First time on a bicycle in over twenty years...

[tstone]

I've only ridden one othe bicycle, back in my early teen years. It was a red Schwinn Stingray, a great kid's bike. Mine was a red one, while my brother's was yellow. When we moved to Texarkana, my red one was stolen one day while parked outside the mall, so me and my brother shared the yellow one, which was with us for years. But once I entered the car age, sadly, the bike became a forgotten friend.

Now, I'm in Germany. Western Europe, especially Germany, is very pedestrian and bike friendly. And I decided, now in my last year (should have done it sooner), to invest in a bike. Bought a NICE Diamondback for around 300 US. I test rode it around the PX. And what they say is true. Riding a bike is like...riding a bike. A little wobbly at first, but after being off a bike for over twenty years, it all was back. And it felt GREAT!

And a part of me remembered what it was like being a kid on that Stingray again, even though the DB is a "serious" bike.

Gonna do some trekkin' in my remaining time.

And I'll take pictures.

Just got to finish getting my computer fixed...

[kah]

It's easily been 13 years (except one painful occasion) since I rode a bike. I don't really remember enjoying it all that much. :Dunno: What I miss is walking everywhere. I'd walk 10 miles to get somewhere without a second thought. Now I have neither the time, nor the energy to do so. Besides, my kid needs too much crap for that.

Have some good times on that bike, T. :) Pedal your ass off.

[tstone]

They say in the event of the zombie apocalypse, a bike may be the ideal vehicle. It doesn't need gas, maintenance is not nearly as difficult, it doesn't eat, it doesn't get sick, can slip through areas that would stymie a car, and can't be spooked like a horse. You also get exercise. Strengthening and conditioning, very important...

[kah]

The same is true of walking. I told my bf the other day, if zombies attacked, I could walk 50 miles a day if had to. (He looked at me like I was insane.) (Then I asked him if I should catalog my Zombie Survival Guide as fiction or nonfiction. He rolled his eyes at me. :lol:) Maybe 30 carrying the kid and supplies. I easily put on 10 miles a night at work, and that's all done within the confines of the bar and running back to the kitchen.

[tstone]

Your brother needs to read up on the history of the infantry. 50 miles is a good forced march. Not the longest ever taken, either. You'd have grunts do those, get to the end, and have to get into the fighting almost immedialy.

Cowboy up...

:D

[kah]

He gave me the "you're wacked" look because I said "zombies", not the 50 miles. He just said I couldn't keep up that pace over the course of several days.

I don't have a brother. Hell, I don't even have a brotha.

[tstone]

My bad, yer boyfriend. Mistook the BF.

D'oh!

But that is true, especially if you were carrying large amounts of gear, over several days, you would need rest.

I know the 7th ID light infantry units, once a year, as an exercsze, would road march with full combat loads to Ft Hunter-Ligget, engage in a month's maneuvers there, and would chopper back to post.

After that, they were absolutely drained.

[kah]

I know. I'm tough, though. Sadly, I'd have to leave the bf behind after the first day or so. :Smirk:

[Outsydr]

Why wait? :Smirk:

[kah]

I need a good excuse. If he can't keep up on the march north to escape the zombie invasion, I can't feel any guilt.

[spammityspam]

You could always feed him to the zombies.

Embarrassing truth: I never learned to ride a bike. I'm a big walker, though, especially since coming to college. In the grand tradition of Texas cities, Austin had so much open land around that it kind of sprawled all through it, the campus included, and it's a couple miles easily to get anywhere. Since I still barely trust public transit, I've been stretching my legs that way.