Cycling

Some of you may know that I have taken cycling pretty seriously over the last year or so. I have really enjoyed the exercise, being outside, and the simplicity of man and machine. For me it is an activity that truly pits you against yourself. The wind, the grade of the road and your skill are really the only thing that can effect your ride. This keeps it challenging and even my commuting was a race against my best time.

My ride was a 2001 Specialized Allez Comp, and while it was aluminum, it was fairly light and was a great starter bike. I logged 3700 miles on the bike in ten months, and enjoyed every bit of it.

Until January 5th. While riding home from work (and making record time) I was run into by a driver who claimed to not see me. If you have seen any pictures from my sisters blog, you know the result, but to summarize: The bike was broken into two separate pieces and I was kept in one piece, but was pretty beat up and needed stitches. Fortunately nothing was broken, and four weeks of physical therapy have cleared up much of my lingering pain.

The good news is, I replaced my bike and have been riding again. I am no where near my level of fitness from before the accident (80 mile rides for fun), but I am trying to get up to speed as quickly as I can. The goal is to be in condition to ride the Assault on Mount Mitchell in May. It will be a lot of work, and a lot of fun, but I foresee at least making it to the top.

Here is a picture of the old bike after the accident:



Here is a picture of the new bike: