Lately I have been preoccupied with sharing information on my BBS sites which means I only have so much writing desire in me and when its used up its hard to do a journal entry. The biggest change here in BHC AZ has been the weather as the season is changing once again from monsoon to winter. The real great thing about the season changes up here is that it is always pretty dry which makes almost any weather hot, warm, wind, or cold much more comfortable and believe me after spending 6 years in Chesapeake VA, it is like coming from living in your shower and refrigerator to living in aired wide open space where sounds are absorbed by the landscape and the whisper of the desert winds are the predominant noise. But remember if anyone in California asks you , AZ is a miserable dirty place to live.
I have been contemplating buying a professional mountain bicycle because the Wal-Mart special that I mistakenly bought has continued to have bearing problems. I made the purchase on the experienced history of when me and my kids had Kmart specials $80 mountain bikes and they seemed to last years. What I forgot to figure in was that between work and vacation days we only put about 50 miles a year on the bikes and probably no more the 500 there entire life until we trashed them in 6 years into the dumpster, not a bad investment. Now that I am retired I ride at least 6 miles a day and although that doesn’t seem like much it is at workout pace (15 MPH) and after 1 year I totaled up over 2200 miles, a far cry from 300-500 in 6 years with the previous Wal-Mart bikes. So in two years and over 5000 miles I have gone through 2 sets of wheel bearing, two rear wheels, and now apparently the crank bearings are going out. But besides all that when you ride a bike enough miles (5000 miles) you begin to notice how crappy it really functions and rides, miss shifting and derailing the chain, important plastic parts like chain guards disintegrated long ago for no good reason making your leg greasy, and cheap cables that break since they are made of pot metal. So I am glad I made this entry which has helped make up my mined that a high quality mid-grade mountain bike for $500 delivered is for me a good investment to keep me from becoming one of Chewbacca’s relatives. So as soon as I get the bugger delivered and assembled I will post some pictures. In the mean time God Bless and don’t forget to get out there and vote inthe next 2 weeks as it is your government of the people and by the people, and if you don’t vote you have absolutely positively no reason to complain about anything, just like the jelly fish.
