Getting back into biking

A couple of months back I decided it was time to start riding my bike again. I need to drop some pounds and keep active. Plus I really enjoy riding.

I have a few bikes I'll make future articles on, but the short story is  back in the early 2000's I had an old used 90's? Trek 800 MountainTrack mountain bike that I bought as my first real bike for $100 off Craigslist. I got the opportunity to take it on my first mountain bike trail sometime later on a very cool trail near Wetumpka, AL and absolutely loved it.

On the way back to where I was staying, I passed a bike shop and decided to check it out. They had this brand new 2008 Trek 3700 in red/white that was a huge upgrade over my old bike. I bought it for $350 and took it out on the same trail the next day. It was a night and day difference having a front shock and a beefier ride. I rode this bike on and off for many years then didn't ride for a long time.

Some years later I bought a really nice Motobecane 600HT from a buddy for $100. I got this for my wife to ride since it was fully loaded. She never road it, often complaining about the way it felt. I realized much later on that it was just too big for her, plus the top bar was too tall for her. She would be getting a newer one later.

Recently I decided to start riding again, so I picked a paved road path I could ride from my home and not have to drive anywhere. If I made it convenient, I would go more, I told myself. This was fun for a while. Then I wanted to go faster. I swapped my off road tires out for road bike skinnies. I immediately gained 2mph on my top end and it was a much easier feeling ride, rougher, but less resistance on the road.

Now, when I wanted to go on a mountain bike trail, I was stuck having to swap wheels with my old Trek 800, which had the same size wheels and had off road tires. The gearing was a bit different, so the chain slipped somewhat on the highest gears. The price of convenience.

A few weeks ago my buddy mentioned he had some bikes at our office that were not being used and he was thinking of selling them.  I took one home for the weekend and fell in love with it. I immediately bought it for $200. I'm now the owner of a 2012/2013? Fuji Police Patrol bike. It was hardly even used, basically brand new. This was quite the upgrade over my entry level Trek 3700.

At the same time, I also got the opportunity to ride the same buddy's brand new Himiway eBike. I was immediately hooked. I then found out I could buy the parts and build my own eBike. I decided that the Fuji would be the perfect bike for that. I could take it further on road trips, off road bike-packing and up in to the mountains on steeper rides without killing myself physically from exhaustion. Plus I could have a fun bike to cruise around in on full powered mode if I ever wanted to.

So after a week of heavy research on eBikes, I settled on a Bafang 750W mid-drive kit with color Bluetooth compatible computer and paired it with a 17.5AmpHour battery. The entire kit shipped with battery cost me $950 when all was said and done. As of this writing the motor kit came in today, but I'm still waiting on the battery coming in on the slow boat from China. I'll be writing a future article on the install process and first impressions. I am very excited for this, as I've always wanted to get into motorized bikes, and this most likely won't kill me with it's top speed of 28Mph.

So, back to my wife not having a proper bike. She said she would ride a bike more if it was more comfortable to her. Makes sense. I spent an entire week scouring Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist, as well as local bike shops and even Amazon. I didn't want a cheap Walmart bike, so I was determined to find an older, but in good shape used higher end bike brand. After about a week of expanding my search radius, asking dozens of people to please measure the frame size, and getting dozens of "Sorry, It's already sold!" or finding out it was too small,  I finally found a nice Trek MultiTrack 700. It's from the late 90's in a nice high gloss metallic red that was in decent shape about an hour away from me. I made the 2 hour round trip and paid $125 for it. It's a little rusty in a few spots internally, but shifts and rides super smooth. It's a hybrid style with 700c wheels.

With a few adjustments of the seat, she was enjoying the more upright and smooth ride it offered her. She's so far clocked in 12 miles in the past couple days. She absolutely loves it.

So, I have a bunch of bikes now, and I'm really into riding again. I'll be posting up some of my more interesting adventures that I go on with some photos and write ups of the more  scenic, interesting or technical trails.

Thanks for reading! See you on the trails!