Alert LifeFlight, I Have A Bike

Not that LifeFlight needs to come get me right now. It's just that they almost certainly will at some point in the fairly near future, as I've invested in a road bike to get some exercise riding around the French Prairie area near Wilsonville, OR.

The bike in question is a Trek 7.5 FX, which seemed to represent a good mid-point between lightness, toughness, and comfort. My goal for the summer is to build up to rides of 20 miles or so, which is about the distance from my house to Champoeg Park, and I think this bike will do the trick. You can learn more about the technical aspects of the bike (and see pictures) here, although most of that information is pretty much Klingon to me. I know just enough about bikes to be dangerous!

In fact, I even bought cleated shoes and a pair of Shimano pedals. I've used toe clips before, although like all of my serious bicycle riding that was many years ago, and this shouldn't be that different. The trick, I'm told, is to practice getting your cleat into and out of the pedal very smoothly. However, I expect that I will probably spend about a month just getting used to riding again after such a long hiatus before strapping these bad boys on.

Much thanks to Laurent, who not only went with me to buy the bike, but also went for a good test ride with me in Lake Oswego.