What I like about the bike.

What I like about the bike.

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Here I sit trying to get my blog on, anticipating our Portugal tour, watching Le Tour and pondering why and what it is I love about cycling. I have cycled my entire life. To this day I still simply enjoy Tooling around on my bicycle with nowhere in particular to go. It makes me feel as though I am still a kid, all the time in the world, a smile on my face.

Not a serious cyclist, I don’t compete, don’t train and rarely go on any sort of group ride, but, I ride every day, mostly as a commuter and the fitness ride every other day or so. I have always commuted, to school as a kid, to work and my daily errands as an adult. Commuting greatly determines where I choose to live, which for my wife and I is Salida Co.

Terri and I each ride custom 29er single speeds. Mine a Don McLung #5 he is a local legend and an icon of the sport. My wife’s main ride is a titanium Black Sheep that was made for a friend of mine who simply out grew it. Our ride, the one we ride together, the one we tour on is also a custom titanium tandem 29er with sns couplers made by James the owner of Black Sheep. We bought that bike with the profits from our first Spec Strawbale home we built over 10 years ago. Finally, to round out our fleet we have a Surly cross bike. That bike is my work bike whose sole purpose is to haul an 8ft Bikes at Work trailer, the equivalent of a pickup truck for a committed cycling commuter, and to compliment we also use a Bob Trailer for the daily errands and for the long tours on the tandem.

So…...what is it I love about cycling. Simplicity, purity, the most efficient form of transportation ever invented, cause I’m lazy, it’s easier than walking and by using for the daily chores takes care of the daily exercise. Perfection in its simplest form.