I’ve got an old bike I’m considering rehabing. It’s a cheap old Murray bike from the late 90’s, but the frame is in solid shape. It just needs some new components. On Saturday night I put in some new tubes, and decided to take it out for a spin on Sunday morning to see what else needs to be fixed on it. Since I wasn’t sure how well it would go, I decided to pack both bikes on the rack, just in case.

My wife headed out for her run, and I started taking the bike around the Coon Rapids Dam park. Overall, it went well and on the shortlist of things to fix are the shifters, the brakes, and some new tires. It sounds bad, but it’s really not that terrible. The derailleurs seem fine, and the wheels are passable. I might exchange the seat, but that’s just because I’m picky about where my butt sits. I took the bike off-road a bit (it’s a mountain bike), and pleased with how it performed. It wasn’t amazing, but it was solid, which is all I could ask for.

This also marked the completion of my biking goal that I set early this year of 650 miles. As we got into November, I was concerned that I would be a few miles short, but with some decent weather the past few weekends I’ve been able to get in a bit of mildly cold weather riding. It was also a beautiful morning, with a beautiful sunrise over the river. The air was crisp, but the wind was light. It made for a pleasant hour or so of biking.

Next year I hope to up my goal to closer to 800, and I think if I’m deliberate about it, there’s no reason I can’t make that happen.