There was once a time when a bicycle was my one and only form of self-transportation, and growing up in suburban Ohio, I wouldn’t have traded it for the world. To have been able to just hop on my bike and go all the way to Flynn’s Corner near my elementary school, or the gas station all the way down near the video store we used to rent movies and games from all the time, to Wilson Park/Pool to swim or play, there was a great outdoors to be had as a kid, on a bike. Often one of the many aspects I miss about being a kid back then was all the fun we used to have when not in school, and sometimes, even in school. A lot of people always like to talk about how they wish they could be a kid again, or back in high school. Frankly, I hated high school, and wasn’t fond of most of the people in it. Connecticut was new to me, not too many friends, and not too many open-minded people to make friends with. I made a few good friends, a few I still talk to off and on. Moving tends to suck when you are a kid, because you absorb a lot more around you as a kid, where being an adult, I have moved cities, states, and jobs, and I’m not as affected now as I was then.

I pulled out my bike to hit the local trail system here in town, part of a much larger system that spans about 50 miles. My goal by this winter is to at least do half of it in a day/ Having not gone riding in awhile I was only able to do one section, about 3 miles today. My goal is to do two sections next weekend which is about 6, and then tackle the uphill section towards the town border the week after. I took a trip to Cabelas today to buy new shoes for biking in and a jacket for the colder weather we’ve been starting to get. They have a lot of shit there, including some Carhardt khaki pants that are a lot similar to my old ones I used to get when I worked at Red Robin. They weren’t too badly priced too, might consider going back there next week and buying a couple pair. Buying clothes is always hard for me because I have no fashion sense, and I am extremely conservative about spending money on clothes. I will wear my clothes until they’re pretty much worn out before buying new clothes, and 90% of my casual wardrobe are Woot t-shirts and jeans or shorts. I’d like to buy new outfits, but I’m pretty self-conscious about how clothes fit on me, which has been one of the motivating factors in my working out and eating better quest, I want to be able to put on pants or a shirt and feel better about how I look.