Define "Biker"

I'm loving biking immensely. I try to bike daily, but lately it's been a struggle. Mostly because the truck has been on the fritz and it's my transportation to and from the trail. And also I had that bladder infection that put a hinderance on just about anything, but that's probably TMI.

What's that? Why don't I ride on the roads? Oh, yeh, well, that's because we live in the mountains and you can't go more than a few hundred yards without hitting a pretty major hill of some sort. Some day I'll be able to do that, but considering I've only been biking less than a month, I'm not quite up to our kind of hills yet. So I bike on the flat trail that was converted from a railroad track. (That's why it's flat. Otherwise, nothing here is very flat at all. And yet, because we live in the mountains, that flat trail isn't exactly flat either. It's got a slight grade to it.)

So the truck. It's been on the fritz. It spent a very long weekend in the shop for electrical problems and I was none too happy for several reasons. When I picked it up on Monday, the nice man at the counter said, "I called Saturday to let you know it was done. Didn't you get the message?" Yes, I did, but with Sam working we couldn't get the truck before the shop closed, plus I didn't need it for anything pressing. I just missed biking.

"Are you a biker?," the man asked.

I contemplated that. Was I a biker? I mean, I've been biking for all of 3 weeks. That hardly qualifies as a biker. But then again, one has to start somewhere, and I do try to bike daily. I'm pushing myself to bike faster and farther with each ride. That's a biker, right? Maybe I should stop trying to justify what I am and just embrace being a biker. (It's truly amazing what can run through your mind in .386 seconds while you're composing an answer to a question.)

So I confidently said, "Yes, I am."

"My wife is, too. She just left for DC this morning," the counter man said.

(Perspective: the biking trail runs from Pittsburgh to DC. From where we are, DC is about 230 miles one way.)

And then I felt like an idiot, because without thinking, I blurted out, "oh wow! I've just been bikin for 3 weeks!"

But everyone has to start somewhere, and in the scheme of things, I'm a beginning biker. But a biker nonetheless.

Hi. I'm Karen. I'm a biker. I cannot ride hills, and I can't yet accomplish more than 16 miles in one ride. But I am loving every minute I spend on my bike, and lapping all those sitting on the couch.