For the past six months, Randy has been sitting in my basement. At first, he sat on the trainer in front of the TV. This was a major victory for us, since he was the only possession of mine that was allowed in Brad's "man cave." :) After a few months of idle TV-watching, he and the trainer got moved to the laundry room. And finally, this fall, the trainer was lent to my friend Katie, and Randy was shoved in the storage room next to our broken vacuum cleaner. His tires got flat and he was starting to develop a slightly musty smell. But every time I thought about bringing him back out and cleaning him up, I was reminded of how frustrating this injury is, and the knots in my stomach kept me far away.
When I posted him on the classified ad board at work last week, I almost considered titling my post, "women's road bike. Free to a good home!" The very idea of getting money for him when I wasn't going to spend that money on a new bike made me a little nauseous. I felt like I was selling my first-born child. Then I realized how idiotic it was to give a $1,700 object away for free. So I posted an amount, although it was less than half what I paid for him in 2005. Still, I felt like a criminal.
I was amazed how quickly he was sold. Who knew there were so many freakishly short women bikers out there? I made sure he went to a good, loving owner, which he most certainly did. The woman who bought him had recently lost 40 pounds and is training for her first triathlon this spring.
I'd like to get a new road bike eventually. Right now, though, I'm still in mourning, and I'm not quite ready to start thinking about the future. I've spent all morning looking at pictures of the good times we had together. I think that's part of the grieving process.
Good-bye, Randy. I'll miss you.
3 comments:
I can understand the attachment. I would've given Randy a good home. If I rode a bike. And lived in Michigan.
I'm sorry for your loss. Injury and the changes that it causes in your life can be difficult.
I have been on the fence about selling my road bike as well for a while. After training for a 6000 mile tour in the spring of 05 and putting in 3500 training miles leading up to it, when I was sidelined for an injury and unable to do the tour, I didn't want to even see my bike. That summer I rode once. Then it sat around with it's flat tires and musty smell for a few months. And I was eager to try mountain biking. I was ready to sell the roady in order to buy the mountain bike, but thankfully my dad, who wanted a bike and is only 2 inches taller than me, took the roady and gave me $$ for a mtn bike. After getting flat tires and musty smell in my dad's garage, I finally snuck the roady back to Rochester this winter and waiting for spring to ride.
I am SO sorry, Alison. That much sucks!!
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