New Dahon Folding Bicycle

Living here in Chicago many of you do not realize how profound is the desire for spring for us Northerners and to get out of our cabins, out from behind our screens, scarred from bloody battles with software, stupid programs, and other ailing machinery. And while our computer skills grow ever stronger, our behinds grow wide and our muscles flabby. The only machine of mine that has behaved is my 2003 Toyota Corolla. I feared it needed a muffler, but I was wrong. I resisted an impulse this morning to go off to Milwaukee, but then I reflected "What's in Milwaukee?" Unsure I turned south again. What is in Milwaukee indeed, a city that looks even tireder and dirtier than mine in spite of better beer and better baseball.

So, with some extra money that had come my way I bought a folding bicycle which folds and retracts until it is only a bundle of wheels and gears. My first real bike ride of the season was this morning. Boy was that depressing. Oh well, what did I expect? I haven't done any cycling since last summer and even then only now and then. I stayed in first and second gear mostly and stopped from time to time to catch my breath. The wages of sedentery darkness is this. And I had a stationary bike at home. No excuse.

And though it is sunny it isn't especially warm. It was 19 degrees going up to 35 this afternoon. Dress warmly and remember the wind chill.