March 2024
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Workouts That Burn

Ceçi n’est pas un bike blog.

Let me tell you about the gears on my bike.

There are three of them… technically. 

One gear I never use, because it would take a baby ox using all of its weight to move the pedals. The second gear I use 95% of the time. The third gear I use on hills and it’s always an exciting mystery how that will go. Will the bike shift after I’ve already crested the hill and have turned my legs to jelly? Will the bike shift with a disconcerting “thunk” before I’ve even reached the hill? Or will the bike gods shine on me and allow my bike to shift just when I need it to?

Let me tell you, it’s usually a mixture of thunks and jelly legs.

The bike gods really hate me.

Bastards.

Why do I continue to ride a bike that treats me so badly? Because, just like a man who done me wrong, I’m convinced that it can change. Spontaneously. With no intervention on my part.

Also, my ride to work, jelly legs and all, is much more pleasant than taking the bus. Faster, too.

I think that says more about the bus than it does about my bike.

Why haven’t I had my bike fixed? I’m lazy. Not lazy enough to stop biking, just lazy enough to actually take my bike in to the shop and have it looked at by an honest to goodness bike fixing professional.

Plus, I can justify the difficulty with my ride as being a little extra exercise. Sweat-drenched exercise, but exercise nonetheless. 

I might actually buy myself a new bike. I’d like to get a folding one, so that I can still bike to work on days where I have plans afterwards. I’d be able to put my little folding bike in a bag and drag it on the T with me, or throw it in the trunk of Kristian’s car. Theoretically, it would pay for itself…. one bus ride at a time. At $1.25 a ride, it would have to allow me to bike instead of bus about 300-500 times…. but at that point it would have paid for itself. 

An el cheapo one would have the advantage of being cheap. It would also have the disadvantage of me being constantly terrified that my bike was going to fold in on itself while I was riding it. I have a feeling that would put a major damper on my day.

At any rate, I plan to continue biking to work as often as I can and reaping the side benefit of burning somewhere along the lines of an extra 500 calories a day.

More… if I’m in baby ox gear.

1 comment to Workouts That Burn

  • adinar

    The good news is – those jelly legs will eventually turn into toned calves/quads of steel. 🙂 Trust me, jelly legs today, baby ox legs to come.

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