Old 03-28-21, 07:36 PM
  #24  
RiddleOfSteel
Master Parts Rearranger
 
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Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: Portlandia's Kuiper Belt, OR
Posts: 4,680

Bikes: 1982 Trek 720 - 1985 Trek 620 - 1984 Trek 620 - 1980 Trek 510 - Other luminaries past and present

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Fleet maintenance and bulk shakedown test rides--I definitely know how that element of "bikes are fun" passion can turn into "must accumulate data and pass test" drudgery, especially if one is chasing inexplicable mechanical issues. Or looking for something they just put down (raises hand). Like others have said, thank you for your service to our country. It is a mess right now, Covid and non-Covid elements combined, and I echo your general sentiments (without going P&R). The combination of working from home, furlough, grossly extended furlough, wacky job market (depending on expertise, but also in general), and everything else floating around and above that, has certainly been a trying for a lot of us, myself included. I will 100% credit my Faith, relationships with family and friends, and (functioning) bikes helping me through this. Though, if it isn't struggling to get a bead on the job market or practical future of things, it's been struggling mightily to get bike components and resulting builds composed and completed. Like I'm trying to get out of a straight jacket and escape the padded room. Or just eternally chasing...something. Still playing the "Does my knee like me?" game, though I've made great progress in getting it from "Can I ride 10 miles?" to hitting the 50 mile mark several weeks ago--though Cinderella's carriage definitely turned into a pumpkin the last several miles, onto a 53.1 mile total. Progress is not always linear, and that is frustrating.

Thank you for letting us know how you're doing, even if it isn't upbeat news. There are a number of great suggestions, encouragements, and things to engage in posited by other members, so I'll let them speak. In a little bit, I'll get out on my Trek 620 and head up to the top of Discovery Park to watch the sunset again. It's been a rainy and blah kind of day but in classic Seattle fashion, has cleared up to the lovely combination of brilliantly piercing afternoon sun breaks through gaps in lagging rain clouds. I have really grown to truly appreciate the constancy of nature, sentimental as it may sound. The snarl and tentacles of technology and connectedness, while good in their ways, can trap me and all of us; and disconnecting (via bike, especially ) to see nature carry on without paying any mind to anything else. It's a great reminder of "this too shall pass" and new mornings/days bringing about new opportunities.
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