I have been meaning to write and share this post for a while but it never came to fruition. I guess being home and sick for the past three days is making me dream about feeling good, adventure, riding bicycles and thinking about bikes.
As of yesterday, it was exactly 6 months since I left QBP, my former place of employment for the past 25+ years. One of the reasons I left was to prioritize myself and my well being and to hopefully regain my fitness. I’m happy to say that all of those things are in process and I have one added benefit that wasn’t on my original list; I have re fallen in love with the bicycle and all things bikes.
My purpose in leaving Q was not specifically to find my passion for bikes again. It was really more focused on health and well being. However, I quickly became consumed in building bicycles, riding them and photographing them. I sold a bunch of my old stuff and purchased some new stuff. I often rode alone as I worked through changes and focused on building up some fitness and mental toughness. I also had a blast riding with friends. In the past 6 months I have spent a fair amount of time on the following bikes.
- All-City cross & gravel road bike
- Salsa Cutthroat drop bar mountain bike
- Salsa Horsethief mountain bike
- Knolly Cache gravel bike
- Ibis Ripley Carbon mountain bike
- Surly Wednesday fat bike
I also found that selling my old Q branded bikes helped me with closure so I sold both my Salsa Cutthroat as well as my Salsa Horsethief, two bikes I really loved. I also have two new bikes ordered to come in and build sometime in 2022. I’ll reveal those as they get built.
While my fitness is taking longer than I hoped to regain, I am once again in love with the bicycle. Honestly, for me, nothing even comes close in freeing my mind and helping my body feel freedom like a bicycle does. True freedom. Nothing helps me work through challenges and problems like a bicycle does. Nothing helps me focus my energy and thought like riding a bicycle does. Nothing helps me feel better about life and myself like a bicycle does. Hard to believe, but after 40+ years or riding bicycles, I still feel like a kid pedaling my 1st, 20″ wheeled, red Schwinn around the family farm.
And with that, here are a quite a few pics from last 6 months of riding my bike. No particular order to this gallery. Just pics as they appeared in my digital catalog. Click on any of them to go to slideshow mode! Enjoy!
ImagineGnat 
4 responses to “Bikes, Bikes and More Bikes”
Enjoyed the write up. Glad you are reconnecting with what makes you feel good! Love the pics too. Quite a variety of cameras used there….. did I see a Nikon Z7ii? Thanks for the afternoon read.
Thanks Rob. One of these days I will do a write up on cameras too. But the short answer is this. Given what I want to do with my future photography, I am again committed to building out a true systems camera, that being Nikon based. So yes, you saw a Z7ii in there somewhere!
I’m thankful to share so many of the places in those photos with you, even if it’s just the place and not the specific time. I’m relatively late to recognize the magic of bicycles in my life, but over the past few years they’ve brought me so much goodness in my life. Wonderful people, healing solitude, exciting adventures, and so much more. I only regret it took me so long to realize what two simple wheels could offer, but I’m making the most of it now.
I’m looking forward to more of this from you, and I hope we get to ride together again soon.
Chapeau!
Michael, thanks for taking time to comment. Our paths narrowly crossed in 2021 but I am betting 2022 we’ll have some saddle and adventure time together. Can’t wait!