Old Grey

Old Grey is a 1984 Nishiki royal 7 speed road bike. She was pulled from my friend Tommy's basement a year and half ago. Headed for the trash, I took her home, cleaned her up, gave her a tune up, and put her to work.
Tommy originally bought her in Japan while in the Navy. Rode her all over. Back then she was fast. A good racing bike. After the Navy, Tommy came back to the states and all but retired her to the basement.
The years have been good to her. she was stiff and her wheels needed straightening. The brakes needed adjusting. I gave her handle bars some new tape. And She wears new tires and tubes for her rims. Her grey steel frame is solid and comfortable and she flies down the bumpy roads of Cleveland.
Old grey immediately became my commuting bike. Equipped with a lock and lights, she is the workhorse in my stable. Most of her trips are shorter than 10 miles. She makes a lot of them. Weekly mileage often rivals that of the bike I train/race on.
The bike I train and race on is the Giant I have written about in earlier posts. While"The Little Giant" gets his(not sure how I know the gender, I just know) upgrade(which is going very smoothly I might ad), Old Grey got the call.
Training Day!
As a commuter bike her Idea of a training ride is to the pool or to meet Sheila for a run. Sometimes she will coax me into pushing her hard to or from work. But that hasn't happened much since the two of us crashed. Her front wheel was badly bent and she was given a month off while I acquired a new wheel for her. Since then we have been cautious and planned work outs are not her duty.
Today was a gorges fall day in Northeast Ohio. The air was crisp and the sky was blue with a light breeze. I wore long tights, a long sleeve technical mock turtle, a wind vest, stocking cap, running shoes(her peddles are flat....good for short trips), riding gloves, my Oakley's, and of course a helmet.
We headed first to the bank to make a deposit. Next we headed thru University Circle and out MLK to the lake. Feeling warmed up, Old Grey carried me up into Bratinal and east along Lakeshore BLVD. The waves of lake Erie and the mid autumn sky were a beautiful backdrop, and deserved a moment of slow riding to soak in the season. We headed south at 185th and climbed back into the heights thru the Euclid Creek metro park beneath the most amazing canopy of color as the leaves are in the midst of their metamorphosis. Continuing south on Belvoir to Shaker we rounded out the 26 mile ride thru Shaker Lakes and back to Coventry.
As the ride grew longer, that old bike became smoother, faster and stronger. She climbed steadily with power. She descended bravely. On the flats she cruised, ticking along as evenly as a politician distributing promises at election time.
She has no quit and part of me thinks she wants a piece of the Ironman.

As I watch the Mets/Cards battle for the right to play Detroit in the world series, I am in constant awe of Julio Franco still playing at 48 while contributing to a team tied 2 to 2 in the National League Championship Series. I listen to Jerry Garcia in the final few years of his life rockin harder than ever. I think of Ironman legend Bill Bell completing the IM many times into his eighties.
How old is to old?. I don't know. I never paid much attention to age. Old pants, old guitar, old race shirt. old shoes....it's funny when I get new running shoes, they are so clean and springy. I know within 3 months they are gonna be beat, worn, stinky, and grey. But like a cute puppy they all become old dogs, while always remaining the puppy in our minds. We continue to pull those shoes on run after run until they can't run anymore. We don't ever address it 'till we complain of pain, and other runners start questioning the date of our last shoe purchase.
Old Grey is not the newest of bicycles. But the grey is just paint. Beneath the paint she is made of steel. She loves to roll. She is not ready to quit. And She is going to carry me thru a good part of the journey.
After my 25/6 mile brick*, I have every confidence in my "other bike". Old Grey still has a lot of miles to give. She ain't done yet.

*Brick=bike ride followed by a run/termed derived from Pink Floyd lyric "just another brick in the wall")