Day 20 of 30: Blasts From the Past

If you've been a longtime reader of this blog, or even a longtime friend of mine, you may remember my old, old, old bike Angel that first helped me fall in love with biking when I started this blog back in January of 2015:

You may also be interested to know that I'd once decided to abandon her in February of 2016, several months after I'd experienced a horrific facial injury whilst riding her. One of my family's faults is that we tend to hoard things, so giving her to my Dad ensured that I'd most certainly see her again in my future.

At some point, he got her back into working condition, and one random visit over this past Winter (ya know, before we weren't allowed to go anywhere), I decided to bring her back into my stable. Last night after dinner, I decided to take the old girl for a spin.

It was more nostalgic than I thought it would be. She's still a hunk of junk and really needs a lot of work to be considered riding at optimal capacity, but after only a few short minutes aboard, I started to remember her little quirks that for whatever reason I found endearing. If you'll indulge me...

There's a tiny notch on her left hand brake that I still can't explain, but it looks like it was melted:

Don't bother pointing out the rust and aging. Most of the parts are original, which in itself is a minor miracle. Speaking of aging, wear and tear on the handlebars and frame from where I used to hold my bike lock:

And of course, the fold-able pedals that can only be pedaled on one side:

I've replaced those screws multiple times and frequently had issues making sure my foot was pedaling on the correct side. Still, I'll refuse to change out these quirky pedals until they're completely broken because they're just so darn unique.

In the weirdest of all coincidences, I encountered another bike from my past on my after dinner ride:

OK, not technically from my past, but still, it's a bike I'd previously known: Faith's Schwinn Whisper that we'd traded in almost a year ago for a newer, much more grown up bike. I had to stop and take a pic even though I knew there was no way it was her exact bike. The guy living there came out and told me I could have it. Ha...

So is this a sign? I'm not sure. In any case, it was a pretty intriguing trip down memory lane.

Earlier in the day, my girlfriend and I did something a little less intriguing but still cool. We modeled a couple of her homemade masks as we did some grocery shopping:

I had to throw that in there because she's been working so damn hard on these things for more than a week and it's great to finally see the finished products ready to go. I'm gonna try to convince her to make some more for me/us (with my help) out of my old t-shirts and other random fabrics I have laying around here.

All in all, it was a pretty rewarding day 19 of 30 Days of Biking. Day 20 begins the final full week of this month. I wish you all the best of Mondays, and please be safe and healthy.


30DoB Mileage Counter: 196.6