Jay on wheels

I used to be an avid bicycle commuter.  That is, I rode my bike to high school every day, refused to get a driver’s license, and told everyone that cars are evil.

I worked in a bicycle shop for a couple years.  It was a miserable business.  I learned a lot about what to in the retail business by seeing that place do it wrong. 

I also got to purchase a bicycle near cost.  I bought a Bridgestone MB2.  Yeah, that’s the tire company.  Oddly, Google can’t find an official site for this line of bikes.  The thing that made them special is that they would mix-and-match the line of parts used.  Compared to a similarly priced bike, they’d use lesser crankarms, but better derailleur.  The latter affects the quality of the ride more, so you end up with a better bike for the price.

A few months after I bought the bike, I was hit by a car.  I was riding home at night, after doing research at the library for a paper on Asimov Robots.  I broke the car’s headlight with leg, slid up the hood, spider-cracked the windshield with my back, slid off (scraping my back on the way), and landed elbow-first on the pavement.  From beginning to end I traveled about 100ft.  No broken bones, but plenty of pain for a few weeks.  The bike was totaled, and replaced with the next model year.

It’s 12 years later and I just started going to a chiropractor for the first time.  I wish I had gone then, maybe I would be in better condition.  Better late than never.

It was actually the second time I got hit by a car while bicycling.  The first time I was riding in a bike lane, and a car turned into a 7-Eleven as I rode by.  I was fine, as was the bike.

When I went to college, I replaced bicycling with smoking & drinking.  On the one hand, I had a lot more fun.  On the other hand, I had a harder time doing fun.

After a decade of decadence, I’m working on taking better care of myself.  That includes getting back on the bike.  It feels good to come back to something so familiar.