Four years ago last week, this blog was born. I can't believe it's been that long; in some ways, I can't believe it's been that short, too. I mean, think about where you were four years ago...
I didn't celebrate the anniversary with anything major, but I did pause just now to think back on a couple things. When I wrote my first post, I'd been living and working in Philadelphia for barely a year. I'd been working at Wash Cycle Laundry for less than three months. Wow.
True to what I wrote that day, there have been plenty of ups, downs, and straight up oddities in those four years, and as you can probably imagine, the blog has evolved into its own thing. In fact, it's still evolving, and I'm not quite sure where it's going to go exactly, but that's part of the fun. I'll check back in with you in four years to let you know how it went (ha!).
One thing I didn't have four years ago was my everyday bike, The Bike With No Name, seen here today on a not-so-typical 60° February afternoon ride:
He's coming up on a third birthday pretty soon, and he's seen quite a bit of mileage in those three years (the understatement of all understatements). I've been slowly working through my "offseason" maintenance to-do's, and he's finally getting dropped off for his much-needed birthday present tune-up tomorrow! Believe it or not, that will only be the second such time I've had this guy in for a full tune. What a trooper.
I made this situation a bit complicated because I decided to get the backup bike tuned up first, which I'll be picking up tomorrow as well:
Remember her? That's the 'ol She Beast, who's been sidelined since last Summer due to an unfortunate injury to her front axle. Owing mostly to not absolutely needing to call her into action, I let the poor girl collect dust in the basement. However, aside from not having a working front tire, there wasn't much else wrong with her:
Still, letting a bike sit for any length of time allows dirt and dust to accumulate, so I figured it's as good a time as any to get her freshly cleaned and tuned. I mean, she didn't even look purple at some spots:
Why do this before servicing my everyday bike? Well you see, just because it's Winter and just because 60° days are uncommon doesn't mean I'm going to cease riding. I mean, someone has to take the recycling to the dumpster:
I have a little added excitement/motivation because 30 Days of Biking opened registration early this year, and that's a little less than two months away. Better to have all my bikes in working order ahead of schedule, and start the next four years off on the right pedal. Right? Right.
As always, thanks for riding along after all these miles, and here's to many more. If you haven't started already, get your bikes in shape for Spring. It'll be here faster than you think...
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