Take That, Big Oil!

I reached my personal tipping point with gas prices this summer. Plus I hate the oil barons and the devastation they are causing in our world, from pollution to war. So I got out my 15-year old bicycle and took it in for rehab at a local bike shop.

There I encountered young staff persons thin as whippets, dressed in spandex with Italian logos, guzzling espresso from the in-shop coffee bar, and talking about their latest 4000-mile ride or so it seemed. I enjoyed the ambience while also weirdly suspecting that I probably weigh as much as all of them put together soaking wet. I would love to be so physically fit that I could just jump on a bike and ride all day for fun. And never even think of the word "ordeal".

But my bike works well now and theoretically I am riding it to the barn and back. This formerly flat route has developed Alpine peaks and Stygian valleys, to my surprise. The horses think it is amusing to see me come puffing up the road, ringing my bell.