Chad Smith

Got a bike, a Raleigh Technium 420 (ironically), about a week ago. Since the above photograph was taken brakes have been installed. Now I need a helmet. I don’t want to go out riding a fixed-gear down A1A. There are worse ways, sure, but no thanks.

In any event, I haven’t felt this attached to a bike since the 5th grade, when I had a Robinson Rebel. In those days, bikes were independence. In the summertime we would ride all over town, sometimes aimlessly or sometimes to a friend’s house, just because we could. Needless to say, that changed in high school, when the first of the gang got a car. Also needless to say, I don’t have that kind of energy anymore, not to mention that I now start dripping sweat in the time it takes to walk from my front door to my car.

But my goal is to be able to get the point where I can saddle up (that’s what the commentators said during the Tour de France) and ride for hours. Either way, I’m still not inspired by Lance Armstrong. Take that, America.