In Which I Ride 3 Bikes in 3 Days

As you know, I fixed Francis, and used my main bike for some rides Saturday with grandchildren. That was nice.

Day 1: Friday--Francis before the first ride in several months.

Sunday, after church, turned into a fairly busy work day, but I did take time to take out the Fancy Bike. Jon left it here while he is in Portugal—I assume he’s planning to ride it this summer when he comes back for RAGBRAI.

Anyway, just as last time it was here for an extended period, I didn’t want it to just sit in the garage for months with no use—that’s just inviting rust—and it was a nice day Sunday, so why not? I swapped out Jon’s pedals for a pair I saved from a bike we took to the dump, pumped up the tires, lubed the chain and away I went.

Day 2: Sunday--Fancy Bike. No kickstand, don't you know.

I only rode for 2 hours, but I went for more than 20 miles. And I didn’t push it hard—I want to be pretty careful with this bike, which isn’t used to this much weight—but that road bike is fast.

Monday there was a chance for rain, which completely ruled out Fancy Bike. I don’t really think I’ll use that one for any commutes anyway—I don’t want to store it on campus, and if the weather is nice enough to ride Fancy Bike, Francis may be more tempting for the commute just due to basket capacity.

So Monday I rode the beast. And due to a newspaper cycle, didn’t come home until 3 a.m. Tuesday. There had been some rain in the air, but I was lucky and stayed dry. I drove Tuesday and today due to projected rain (and extreme exhaustion on Tuesday), but I might as well have ridden.

Day 3: Monday--The Beast is ready to roll (and has some new lights, too, which came in handy at 3 a.m.).

Anyway, sometime this week, maybe Thursday, maybe Friday, I should ride Francis to work for the first time. And if the weather looks good, I’ll use Francis for the first MMU bike club ride on Sunday.

For most of my biking life, I’ve only had one cycle available. It’s just interesting to me that when I have three, I find reasons to ride all three on three consecutive days.