I've been meaning to get a bicycle for a while. The issue had come to a head as I've got an up and coming trip to the cultural mecca that is Cincinnati, OH.
The friend I'm going to visit has, at my request, procured a bike (with a basket on the handle bars!) for me to borrow so I can explore the city while she's at work. With the trip a month away, I figured it's time to get my ass in shape. Last Saturday, while discussing this with my bandmate, Alex, he tells me he has an extra bike I can borrow and that we are going riding Sunday. This worried me as Alex is a biking fool. The kid bikes everywhere. He can cover 40 to 50 miles in a day with no problem.
I needed to be eased back into this, not baptized by burning and cramping thighs.
On Sunday, we decide to hit the Suncoast Trail. At the trail head, I give the loaner bike a
test ride. Now, I am thankful for the borrowed bike, but this thing is a beater. I'd say it's the equivalent of driving a 1986 Honda Civic today. The gears are a bit sticky and the seat can do some serious damage to the frank and beans if you're not careful; but overall it's a solid workhorse. We hit the trail and after the first few miles, we cross State Road 54 and head into no-man's land, kind-of. To have the Suncoast Parkway on the right juxtaposed with untouched Florida on the left is interesting, to say the least. As you cross over a few creeks, you have nature on one side; on the other only a chain link fence separates you from 70-mph on-coming SUVs. I wonder if the cardio benefits of biking are negated by the exhaust of the expressway…
This article appears in Aug 20-26, 2008.