During the blog’s offline era, I took on a new hobby: cycling. I say it’s a new hobby, but it’s really just a return to being a kid again. Let’s go ahead and discuss that before getting on to the titular topic.
I don’t exactly know when or why I decided that I wanted to start riding a bike again. I had tried this a while ago with a clearance bike from Sears many years ago and that turned out to be terrible. I had a road bike many years before that and never really liked it. I hadn’t ridden in any appreciable amount for maybe 30 years? But I just decided that I wanted to do it again.
And after the road bike dislike and the cheap mountain bike experience, I was sort of lost. What kind of bike do I want? I want the most simple bike you can get. No fancy gears, brakes, or features, just a bike. This is exactly what beach cruiser bikes are, but man, I did not see myself riding one of those. And doing some research, I learned that adult-sized BMX bikes were now a reality. I found my bike.
After removing all the gaudy stickers from it, I rode that bike everywhere. Well, I rode it everywhere that I could drive it so I could ride it. Suburban nonsense, amirite? And that was really good for me. It made me happy. But, like every hobby of mine, it soon becomes not enough. I wanted more. This bike was great for riding the paved trails that were available, but trails leading into the woods kept beckoning me. My tires are road tires and the one time I tried riding in my back yard, I ended up crashing down on my side when the tires just slid out under me. So then what? Upgrade time?
Hell no. You should know me by now. You never get rid of anything. That leads to regret. The answer is another bike. And after research, I chose a gravel bike, which is midway between a mountain bike and a road bike. Not perfect for either, but can do both acceptably. And taking advice from the girl at my local bike shop, I found a deal on FB marketplace for a high-quality gravel bike.
And that was fun, until summer arrived. It’s been a couple months now that I can barely go outside at all, much less consider expending the energy to bike on a trail, paved or god forbid, unpaved. But someday, that’s going to change. And when that happens, I hope to be ready with some additional data collection. I’m talking about a new fitness band.
At lunch today, I wondered when I last had a fitness tracker. And my blog indicates it was a little over six years ago. And Amazon confirms that I had spent a little over $50 on a cheap Chinese fitness tracker. Well, times have changed and that same fitness tracker is now $10 more, but who would want to buy that same model as trackers have advanced a lot in 6 years.
Hmmm. You know, I did consider getting a band when I started biking, but at that time there was a huge tariff scare and when I researched prices, they were all really high. Not that ANYTHING is any better now, but an Amazon price tracker showed that a device with which I would be happy dropped its price nearly 50% in the last month – to a ridiculous $29. I mean, what’s the argument to not pick up one of the highest rated "budget" (I’d still just say cheap) fitness trackers at that price? And that’ll be here tomorrow.
It won’t go completely to waste. Sometimes I do get in a short hike when I can. None of that 8 mile shit right now. This weather is good for maybe 3 miles. And the tracker can still gather some data from that. I’m curious about my sleep, which I feel has kind of sucked lately. And the heart rate and SpO2 and "stress tracker" (?) will be useful at some level.
Rest easy lads, you’ll be on the road again sometime.
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