Christmas in July

Yeah, I know it's August, but I'm tardy sometimes with posting things.

For my birthday, the wife finally came through with my Christmas present. Yeah, so only 7 months late. But who's counting?

We've been talking about getting into riding bikes (because we've both loved watching the Tour de France for a decade or more) and kayaking for about two years, and finally we decided to start doing something about it. So the weekend after my birthday, we went and bought my Christmas present. Yeah, go figure.

Don't bother asking me what style and the specs for my bike (but this seems to be it). I have no damn clue. All I know is that it works, it was made by Trek, it's a hybrid (mountain bike and road bike combo), it's comfortable and it's silver. That's about all I got. Luke jokingly claims that this bike has now entered me into a cult of bike riders who end up buying tons of shit that you never thought you would buy. I think he's full of it, but I can see what he means.

I have occasionally found myself looking up some bike shoes (I've got this fear of my shoe laces getting caught in the gears and having my legs mauled), but damnit if they are way too crazy looking. I did have to spring for some of those shorts with the padding in the rear because after about 12 miles my ass was killing me. But have no fear, Kelly, there are no jerseys and no skin-tight outfits for me, but thanks for jumping to that conclusion.

Now, I love this bike. And I love riding it. Our neighborhood has about 8 entry points to a ton of different bike paths that loop all over the city and I love it. I'm not nearly the rider the wife is, however; shit, she blasts up and down hills like she's on Stage 17 of the Tour. Me, I'm huffing and puffing all the way up that hill. Clearly he thrice-weekly spinning classes are giving her a distinct advantage here. That, and I'm now thinking she bought the bikes as punishment because I would have run laps around her in a recent 5k had I not been a chivalrous guy.

So I'm liking the bike. And I'm awaiting 2012 to see what she gets me for this year's birthday.