I love springtime. The birds are returning, the flowers and trees are blooming, and the leaves are slowly changing our city and surrounding mountains from brown to green. The smell of rain on the flowers as I walk through the park refreshes and reminds me of new starts.
As we start the riding season here in Skopje, I want to give you a couple of things to keep in mind before you climb back onto your bicycle:
1. Tires
Make sure you know what pressure your tires work best at and try to keep them in that range. Pressure that is too low can lead to pinch-flats and even damaged wheels. When inflating your tires, pause periodically to make sure the tire isn’t coming off of the wheel. This can cause a nasty blowout - and a headache.
2. Lights
If you don’t have a headlight and taillight, I highly recommend them. They can save your life. If you do have them, awesome! Make sure they are working!
3. Helmet
Listen, I know they are a little dorky, nerdy, etc. but we all have friends and family that want to see us home at the end of the day. Helmets are an easy way to help make that happen.
4. HAVE FUN!
Bikes are meant to be fun! Of course, you may ride for any number of utilitarian reasons but the ride can always be fun if you look at it the right way. Take the long way home, explore parts of the city you’ve never seen, or try to find historical areas. The adventure can be the journey. The mundane can be exciting.
New starts are important for everyone and spring is a good time to embrace them with all the energy you can muster. If you’ve been following Grov Cycles, you know that this business is a new start for me. It has been a fun, but challenging, process to get to this point. New starts are often challenging. But, I think, that’s part of what makes them so rewarding. What is your new start or challenge? I’d love to know.
-Ben
Comments