Quote of the Day    “You ever take it off any sweet jumps?”     — Napoleon Dynamite

I went for my inaugural ride today on my new bike.  Though I have ridden a bike approximately seven times since I turned fifteen, for some reason I recently decided bicycling was going to be my route to enhanced physical fitness and mental health.  I feel well on the way to achieving the desired results and the thoughts of Butthead from the classic MTV cartoon come to mind.  “A couple of more days of this and I’m going to be totally ripped.”  Or something to that effect.

I was also inspired to take up this new hobby by a fortuitous intermingling of several other events.  As discussed some days ago, I have a class reunion coming up.  I think I’ve lost just about all the weight I can by altering my diet, but I’d really like to drop another five over the next few weeks.  It is highly unlikely that anyone will care about my aging, soft physique, but I’d still like to maximize my presentation.  I wonder if class reunions were held every year instead of every 5-10 if the collective health of the nation would improve.  I dare say it would.

My current hometown, Ridgeland, also played a part in this new interest.  I typically despise small town politics, but I have to give credit where it is due.  Our city council is doing some nice town planning, no small part of which has been the construction of bike paths. Bike paths are a true indicator of the liveability of a community.  In this part of the country, they are typically present only in resort towns and affluent communties, and I suppose Ridgeland qualifies for the latter.  Whenever I have been in a town with them, I’ve always found the town to have a lot going for it.  I know these paths are more common out west, and the accessibility of outdoor activities like this are but one reason I’ve always wanted to move out there. Anyway, if my town was going to eviscerate one of my reasons for griping about living there, by God, I guess I better participate.

And finally, gas prices are so damned high, I figured if I used the bike in place of driving just once or twice a month it would be worth it.  I don’t know if its so, but I am under the impression Europeans commonly use the bicycle for short trips and errands.  It seems kind of cool.  And green.  Hopefully my new bike and I can pick up a bit of that coolness and greenness.

Finally, I share with you a vignette from today’s ride.  Cruising down Ridgeland’s fine trail system with my unscratched bike, and bicycle shop water bottle advertising my newbie biking status, I happened upon three attractive young girls out for a ride.  As I passed them, I heard one say, “over to the left, a real biker is passing.”  Well, you can imagine this sat very well with me and further vindicated my choice of new hobby. Silver-tounged devil that I am, as I passed I gave my million megawatt smile and smoothly asked, “Ya’ll having fun?”  I was rewarded by three patronizing grins and a perfunctory, in unison, “yes sir.”  

And away I sped.