Year in Bicycling

This year in bicycling, I wore out.

In January, it snowed enough that the paths weren't safe, so I took the bus and the metro for a month.

With a return to office in March, making pedaling five days a week, like it or not, I began pedaling full time, and I found this exhausting. I soon switched to interleaving metro days with pedaling days. That helped.

We considered an ebike back in May, but with my job highly uncertain, it was cheaper to take the metro. In fact, I could ride the metro for five years, part time, before equaling the cost of an ebike.

I took to riding my 26 inch wheel bike more, because it had an overall less-bumpy ride because of its big tires.

In September, I put the drop bars back onto my road bike, and I've been relearning how to use it. I'm still not convinced on drop bars. The right brifter had troubles, so I replaced them with Microshift brifters. I'm still sorting out that mess. Generally, I'm not using my road bike to reach the metro, and my mountain bike to pedal longer distances.

I may yet go back to handlebars and friction shifters on the road bike. That was a very nice combo. The main thing holding me back is the sunk cost of the new brifters.

I've only ridden into work once with brifters, and this time around, I was better at it, because my core strength is far better than it was years ago. However, my hands don't fully like drop bars.

Year in Life

Some big changes happened this year in life.

This was the final year of high school for the offspring. This was my last spring of waking up, readying the car, and hustling the kid out the door.

This was also the year of shoving the kid out the door and off to school. That made for a big change in the house. It was just the two of us, and it felt like we were newlyweds again. We've done more casual dating and hanging out than we have in a long time.

We lost Squirrel the cat at the end of may, and since then, there's been no replacement pet. That was another huge change. I'm no longer living in reactive fear of the door opening and closing, never knowing what's demands are coming at me. That's one less thing to keep track of.

Jenny lost her job in May, and since then, has been working a volunteer gig to bring her non-profit skills back up. I would appreciate her getting a position that pays, and so would she. That's why we're starting this way, to get her back onto the networks, and get her skills modernized.

In August, my car got stolen for a joyride. We got it back the same day, but repairing the steering column was quite a bit. Thank you, insurance. We now keep my car in the driveway with my wife's car behind it. I also now keep a club on the steering wheel. That won't stop a determined thief, but it will stop a lazy one.

Two nephews, Cole and Corey, got married, one back in May and the other just after this upcoming Christmas.

We spent more time watching films. We've instituted a film night, first on Tuesdays, and now on Thursdays.

I'm reading to my wife more, which helps my reading skills, and she advises me on my novels. It's been working out. We'll tend to also look at puppies and kittens on Reddit.

We finished our Ben Tausing crossword book, and now we're subscribing to his crossword venture to continue the joy. We've been doing Ben crosswords since the City Paper days.

Jen's mom moved from a living in a solo apartment into living in a memory care situation. Adjusting her meds has greatly helped her alertness. We downsized her place and got her moved over. I repainted her art deco end table for her. It looks fabulous.