I have been riding a bicycle since I was 9 years old. I had a Denver Post paper route at age 9 and rode a mile and a half to pick up the papers and two miles on my paper route every morning beginning at 5 A.M. A year and a half later I took another paper route with the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. It was a challenging route with dirt roads and lots of loose barking dogs. I carried a bag of rocks in my paper bags to throw at the dogs to keep them away. Fortunately after a year I got the route where I lived, I rode a mile to get the papers and a mile back and then did my three mile paper route for three years. After that I got a job in the mail room of the Daily Sentinel where I worked until I graduated from high school. The routes were educational, profitable, and provided great exercise keeping me in good physical condition.
Since those early days of riding bicycles, I have always had a bicycle to ride for recreation. Since I retired five years ago, I started a small business called “Popscycles” which entailed purchasing good low priced Schwinn, Diamondback, or Specialized bicycles in good condition on Craigslist and re-selling them for a slightly higher price to retirees in RV and retirement parks. I did not get rich off of the bikes but I met a lot of nice people that purchased bikes from me.
If you are going to a mailbox a block down the street , why not ride your bike instead of driving? If you are going to a nearby convenience store, why not ride your bike? IF you are going to a nearby church why not ride bikes as a family?
I started a bike riding group at Ironwood RV Park called “The Wild Javelina’s” we had as many 18 people , men and women riding about three miles with us every morning. We all had a great time and were conditioned so we could ride to Walmart, the grocery store, the hardware store, the post office, and to many other locations nearby. It saved us gas money and aided our physical conditioning. I moved from the park to a home fifty miles from Ironwood this Spring. Now I ride with two men from the Age 55 and over housing community over to an age 55 and over R.V. park called Sunscape. The terrain here is virtually level. I do not even have to shift gears on my morning trips. I ride from four to seven miles daily. I have three bicycles, two Schwinn’s, and a Kent. One Schwinn bike is 21 speed , and the other Schwinn is a 7 speed. In this area seven speeds is fine. I live at 10,000 feet on the continental divide in Colorado in the summer. I have a NEXT mountain bike seven speed and a seven speed Kent bike there. The grades are as much as 7%, consequently I only ride one or two miles at a time , but I may go two or three times during the day.
Just last month when I was in Falcon, Colorado at my son’s house , I looked in Craigslist and saw a like new Diamondback Hybrid 21 speed advertised for $95 , delivered. The address where the bike was located was 40 miles from where I was, it was in Manitou Springs, Colorado. I called and spoke to a guy and ask if he could deliver it to Falcon? He said he would have the bike there within two hours. I told him I would pay him $100 since the distance was so far. In two hours here he came with the bicycle and had one other bike on the rack on the back of an older car. He said he buys and sells bikes and offers to deliver each bike. He indicated that he had been selling bikes for many years and the fact that he delivered set him apart from other sellers making it easier to sell bikes. The Diamondback bike was a model that originally sold for $383 two years ago, it had a few rust marks on the handle bars but otherwise looked new. It had deluxe 21 speed shifters and is probably my best bike at the present. I road the bike several miles each day for the fifteen days I was there. My son agreed to store my Diamondback bike by hanging it in his three car garage until I visit them at Christmas time and next Spring.
If you do not have a bike , look on Craigslist and purchase a bike that is in excellent or like new condition that is reasonably priced. Usually for $100 to $150 you can find a good bike that is in excellent to new condition. Specialized bikes usually sell for more than Schwinn’s, and Diamondback bikes are usually priced higher than Schwinn’s but are excellent bikes. I would estimate you could get a good Schwinn for $100, Diamondback for $150, or Specialized for $125.
When I showed bikes to retirees in the RV Parks, the older men would almost always say, ” I never paid a $100 for bike in my life, I just want a good bike for $30 , or an old one for $10 I can fix up.” What is wrong with that philosophy? If you have ever gone to a bike shop, repairs and fixing up bikes is very expensive, the mechanic usually gets about $45 a hour labor plus parts. The parts are super expensive. If you look at the bikes they sell in the shop, they are usually a brand you would not be familiar with and they range in price from $300 to several thousand dollars. A minor tune-up is $38 and a deluxe tune up is $60 at the bike shop I go to.
If you search on U-Tube for “how to” items involving bicycles, it will show you how to repair about any aspect of a bike. It shows how to change the front tire, and how to change the back tire and how to remove the chain from the derailer and what gear the bike should be in to do that. If the chain is too loose it shows you how to adjust the chain. If the bike is not shifting right, it shows you adjusting screws and how to adjust them. If you have a little mechanical aptitude , U-Tube can assist you in getting the job done.
If you do not have a bike , consider getting one. Good luck in your search.
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