My Preciousssss

(From March 2004)

I retrieved my precious bicycle from the shop last night. On my brief test ride, it seemed to be running better than it has since I first got it. Here is a picture:

Specialized HardRock, a few years old. I can finally get back to riding it after about two months without. And I can play with my new bike computer and spreadsheets. W00t! :)

Different folks gravitate toward different sports for different reasons, of course. Once they get there, most folks start falling into whatever categories or groups are existent. With cycling, there are a number of camps, divided roughly into Roadies and Mountain Bikers. There are also people who like both. Me, I just like to cruise on my bike wherever I want, riding rampant over whatever surface will hold me.

Being a geek, I live for my little bike computer that tells me (among other things) how far I go and how fast. The data for each ride, including readings from the thermometer/barometer combo on the wall of the garage, go into a spreadsheet so I can track how well things are going. Eventually, I might get a heartrate monitor to really crank up the fitness progress and tracking.

Why do all this? You certainly don’t have to process data to have a good time on your bicycle, but it’s fun for me and gives me the ability to set and achieve goals for myself. And I get to be a jock and a geek simultaneously, always a dangerous combo. :)