Howdy all....

Here's my story....I'll try not to be too long winded. Oh who am I kidding

My name is Dan, I'm 50 years old and from El Paso, Texas. When I was a kid in the early 70's, me and my best friend did two things during summer when school was out....we mowed lawns and washed cars for cash, and we rode bikes. We of course had cheap, early 70's Huffy bikes...but we rode them silly....as in all over town. Our parents probably would have been horrified had they known the distances we were going...but they didn't, so they weren't. Anyhow, we grew up, and I stopped riding a bike sometime in my late teens.

Flash forward to January 2014. I'm still in pretty decent physical condition, but three decades of working a stressful management job are starting to take their toll....and I'm starting to get a plethora of unpleasant symptoms that something is going badly wrong. Generalized pain throughout my body, stomach and G/I tract issues....headaches...you name it. A battery of tests showed absolutely nothing physically wrong with me. The doctor concluded it was stress related, and that I needed something to burn off the stress....he suggests tennis. I hate tennis.

I go home that night, and it hits me....literally, as in right on my forehead. It's hanging from the ceiling in the garage, and I walked right into it. It being an old Wal-Mart sourced Roadmaster mountain bike....one of a pair of old Wal-Mart mountain bikes my wife picked up on sale for $39 each for us to take with us when we go camping. We camp often....It hadn't moved in years.

I took it down, aired the tires, put a new battery in the speedometer, oiled the chain, and hit the road. During the next 6 weeks or so, I knocked out 250 miles riding....first around my neighborhood, and then around town. I named the bike "CJ" (Chinese Junk LOL) And in 6 weeks, I'm back to my old self again. But something else has happened....I've rediscovered what I loved doing as a kid.....and I've got the itch for a real bike. The bug has bit....I start reading around the internet and discover I'm riding what's known as a bicycle shaped object. I always knew there were good bikes out there, and that they weren't sold at dept stores...but I didn't really understand what the difference was, nor did I care. Suddenly....I cared.

I went to the local bike shops and looked and learned. I lurked on this forum. I perused Craigslist and eBay incessantly. I looked around on Bikes Direct...and was minutes from ordering one from there, when I took one last look on Craigslist and there it was....2013 Trek FX 7.2 hybrid. Very nice condition, guy was asking $325. I rode it.....and was in love. I handed him 3 C notes and loaded it in the truck. The only issue was the front derailleur had a stammer going to the second gear. I adjusted the cable and stop screws, and it grabs all 24 gears correctly now with no drama. It's 2 weeks later, and I've knocked out 70 miles on it. I live on a hillside, so for the bulk of my ride I'm either going down hill or up hill....I'm really enjoying how the Trek climbs....light years ahead of CJ.

So that's my story. BTW....I'm keeping my beloved BSO known as CJ....he quite literally saved my life.