The bicycle thieves in Normal entries

Huh. I guess I don’t feel obliged to prosebox, I can’t even tell you why. I had some real life events and some free time, didn’t occur to me write an entry here. I had two bikes stolen from my garage. The cop cried. The insurance lady was trying hard to jack up the value of bikes. My mom was scared that her property could be so easily violated. I was mad as a hornet with a bee in his bonnet and a wasp up his ass.

Heh. The cop was crying from allergies. He was a nice guy with a lot of time on his hands and if he was just placating me he was very good at it because I’m predisposed to not liking cops and I hate being patronized. The only thing he said that could have been remotely construed as trying to make me feel better was that their department was about fifty fifty on recovery. I think, however, that was more of a department conceit than a we’ll-find-your-bikes-little-buddy. I put an extra five miles on my fitness tracker by fuming and pacing.

The homeowners insurance lady was very quick to respond, well, they weren’t in the office on labor day, not the claims adjusters, but she called first thing Tuesday morning. She prompted me for add ons to at least cover the deductible. I didn’t lie to her at all, but, at her urging I did tell her there was an additional wheelset upgrade on the one bike but I also told her the 75 dollar upgrade was from shop and I wasn’t charged for it. I also told her all the upgrades to the used bike and what they would have cost, but told her they were included in purchase price.

Even so, with deductible and actual cost I ordered a new bike and still will come ahead a few hundred. The new bike is ridiculously high end and ridiculously cheap. It’s a German company very new to the states running a fifty percent off sale, I’m getting a 2000 dollar bike for 950 (um, the math seems off but I wasn’t going to point that out). Even at 2000 most of the reviews from cycling sites call it a bargain. All the components are high end, and though the frame is still an aluminum alloy it’s lighter than most carbon fiber frames and what the fuck do I need with carbon fiber?

I don’t even really need a mountain bike except that my back is too fucked up for modern road bikes. Mountain bikes are more comfortable and the geometry is much more back friendly. Not cycling for five days makes me sore and crunchy. I was averaging a bit better than twelve miles a day and posting the rides I was happy with. Um, on that F word site. No, not fuck.com, the FB word. Some days I let my body rest, but then would go further than twelve miles. To me twelve miles isn’t much, forty some years ago I would ride multi-centuries. But, fuck me, I’m forty some years older with herniated discs, no medial meniscus in right knee, a surgical ulnar nerve moved and a bad rotator cuff. I cut myself a little slack, not as much as I’d like, I’m not afraid of dying, but I’m a bit afraid of being feeble. Hmmm, I guess I mean I’d rather die than be feeble. I don’t know, my mom wears it well, but that generation grew up in a depression, a great one, and came of age during a war, a great one. Great is not the adjective I’d use for a depression or a war, but, you know, that’s what they call it. They scratch and claw and cling to one more day of being stoic. Well, not my mom, I mean no scratching, clawing or clinging, but you know what I mean.
Before my dad lost his motherfucking mind they were walking two miles a day in the mall, from age 70 to at least 85. Loss of mind isn’t why they stopped, my dad’s driving was why they stopped. He was demented when they renewed his license, and his license was good up to two years after he expired. I guess the deceased are allowed to drive in Michigan. I know they drive in Oregon but perhaps not with valid licenses.

Ok, other shit has gone on in real life too, but it’s less interesting, to you, and not really my tales to tell, at least not out of school. I’ll see you at recess.