I may be BENT...but I ain't broken!
I'm a newbie to this forum and bent bikes. I just ordered my Sun EZ Sport CX (Cro-Mo frame) today and should pick it up this Wednesday. To say that I'm stoked about the new bike is an understatement. I used to race DF's back in the early to mid-eighties (Ross Paragon and a custom-shop Jim Redcay Ross) and really liked the comraderie and friends I made in cycling. Somehow along the way, the fun just went out of the whole riding experience for me...it got to be more about winning races, riding the 'right' bicycle, etc., and I just got fed up with bicycles and quit riding.
After twenty or so sedentary years working behind a desk, just climbing a set of stairs became a 'workout'! Wanting to recapture my fitness before my health went to hell, I decided to get another bike. Of course, I looked at all of the DF variations out there, visited all of the bikeshops in town, and began to get back all those feelings of disgust and almost gave up on cycling again. The whole 'you've got to be riding the right bike' snobbery thing really got to me.
One day I was driving across the Jackson, MS metro where I live and I spotted a small bike shop back off of the road a bit and stopped in on a whim. WOW! There was only a handful of DF bikes, but a showroom full of recumbents! I suddenly remembered talking to a couple of Tour Easy riders that I happened upon back in Oklahoma when I was still riding and racing, and thinking at the time how ridiculous the whole recumbent thing seemed.
The owner of the shop, Ride South Bikes and Boats (they sell kayaks, too!) spent well over an hour with me talking about bikes and showed me a Sun EZ Sport CX and let me ride it around the block by the shop. I was a bit tentative at first since I'd never been on a recumbent in my life, but was amazed at how stable it was even at walking speeds! That short ride was the most fun I've had in years. Never an impulse buyer, I came home that evening, hopped on the web and started researching recumbents. Turns out that Jim's recommedation of that particular model is perfect for what I want to do with the bike and it should serve me for some time to come. I'm REALLY looking forward to recapturing some of my lost youth, my fitness, and some fun. I am also looking forward to making new friends and, God willing, enjoying biking on my recumbent for the rest of my life!
Well fellas (and fellowettes), I didn't mean to rave about what all of you already know, but I just HAD to share my excitement and enthusiasm with folks who would understand. I'll keep y'all informed of how things go with the new BENT...I expect nothing short of spectacular! BBJ