Ya gotta have friends, as the song goes.A little less than two weeks ago when my bike was stolen out of the locked and well-secured garage of my apartment building, I figured I had done all the riding I was going to do until I bought another in the spring. I'm saddled with medical bills right now, and limited in the number of even worthwhile expenditures I can make.
Anyway, it's going to be a long, tough haul until spring. Another La Niña winter is nearly at the door. Not much opportunity for riding when there's two feet of snow on the ground.
But yesterday, when I told my tale of woe to a group of lovely and sympathetic yoginis while in a training session for a Children's Hospital/yoga therapy study we all hope to take part in, one of them, a gal I went through teacher training with, told me her husband had a bike he was looking to get rid of. He bought it three years ago, and it's been gathering dust in the garage ever since.
Of course, I offered to buy it. "You can have it," she says. "Really, we'd just like to get rid of it and free up the space."
So today I took delivery on a brand-new, virtually unused Magna brand mountain bike, very similar in design and function to my lost Schwinn. I'd never heard of the maker before, but my apartment manager saw it and assures me it's a very well-reputed brand of off-road machines. And it certainly seems solid and well made.
The tires are down right now because it's been sitting for a long time, but they don't appear to be rotted, and tomorrow I'll pump some air into them with a compressor, and we'll saddle up and ride.
It's amazing sometimes what sympatico friends and serendipity can do for you.
2 comments:
It's good to hear about that good development and that you can resume riding. One practice that people do to thwart thieves is to store their bicycles inside the house.
It bothers me when bad actors get away with making society more miserable by stealing stuff.
You know, theft is really depressing -- that was my take-away feeling on the incident.
But then generosity is inspiring, and having real friends who are concerned with each other's well-being renews one's faith.
I rode the new vehicle yesterday, and it's sweet. It showed me I really need the exercise of a good cardio workout every day. I'm going to have to come up with a plan for the winter, which is going to be long and tough. Maybe I'll join a gym.
DB
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