Demonstrating a fine sense of timing, I bought a folding bike over the weekend. It was a bit of an impulse buy – Katherine is preparing for a move to California, and hopes to cycle to work, so when she bought a Lite Ride bike, so did I. The local weather gods promptly delivered searing temperatures – 34 and 35°C over the past couple of days. In the back garden with no wind it was even higher, up to 38°C in the shade, and under the hammerstrike of the sun, an incredible 45.3°C! That is no weather for old men, on bikes or shank’s mare.
Assembly of the bikes was a chore – I did it in the garage, with the sun for light, and only afterward gave a thought to the possibility that I might perhaps just maybe have considered thinking about building the damn things in my hallway, where it’s both light and cool. I waited until this evening for the temperatures to drop into the mid-twenties before riding around the block. Less than a kilometre, but I was huffing, puffing, and, er, glowing, when I got back to the house. It’s going to be a lonnng summer getting even marginally back in shape.
The bikes fold down to the point where they can be tossed in the back of a car, so I’m taking one along with me when I go to work. I’m hoping to ride at lunch time whenever the temperatures are reasonable. I’m also hoping that a little exercise will slow the progress of my diabetes and lymphedema, so any well-wishers out there may wish me luck [Evil lurkers will of course continue to send spam and comment-spam].
