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From: NFN Smith <worldoff9908@gmail.com>
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.tech
Subject: Getting back out on the bike again
Date: Mon, 26 May 2025 09:45:59 -0700
Organization: A noiseless patient Spider
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After a far-too long layoff, I'm working on getting back out on my bike 
again.  I hate the process of getting restarted.

When I was last riding (about 18 months ago), I was riding as well as I 
had been doing in several years.  Then came equipment issues (especially 
problems with flat tires), winter, scheduling conflicts, sickness 
(including a bout with COVID, and more recently a viral infection), 
general laziness, winter again, and more laziness. Now I get to start 
again with a baseline of more or less zero, including working off a 
number of accumulated pounds, even if not quite as many as I had feared.

Next step... get out bike, and check condition.

Tires flat, no surprise there.  Drive train in good shape -- I replaced 
chain and cassette last spring. Tool bag -- missing spare tube, son 
"borrowed". Handlebar tape needs rewrap -- I have a couple of rolls, but 
haven't gotten around to installing. Speedometer -- battery totally 
dead, meaning I've lost all the accumulated mileage (and forgotten the 
numbers) and I have to remember to make sure I correctly reset for my 
wheel/tire size when I replace the battery. Lights seem to be OK, but I 
don't really need them right now.  Water bottles -- ugh! Need to get 
those completely cleaned out, but fortunately, I was able to swap in a 
fresh set.

Actually, I like the summer heat, and am kind of annoyed that I missed 
most of April and May, although it will be close to October before I 
have to get out the arm warmers for early morning rides.

Clothing seems to be all OK, and all in the expected storage places.

And of course, the hardest part is getting shorts on and actually 
getting out onto the street.

I got out this morning, and after a little less than a mile, I felt the 
rear tire softening. I don't know if there's a new puncture there, or 
just one that I forgot to fix.

I pumped up the tire and headed back for home. I got less than 2 miles 
on this ride, not even enough to get warmed up.  In my current state of 
fitness, I had planned to go out only about 30 or 40 minutes. Big 
disappointment.

Thus, off to the bike shop for a couple of new tubes and a patch kit 
(our dry air means that a tube of glue is generally usable only once 
before it all dries out and evaporates).

Of course, that doesn't count all the un-fun rides that will be 
necessary to build up my fitness again.  The last time I went through 
this, it was close to 500 miles before I started feeling decent again, 
and with my riding schedule, that's going to take a couple of months to 
get to, even if I can get to getting out 3 or 4 times per week.

Whine....

Did I mention that I hate getting restarted after a long layoff?

Smith