10,000 miles and still going strong

After my morning errands, my bike odometer read 10,003 total miles on my bike. I bought the green Sedona Giant in 2001, so that comes to over a thousand miles per year. I would venture to say that ninety percent of those miles are commuting miles, including trips to work, the store, bank, farmer's market, ultimate practice, campus, etc. Sure, I occasionally hop the bike for a workout, but for the most part, it is my mode of transportation around town.




In the past ten thousand miles I have changed the tires once but patched the tubes many times. I am on my third (plush) seat, second front fender, chain, and front gear box. A few years ago I changed the grip shifters to rapid fire out of pure desire. (The bumpy bricks around town would ofter change my gears because my hands would bounce around so much.)

In the fall of 2004 it was stolen on campus even though it was locked up. Four months later I found it on another part of campus. Since I had reported the theft and bought the bike locally (they had the serial number), I could prove it was mine. The cops cut it loose and I was off. (I know, I am very lucky.)

This bike has seen the streets of Bar Harbor, Maine; Ottawa, Ontario; Burlington, VT; Madison, Wisconsin; and Seattle, Washington to name a few of the outpost we stopped at on our trip across the country. On that same cross country adventure, Kent and I rode old rail trails of the Black Hills of South Dakota and the 20 mile loop around Acadia National Park.

My longest ride was about 65 miles with my neighbor Tony, when we rode the Great Miami Bike Trail from Yellow Springs, Ohio to Cincinnati. We spent the night at my brother's house and then rode back the next day. Our reward that day was a visit to Young's Dairy for an ice cream sundae. mmmmmm, ice cream.

I get it serviced about every other year at the same store that I bought the bike, but I should probably do that more. I have a rack and saddle bag to carry groceries, books, or cleats, whatever is on the agenda for the day. Which reminds me, I need to go oil the chain. Later!