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I Got A Bike!

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A silver bicyle with buffalo charger branding against a brick wall

I decided to by a bicycle the other day. I got one because I hate driving and given the state of the planet, burning calories is better than burning fuel. I’d walk but given how this suburb is designed, that takes longer than it should. The bike I got was the 6 speed Buffalo Bicycle. It’s mostly oriented as an economic development thing, but I got this because:

  1. It can hold my weight (though the bike is really heavy),
  2. It’s relativley cheap (at $220), and
  3. It has a good support network with lots of spare parts.

The bike itself comes with useful tools like a lock, pump and a wrench that isn’t ergonomic at all.

A bike pump, lock and two tools

Once I got the bike, I wanted to take it on a 5km ride and it quickly became apparent how unfit I was. Not unfit as in “I’m sweating buckets”—unfit as in “I’ve run out of energy in less than half a kilometer”. It’s that bad. How can I think of replacing a car for short trips when I get overexerted before I even turn around the block? When I last cycled about a decade ago, I had so much energy to cycle. I was still big, but I’d easily manage long trips with little sweat. Now that’s impossible.

I’m hoping to fix this in a few ways, namely by:

  1. learning how to set up a bike,
  2. understand how gears work,
  3. building my way up to longer distances and
  4. losing weight/getting fitter.

The biggest trip I was planning to do is getting to the gym. That’s because I find it silly that people drive to the gym just to ride a standing bike. Can’t you cycle there instead and work on something else?

Anyways, I’m sad that this isn’t working out so far. I do hope to reach the point in which I would be able to replace driving with cycling.