Saturday, June 04, 2011

New Wheels

As I was driving home one late afternoon a couple of weeks ago, I was bemoaning the fact that my favorite two tv shows were soon coming to an end (Dancing With the Stars & American Idol), and for the next three months the evenings would be very long and occasionally boring.

My two goals lately have been to 1) learn more about photoshop and hdr and 2)sew. The photoshop/hdr thing is coming along nicely, but I'm still looking for a market for the tote bags.  I call them "Funky Totes".  If you're interested, contact me.

 
Anyway, while thinking about my tv shows ending, I knew I could probably spend more time at the computer and the sewing machine.  Well, yes, I could do that.  But that would mean hours and hours sitting--buring a miniscule number of calories--and being indoors on beautiful summer evenings.  

And then I had an epiphany!  It was brilliant.  I would get a bike and go biking after dinner.  Oh, yeah!  When I arrived home I quickly emailed a friend of mine who belongs to a biking club to ask her for a recommendation for a good bike shop.  She gave me the names of several places I could try.

The first chance I had to go shopping was on Memorial Day when I was heading down to the mall.  I decided to stop at the bike shop closest to me, but naturally, it was closed because of the holiday.  So I resigned myself to having to wait another week to even begin my bike shopping. 

I got to the mall and detoured through LL Bean but while going through the store I discovered they THEY sell bikes.  Eureka.  So even though I was just on a fact-finding mission, I left the store owning my new wheels.  It reminded me of times when I just wanted to "see" a baby kitten or puppy--I left with one of them too.  But I digress.

Today was the first day I had the chance to use the bike.  The bike path is just a few miles from my house.  When I finished riding I decided to see how far I went, so I drove the car on the road (which runs completely parallel to the bike path) and discovered that I had gone 13 miles.  For those of you who might be hard-core bikers, that's laughable, but for me, who hasn't been on a bike in about 20 years, I thought it was pretty good. 

So here you see my New Wheels.



5 comments:

trishalyn said...

I highly recommend Linda's "Funky Totes"...she gave one to me as a birthday gift, and I absolutely LOVE my beautiful bag!!! The tote that is pictured here is lovely, too!

Linda...congratulations on your new bike and on your first outing...13 miles is quite an accomplishment. "See the USA on your Runaround Cruiser"...and enjoy the ride! :-)

Framing Images and Memories said...

Great bike! And 13 miles on your first ride is very encouraging. Pretty soon you will be riding, long distance (though 13 is long enough for me). I don't see a bell though!

Pritta Diyanti said...

hey, COOL bikess... aah..

anyway, can you visite my blog?

~she~ said...

Wow...that's awesome for a newbie! My husband just got a bike and wants us to ride. But he won't let me use the bike I got when I was 15. So no riding until I save for a new one.

The totes are adorable! In my teaching days, I would have snatched one up! Or in my diaper bag days. Not too sure what I would use it for right now but I'll keep it in mind!

DOLORES said...

Love your photos and love the totes you make too! Coincidentally, I too am a photographer - who also teaches Photoshop. So how's it going? Are you doing any HDR? I just had a brilliant idea...want to trade a tote for a lesson in Photoshop? To tell you the truth, I have been looking for a tote for my camera - maybe even a backpack that is nice and soft but big enough to hold a DSLR with a long lens. (85mm)
My email: photographysnap@gmail.com

My blogs:

http://flash-photoblog.blogspot.com/

http://photosfromthecarat70mph.blogspot.com/