Alright, wow it has been a long time since I have posted anything on here, like 2 months or somewhere in that area. Wow! Ok, in my defense I have been super busy with everything going on in my life with work, managing some interests of mine (not this one unfortunetly), going on vacation and some small trips, and quite possibly starting to date someone but that is beside the point. I will give it a shot to keep this whole thing going again and try to three to four times a week, give or take. There has been a few things that I have wanted to write on, or at least things that I would want to jumpstart this blog with again. But amidst all of those things, the first one that comes to mind is bicycles and riding.
This summer, I decided that I was going to start riding a bike around my small town, (population 20,000 +) and save money while getting and not to mention that Willmar, MN, has some of the highest gas prices in the state. So not only being “fueled” by the savings and workout, I would save usage on my car and not wear it down with pointless miles being accumulated over the summer. I have ridden my old bike for the past two years before this summer and saved on gas that way too, but not near as much as this year. The first year I rode less than 10 times and last year was probably less than 25 times. The only places that I would go though was to work, which for me is just a little over a mile. This past year I rode OVER 200 MILES at least and saved aproximentally $100 in gas alone this summer, starting from mid april to… well now, and I have no signs of stopping any time soon.
Part of the reason I starting riding so much this year is because I had started thinking about upgrading my transportation earlier this spring. I had an old mountain bike that my brother received when he was in 6th grade! I am 21 now, he is 24, yeah.. So I decided I would go on the Minneapolis/St. Paul craiglist (only 2 hours away for me) and see what I could find. Low and behold, there was a wealth of vintage road bikes that in a good and comfortable price range. I found a Schwinn World Sport for $125 that was 30 years old that was still in very excellent shape. Essentially nothing was wrong with it and everything looked good on it. I go to “the cities” often because I know plenty of people that live there including my brother. So I test rode it, bought it, brought it home, and started riding to work practically the next day. Boom! Just like that I was already saving money.
REPAIR SHOP BRAINSTORMING
Not to long after I had a friend over and he told me that I have to check out his bike. I remember thinking “you’re going to have to check mine out too”. I told him I have a nice one too, and I remember him telling me “no you don’t, not like this one”. It makes me laugh just thinking about it. Anyways he shows me his bike and he has a vintage red Schwinn, kind of like mine. I show him mine and he goes “huh” and he didn’t have the same look on his face anymore ha.
Either way long story short, after working on our bikes and making them all nice and looking at bikes and parts and almost anything there is to know about bikes, we have kind of sort of decided that we would like to open up our own little bike repair shop. It’s out of our houses so nothing to fancy but it’s an excellent way to make money on the side for ourselves. We have both become official bike nerds and get all nerdy when we enter a real bike shop. It can be scary at times. If you are anywhere near the Willmar area reading this (which I highly doubt) I am sure me and my compadre would like to fix up your bike! Contact me here if you’re interested.
I AM NOT HIPSTER FOR DOING THIS
One of my final thoughts for the body of this piece is that this doesn’t make me hipster if I ride around on a bike, please don’t take it that way. You can be a hipster who rides a bike or a “normal everyday person” who rides a bike, biking does not hinge on your personal lifestyle choices. If saving TONS of money from not waisting gas is considered than I am guilty. Even though I may look like that guy in the picture while I’m riding with the lights and the flourescent colors some people have, it’s a safety issue which is a whole other side to the story. If you think you look stupid or too hipster with lights on your bike and whatnot, you haven’t been riding long enough. You will soon figure out how people treat the road.
THE REAL REASON I WROTE THIS PIECE
If you are still reading, awesome! I am impressed especially if you don’t know a lot about bicycles to have made this far, hopefully the interest of biking is keeping you going at this point. It’s been starting to catch on very slowly in the midwest here, but bicycling has become quite a novelty in the midwest, especially Minneapolis/St. Paul. That is probably the reason why MSP was voted the most biked city in the US! But honestly I think it’s just because Minnesotans are starting to get smart about money, or at least a little more. Getting quite a workout while simaltaneously weighing down your wallet/pockets is not necisarilly a bad thing. Minnesota is literally the mother-load for bike trails and they are quite fun for the family and your pals to go exploring on. I personally like it because I am slowly, but surely breaking down the white suburban family driving their white suburban stereotype which is quite previlent in my city. The “I am better than you” culture that we live in taught by parents effects kids growing up only to continue the downward trend of empty materialism. You didn’t think I would get heavy on the heart when talking about bicycles, ME NEITHER. But when I see the amount of people that stare at me in complete shock, both kids and adults alike, for riding my bicycle on the road, it’s only a matter of time before people get used to that fact. Then way down the line, we build bike roads and then we’ve only streamlined the process. Will bike roads happen in my town? Probably not and that’s ok. I guess it’s more a dream of mine than anything. But I can create a more real and honest community than the one that people “think” we have in Minnesota, than why not. Hopefully this inspires you to ride if you don’t already and really think about the benefits of riding before you think about the cultural connotation that you might be showing. I guarantee people won’t think you’re poor after seeing your saving over the summer. You don’t have to have anything special either. Just something that gets you from point A to point B comfortably and efficiently. That’s all
You don’t have to wear hipster glasses to do this
Yes, as you can tell I am a fan of cycling, and I am a full-fledged commuting 21 year old
.
The Wonders Of Life 