RIDING MY BIKE

It is a beautiful day here in Colorado. It is 80 degrees so very pleasant.

I decided to take a short bike ride. So, I gathered my water bottle, phone and map of our community and off I went.  

I have an app on my phone called Komoot that is for cyclists. It records my route along with statistics about how much time I was biking, and distance traveled. It was fun.

Now I am not familiar with the hiking/ biking trails around my area so I do not really know where I am going or where I am going to end up. The Dad Clark Trail has long stretches of gravel which I do not really enjoy. I have 4-inch-wide tires that handle that okay though. My limited experiences with biking here have revealed that a number of trails can be very steep and when combined with gravel can be nerve racking.

Dad Clark Trail

Komoot screen

When I was a kid in a small town, I biked all over without any concerns plus it was mostly flat. Where I live now it is fairly hilly and can be filled with traffic plus, I am a bit older.

Having said all that I really like my bike and as I ride more and more now that the weather is nice, I know I will continue to enjoy it.

STORYWORTH

There was a 2 year break it my writing on this blog. The main reason is that I received a great gift on my birthday in January 2021 of a subscription to Storyworth. 

This is a web-based program that proclaims everyone has a story to tell. Every week I received a question chosen by my kids to answer. Questions were like: What was your first job like? What were your parents like growing up? and so on.

I logged into my account and answered the questions as I received them. If I didn't like the question, I could choose another one. After a year my stories were published as a book which I then received. It was so much fun I signed up for another year. I just finished volume 2 and am now waiting for it to be printed.

MY E-BIKE

This is my Lectric XP 2.0 Step-Thru e-bike. It arrived a few days ago on my doorstep all folded up in a box.

 

Like most of us I started out riding bikes when I was a kid. I rode all over town. When I went to college my Schwin 3-speed got me to work across town and to close by shopping. When Cindy and I were first married we took rides around home with child carriers. So, bikes were part of our lives for years.

Later I got a moped to take me to work or out for a ride. I enjoyed that experience for a number of years. Then finally after moving to Denver I gave up my moped since it had to be driven on roads, we live in a very hilly area, traffic is fast, and I was getting too nervous. It was hard to give it up.

When Cindy and I were out for walks along the South Platte river we encountered bikers all the time. It looked like work but fun. We saw older folks on trikes. A few guys in our subdivision talked about their new e-bikes. So that got me thinking about them.  

Well after much thought and talking to my friends who had an e-bike I took the plunge. 

It has been fun.

One problem I encountered early on was that I was uncomfortable riding my bike since I couldn't grip the left handlebar because I've no fingers on my left hand. Some of the places I've ridden have been bumpy causing my left hand to slightly leave the handlebar which is nerve wracking. So, what could I do? Well, I now Velcro my left hand to the bike. I altered a child's mitten by cutting off the thumb and sewing a Velcro patch on it. Then on the handlebar I attach another section of Velcro. It works. I took it for a ride today and my hand stayed attached to the handlebar.

It is outfitted with saddlebags for carrying just about anything, phone holder, mirror, bottle holder, throttle control, and control panel that tells me my power assist level, speed, distance and how much battery I have used. 

Komoot is an app for bikers for my phone which is a gps program that records where I've been as well as providing me with directions to various places. I have been using it to record the few trips I've taken.

Now that the weather is nicer I hope to do a fair amount of riding.