RETIRED OR RE-TIRED

After a brutal winter, spring has officially arrived and bike riding season is once again upon us.  Bike riding will be all the more fun this year, now that Annabelle is old enough to come along.  We are thrilled to have her join us with her new bike helmet and co-pilot baby seat.  This leaves me pondering whether it is time to re-tire my bike (as in get new tires), or actually retire it (for good). 

Nathan gave me my cruiser for my 23rd birthday in '00, the first year we lived in Newport.  A decade later I am riding the same bike, though it is definitely showing it years.  Through 7 years of beach living and then 3 New York winters, my poor bike has taken a beating.  Both fenders have rusted off and we joke that I need a tetanus shot just to ride it.  The basket is permanently bent and the seat has a series of cracks that soak up the rain giving me a wet tooshie every time I ride (hence the plastic bag covering).  Nathan says it has "street cred," meaning it looks tough, and that it is a "city sleeper," meaning no one will want to steal it, which is the understatement of the year.  It is locked up at the bus stop in front of our house and people often mistake it for a trashcan, tossing their papers, dirty Kleenex's, and empty beverages in its sad basket.  This infuriates me, but I realize I need to let it go.  What about a bike basket, do people think is a trashcan!  Ugghh!  Especially when there is a real trashcan not three feet away!  Despite its poor condition, however, I would be sad to see it go.  I have many fond memories on that bike.  It is carried me back-and-forth on the Newport boardwalk thousands of times between my house and Nathan's before we lived together.  I used to ride it to work when I was a waitress at Duke's.  It is on that bike that I perfected my bike tricks and that I made the annual ride from Long Beach to Newps for Nathan's birthday.  When we moved to New York it was one of the first items loaded into the moving van.  It wasn't long after arriving here, that we realized biking was the fastest way to get around town on the weekends.  While New Yorkers were stuck in cabs in gridlock traffic we would wiz around with the wind in our hair.  My bike has taken me on endless trips over the bridges to Booklyn and even around the entire perimeter of the island of Manhattan when I was three months preggers with Annabelle. 

That said, when I first laid eyes on my latest bike obsession, the Linus Dutchie, all fond memories just about went out the window. The Dutchie is a beaut - a true classy gal, with a smooth manner.  I know because I took her for a test drive.  Unfortunately, she lacks "street cred" and is far from being a "city sleeper", also meaning she needs to live indoors.  We do not have the space in our apartment for the Dutchie, and the landlord said "absolutely not" to using the side yard attached to the basement or the vacant space under the stairwell.  Bummer.  It seems that the Dutchie will have to wait.  For this bike riding season expect to see me on old faithful...however with new tires, a new saddle seat and a baby.

Newport 2006