Feel the Burn

rockhopper
Originally uploaded by Teckelcar

After 10 plus years of sitting in a box and being moved from house to house, I finally unboxed one of my bikes.

Before children I used to bike a lot. I would even commute to work part of the way on this particular bike. Where I parked was about a mile away from my lab,so I would park my car, pull my bike off of the rack on the trunk and bike the rest of the way to work. It was fun, I save a few bucks on the shuttle service and I didn't have to wait for the bus. I even went as far as subscribing to a bike magazine.

Then we started having kids and moving from state to state. I boxed my two bikes up after Jake turned a year old and haven't ridden since.

This past week I took Nate's bike in for a new inner tube. I know how to change a tube, but I don't have the tools or the interest. I decided to try out a different bike shop than the one we have used before.

Nothing is wrong with the old place, they sell nice bikes, repair almost any type of bike and have every bike oriented gizmo under the sun. But I always felt like they were trying to see just how much they could sell me every time I walked in the door. Up selling was the norm and I got tired of it.
A few weeks-months ago I'd read an article somewhere about bicycle repair shops in the Richmond area. One stood out in the article as being particularly wallet friendly. I couldn't remember the whole article but the shop's name was Bunnyhop. After a bit of poking about on the internet I found them.

Bunnyhop, is just what I wanted. It is tucked in Richmond's fan district amid VCU. They have an incredible turnaround (can you wait an hour?) and they are very inexpensive.

I was so excited I dragged out my mountain bike and hauled it in for them to reassemble. I felt confident that they wouldn't try to pressure me into all sorts of upgrades. And I was right. For $15 I got my bike back.

The first ride was sweet. I'd forgotten how much fun it is to ride. I hate exercising, but this I'll do. I just want to become a bit more fit and be able to eat what I want. I'm starting off slowly, just over 1 1/2 miles a day on a nice rolling stretch of road. Once I get my cadence down and I don't have to keep going through all the gears I'll lengthen my ride. But for now I'm starting to feel the burn and it feels good.