Ray9

Don't know it did that: here it is again:



I am one of those people you see out on the roads on two wheels keeping to the right and playing the odds that I will not be hit by a distracted driver or taken out by a speeder towing a trailer. I take those odds because since 1983 when I began switching from running to cycling, I have benefitted greatly in terms of health and wellbeing. Running was great and I was doing well racing with 10k times in the low 30-minute range but stress fractures and disc herniations were sending messages that impact was not my friend as I entered middle age.



I had a great local doctor who was also a runner and he suggested that when the joints and ligaments began to become an issue I should go to the bicycle. I took that advice in spades. Since I had already made the choice not to use tobacco, alcohol, or weed, I had plenty of money to buy my first high quality racing bicycle in 1994 marked down from $1,800 to $1,000 because it was too small for most riders. At 5’5 and 125 pounds, it fit me perfectly.



I still have that bike, but I have not ridden it in years. My number one bike set me back north of $7,000 in 2013 and my rain bike cost me $5,000 in 2008. Sound like a lot of money? Not really. Try paying for heart surgery or fighting lung cancer. As a person of libertarian mind, I believe people should be able to choose the way they live, and I make no judgements, I just play the odds. Those bikes I invested in have produced returns that exceed anything I may have missed by not drinking, abusing drugs, and smoking. At 74 it’s all right there in my bloodwork; they told me to come back next year.