New bicycle gets a lift
Lori Borgman | Monday, Sept 14, 2009
I bought a new bicycle that I can lift as high
as my head.
Not only should your bike be able to carry you
these days, you should be able to carry your bike.
I don’t know if the bike store people thought
I was Lance Armstrong’s mother or what, but every place I looked
at bikes, some guy named Sven would say, “Lift it. Go ahead, pick
up the bike.”
So there I was, acting like I hoist bicycles into
the air all the time, lifting a bike with a front wheel wobbling
and the handle bars knocking me in the head while Sven ran through
a litany of the bicycle’s features, including freewheel cogs, derailleur
control cable, astrophysics and other things I didn’t understand.
“Why yes, this one really is light,” I would say
with the handlebars swinging back and forth whacking me on the right
and then the left side of my skull. “I can see -- WHACK! -- what
you mean – WHACK!”
I started carrying ice packs in my purse to have
handy for when I went into stores and was invited to hoist bikes
into the air.
I couldn’t lift my old bike. I had no desire to
and no reason to. I’d still be riding my old bike, but it was involved
in an unfortunate accident two summers ago involving the husband,
tools and the garage. Let’s just say the bike died in surgery.
The husband tried his best and I tried to be appreciative
of his best, but it’s hard to ride a bike when the front wheel is
off and it makes that awful sound of metal scraping the pavement.
As we do with most major appliances, and our heating and air cooling
systems, we waited to see if the bike would heal itself. When it
did not, and in fact crumbled to the touch, I began looking for
a new bike.
Because I’ve been out of the bike loop for so
long, I found a website to help determine what type of bike would
best suit my needs. The questionnaire asked if I planned on riding:
in mountains, the wilderness, on-road or off-road. I answered that
I would be riding on pavement and added a note that the pavement
should be smooth and wide and close to a hospital.
Another question asked if I was a dirt jumper
and liked to fall down a lot. The only dirt I jump over is on the
kitchen floor and I don’t like to fall down even a little.
The bike I finally purchased has Women Inspired
written on one of the bars. I thought that meant the bike came with
a coffee cup holder and a little lighted mirror for checking mascara,
but it turns out the Women Inspired part has to do with the frame
and the seat. It is Women Inspired in that you can ride it for five
miles and dismount without walking like you just got off a horse.
My Women Inspired bike is also a hybrid. A hybrid
means it is a cross between a street bike and a mountain bike, but
I am also hoping hybrid means it saves energy. Mine.
