it would get me places faster and I’d be able to take girls out on dates (read: drive them around so they can look pretty in the passenger seat of their boyfriend’s nice car… something I could give a shit less about). When I get a rack & panniers I’ll be able to haul stuff (groceries, etc.) around just as well as I would if I had a car. People ask what I do when it rains. Well, I ride! duh… Last I remember, humans don’t melt or suffer any ill effects from getting wet. What do I do when it gets cold? Bundle up and ride. Big deal, I’m cold for 15 minutes then my body starts generating heat and I’m sweating by the time I get home. We don’t really get snow here, so that’s not much of an issue. However, a bicycle actually gets around better than a car does in really wicked weather conditions, provided it’s equipped with the right tires (and probably fenders, too). Ok, so maybe I’m certifiably insane…. who cares? I enjoy the shit out of bicycle commuting and I don’t see why it’s such a big deal to people that I don’t own a car. I don’t go around telling people who drive cars that they should give up their cars and start bicycling! Thus, people who own cars shouldn’t waste their breath telling me that I need to get a car. I’ll keep my $5000 a year and spend it on other stuff that actually makes me happy rather than just pissing it away keeping a 3000lb hunk of metal running. I’ll continue to combine my daily exercise with my daily transportation instead of burning $30 a month for a stupid fucking fitness club membership. Thanks, but no thanks… Enjoy your cars and I’ll enjoy my bike. When we’re 40, we’ll see who has the beer gut and numerous health problems.