Sea Trails-My Huffy is Gone

Biceps bought me a bike years ago from a thrift store.
I loved her. Her name was Molly. She was orange, brown and beautiful.

Molly was the standard of inefficiency. With three gears and a metal frame, she lumbered over curbs and puttered up hills. She forced you to notice your surroundings, albeit slowly…very slowly.

Molly’s logos were starting to fade; but proudly displayed themselves as best as they could. I have always loved the color combo of yellow, gold, orange and brown.

Molly kept log of her miles and kept track of her speed. My favorite thing about her was the 242 original miles she had slowly explored during her life. What stories she could tell…

Her seat was as comfortable as a 2 x 4. The springs had lost their bounce, providing little to no cushion for my bony backside.
But, I loved her.

And then Lady Bike came into my life. There didn’t seem to be enough room on our back porch for these two rivaling bikes. The constant arguing between the new vs. the old upset me somethin’ fierce. I had to make the hard decision to let one of them go. We just couldn’t go on like this anymore.

Goodbye, sweet Sea Trails.
You were a good bike and I will miss your retro paint job, your speedometer and your curvy handlebars.
I will not miss my sore butt or my extremely tired thighs, however.
It was better for all of us this way.

Lady Bike and Me

I took advantage of the cooler weather this morning.
And when I say ‘cooler’, I mean less than the typical two thousand degrees it’s been outside, as of late.
My Lady Bike and I partook of a speedy adventure out of doors.

Lady Bike definitely has a personality all her own. She participates in the biking action, for the most part.

However, Lady Bike sometimes forgets that she is the mechanical aspect of the whole deal, causing a lot of grinding and whirring noises to announce my upcoming arrival to anyone else on the path.

But, I love her and her quirky ways. Plus, she was a bargain when I found her and I won’t complain.

I like to take Lady Bike to romantic places, although we are usually accompanied by Bicep’s ‘Man Bike’. Today, we were flying solo.
This is the ‘Kissing Bridge’, which had been dubbed years ago when I was in college for various unknown reasons….

This happens to be one of Lady Bike’s favorite views of downtown Tulsa. And mine, too.

This forgotten park on the west side of the river always cracks me up.
Nothing about this park looks fun to me.
But, maybe I should ask the opinion of a child that has burnt their behind from the blazing hot metal stage coach, or the one with the splinter in his hands from the ‘town’.

Lady Bike and I swung into the skate park and practiced our skills. This skill in particular, is called ‘resting’.

This skill here is called, ‘What was I thinking?’
I do love that my train case stayed attached.

We sailed past the ‘Space Needle’ towards one of my favorite spots on the trail-the magical arching tree.

Take a gander at this tree. It arches perfectly over the trail, not a limb in sight, until it is safely on the other side.
Lady Bike ushers me under the archway and we enter into our magical dreamworld where french fries are good for you and where cats are never squished by cars.

About the time I pass ‘Little San Francisco’, I begin to ring my bell.
The path is pretty deserted at this point and I love the way it resounds against the cement overpasses close by. I keep ringing it for as long as Lady Bike will let me.

The bell’s a little rusty and sticks from time to time, but she gets the job done. Runners cower in fear when they hear the ‘Cuh-RRRRRING!, Cuh-RRRRRING!’ coming their way.
The bell ringing might be my favorite part of biking. But don’t tell Lady Bike-she is already extremely temperamental.