My Cannondales stable of bikes

I never have taken a picture of all three of my Cannondales which I enjoy riding so much. I got them out of the garage and set them up in front of my house and here they are.

The first bike on the left is a Cannondale full suspension Jeckle 800 Mountain Bike. It built like a tank and can run over about anything that can be found on a rugged Mountain trail. I don't ride this bike much anymore as with my handicap left leg I just can't ride the bike as it was meant to be ridden.

The Bike in the Middle is my first Cannodale that I bought back in 1994. I rebuilt it in 2005 and converted it into a touring bike with European butterfly handlebars that I really like. It cost about as much to convert it as it would have if I bought a new one. The only thing orginal on it is the frame and brakes. This bike is fun to ride and I ride it a lot as it so comfortable to ride. However it is a few miles slower under most circumstance than my road bike on the right end. I injured my leg while I was in the process of rebuilding so I have not ridden it on any tours. May not ever get the chance to do now.

The red bike on the right end is my Cannodale R 2000 Road Racing bike and it is fast. I have ridden it on many bike tours in 15 states. The first year (2005) I did about 6,000 miles on it before getting injured,(not on the bike)I guess you can say this is my favorite bike as it like driving a sport car and handles real well. Although it is a racing bike similar or just like the Cannondales they used in the Tour De France I use it only for touring. I admit in some tours I did enjoy racing some with other that I was with on the tours. I won some and lost some.

It been almost four years since my accident that shatter my left leg and left me unable to ride a bike as good as I once did. Although my injury did not stop me from riding my bikes I can't ride none of them nearly as well as I once did. I have moved to a new home where the roads are hilly as heck and these is really testing me on the bike. I have never been good on hills but I can't avoid them now. The bad things is I can't stand on the pedals anymore to get that extra boast going up hill. Having to set down all the way up a hill now make going uphill extra hard but I am doing it.

The Cannodale Jeckle has hardly been ridden since 2005 and I guess I might as well sell it as I can't ride it the way is was meant to be ridden.

A nostaglia bike ride this past weekend

Last weekend I took a nostagic bike ride around the neigborhood I grew up in back in the 1950s and 60s. The picture here is what by today standards could have been called a mall. It had a country store, barber shop, beauty shop, a clothing shop and not sure what else. It was in the barber shop that I got my first hair cut as I was preparing start in the third grade of school in 1950 . The Barber shop was called McManus Barber shop and is where I got all my hair cuts until I moved away in the late 1960s.

This picture is right beside the mall so to speak is where the McManuses Lived. This is also where I had my first motorcycle accident racing to beat my wife back home. I would guess this was back in around 1965. A little boy ran out in front of my and to keepfrom hitting I had to put the brakes on real hard to try to miss him. I got stopped in time but I also fell over and spit my left arm through the joint. Long time in healing.

This is the home I grew up in. I lived there from 1948 to 1962 with my family. It was a little crowded at times.

In 1962 I got married and left the nest. This is a recent picture and it looks like the house is not lived in anymore. Not much has changed except that the lot is getting over grown with trees and shrubs.

The picture below is of a very old oak tree, It is located just behind the house I grew up in. I climb this tree hundreds of times. At the very top of the tree I could see the town of Lancaster which was about 2 miles away. I once was hanging from a limb upside down about 25 feet off the ground and fainted. I woke up lying on the ground but was not hurt, miracles do happen.

This my favorite tree and I wish I could buy it and move it to where I live now. The home I am living now is about six miles away.

This is a picture of Lynwood Methodist church that I attended when I live on Lynwood Drive. It was in walking distance of our house.
Since moving back to Lancaster last year I have attended this church several times. My wife and I plan on splitting time going to this church and to the church she attend in Elgin when she growing up in Lancaster. This churh still looks pretty much the same as it back in the old days.

This is Lynwood Drive, the road that led into town. The Town is about 2 miles away at this point. I have ridden this road probably thousand of times on my bike while growing up. I have enjoyed the bicycle ride around my old home place and riding this road again was a real treat. I think the last time I rode a bicycle on this road was back in 1959. A lot of teenager to day have there own cars now but back thenI had only a bicycle to get where I wanted to go.

This was a very nostagic bicyle ride that brought back a lot of memories. I continued on riding my back to town on the very road picture above which is two miles from the point I took this picture from.

Now comes the bad part about my nostagic byclce ride. As I rode though the town I turn by the old courthouse and then BANG, I ran over some debri and got a nail in my back tire which went flat as a pancake. It usually only takes a few minutes to fix a flat but in this case a few minutes was not in the cards. I use a CO2 bicycle inflator to pump the tire back up. The inflator malfunction and I was only able to get about 25 pounds of air pressure in the tire. These narrow tires need 120 pounds of pressure. Lancaster does not have a bike store anywhere that I am aware of and I sure did not look forward to walking home. I can't go to a service station as the valve on my inner tube are presta valves and no service station has a pump that can pump up a tire using presta valves.

I knew of no one that I could call for help on my cell phone so I reluctantly decided to try and ride my bike bike home which was 8 miles away.

I was sure it would only be a matter of time beforeI had a blow out. I rode very slow to avoid a pinch flat and I did make it back home safely without having another flat,

Bad thing about riding by myself is I know no one in lancaster to call to help me if I get into trouble. Be glad when we sell our home in Charleston so My wife can finally get up here for good.