It's Dan's fault really. I'm blaming him for me exercising more often.
For those of you who don't know Dan, he's quite the athlete often jogging along Riverside, near Turkey Mountain or riding his bicycle. He's run very long distances as I remember him taking part in a 100 mile run from Oklahoma City to Tulsa, and he told me that back in high school he was one of the top runners in state competition.
Dan often talked about bicyle riding too with friends from the Tulsa Bicycle Club, and I wanted to join the fun. So about a year and a half ago I asked Dan if I could borrow his "junk" bike. He obliged bringing his bike to work for me. His clunker as he called it was an older model black Cannondale with shifters on the frame instead of the handlebars. Due to its light weight and gearing I easily achieved speeds over 20mph and had fun doing so.
ABOVE: Riding to work earlier this week: notice my helmet sits unfashionably too high on my head when I wear a thermal beanie.
I loved riding it, and I wanted a bike too. One of those bikes from a big box chain stores wouldn't do as I wanted a professional quality bike like Dan's. But a trip to a local bike store was a jaw dropper for me. Entry level road bikes opened at $1500 with Lance Armstrong type bikes from $5,000- $10,000. Wow. I could literally triple the value of my 1994 Chevy S-10 by putting a new bike in the bed!
Thousands of dollars didn't exist for a bike, so after careful research I located and bought a used bike nearly identical to Dan's junk bike: a 1990 model Cannondale with downtube shifters! After investing $$$ in new pads, tires and adjustments, it's awesome!
BELOW: My "new" bike is an 18 year old used Cannondale 3.0 Criterium. It weighs only 23lbs and I exceed 30mph easily on downhills riding to work.
In the first 12 months of the "new" bike I rode nearly 2,000 miles! Thanks to continued development of the bike paths across Tulsa county I now ride to work, from Broken Arrow to Channel 2 when the weather permits. It's 20 miles each way, 40 miles roundtrip.
A bike ride to work takes just over 1 hour compared to a 25 minute drive. Thanks Dan Threlkeld for showing me how much fun I can have on a bike!
ABOVE: Bike path running adjacent to Creek Turnpike in Broken Arrow. Can we get more of these built?