Bike Dilema

The weather! Gorgeous isn’t it? This weekend was so beautiful. No jacket needed. I had meant to drop my bike off Saturday morning at the local bike shop to get it fixed up. Let me clarify, it’s not my bike (my bros but think he forgot about it) and it needs an overhaul. The tires are always flat and I discovered this really makes a difference, especially for little ol’ me. Last summer I was commuting by riding from my place to the nearby subway station and it was really nice, besides being the slowest person on the path – being passed even by the mothers pushing the baby carriages. Although, I do have to admit, that I stopped after I was in Sweden. Dad and I took the hotel’s tourist bikes for a ride one morning and although they were these super heavy bikes (I could barely lift it over the curb) I couldn’t believe how easy it was to ride. It was like I was floating on air. I realized then, my bike is junk.
Last night, I left work right on time. Right when everyone else was heading home – it was crowded. It took me almost an hour and a half! But I did catch a little of the daylight. And this morning I went in to work on the late side, enjoyed the beautiful sun, and it only took 30 minutes total! On my bus ride to the subway station I was thinking, “it’s so nice out, it would be even nicer to enjoy it on the bike. This would be perfect weather for riding too – not too hot and not too cold. I really wish I had gotten around to getting my bike fixed Saturday.” But then I remind myself that the reason I’m procrastinating about getting the bike fixed is because I think my brother got it off of craigslist years ago for $20 and it’s going to cost a lot of money to get into decent running condition. Did I mention the rust on the chain? And then I’ll be faced with the dilemma – sink money in the bike and fix it or get another bike. Which then opens up the question of which bike to get? There are so many options and they’re not cheap. I was checking out bikes today and was overwhelmed. How do I know if a bike fits? I’m leaning back towards bringing my current bike in to get fixed and at least find out what the damage would be. I’m using the bike to commute, nothing fancy, and it’s locked up with tons of other bikes at the subway station, ready to be stolen. So if it’s more of a junker, the better - more likely it will be waiting for me when I return after work to ride home.





Although, I just found out about the new google map feature. Have you seen this yet? When you go to get directions like you usually do, you can select “bicycle” from the pull down menu (which is usually set as “car” by default). I’m lucky enough to live in an area that has this feature so out of curiosity I put in my address and work’s address and tada – a nice route for me to follow. The funny part is that it says it would take 52 minutes. Riding from my place to the subway station is less than quarter of the entire distance. And that takes me about 20 minutes. According to google it should take me 10 minutes! But who knows, maybe with a better bike… Any suggestions?