Just What is Going On Here?

Seriously.
Just what is going on?
Beats me.
It seems like just a month ago or so, I was tooling around on The Flat Tire Nitro Burner, happy as can be.
Now it is like I've been consumed by something, something I don't understand.
It's some sort of madness I tell you!
Madness!
Let's look back at the beginning and maybe we can sort this out.
First of all, I never got intimate with the road bike I had.
Mostly a Display Bike, it sat in all it's glory in my living room, hardly seeing the light of day, much less an actual road.
I think I put maybe fifty miles on it.
After it was gone, I never thought too much about road bikes, feeling like I had given it a chance and it was not for me.
Road biking that is.
Okay, fit had something to do about it, the bike was a bit large for me, but mainly it just didn't suit me.
At the time.
Bicycling, despite the pain and suffering, is all about comfort.
Wait Mr. Flat Tire, just what the hell are you talking about?
I'm glad you asked.
I believe it's about feeling comfortable with your cycling skills and the kind of bike you ride.
I wasn't very comfortable on that road bike.
In more ways than one.
Comfort for me, was flat bars and a granny gear.
Comfort for me, was riding something that fit what I thought was my image as a cyclist.
Say it with me: image is everything.
Maybe.
Riding has always been about just getting out there.
I was spending too much time on the couch.
I mean bragging about seeing every episode of Law & Order is nice and all, but when you can say you've seen every episode more than three times each, well, that was telling me something.
My bicycle is still about getting out and getting fit.
Fitter.
I mean fitter for now that I'm reasonably fit, it's been about improving performance.
First though, there was a reality check.
I'm never going to be fast.
I'm just too slow.
I had to rip that page out of the manual.
So what else is left?
Well, I took a good look at where I was and where I wanted to go.
As a cyclist I mean.
Where are you going, where have you been?
Okay, the story has nothing really to do with all this, but the title seemed appropriate.
Or does it?
The story I mean, have something to do with all this?
Well one day, I saw this add on CL, for this here Bianchi you see, and well, I just don't know what happened!
All of a sudden I'm riding around on skinny tires, praying to the Campagnolo gods and using drop bars.
A new door had opened and off I went.
Inconceivable!
Preposterous!
Unbelievable!
I just could not resist the Sirens beckoning me towards the rocks.
Now, I'm wrecked.
Damaged.
Stuck on an island I don't know how to get off of.
I can't sleep at night for all the road bike stuff floating around my head, beckoning, calling, teasing, cajoling.
Where did I get this roadie sickness and how can I cure it?
It's all the Bianchi's fault.
I swear, if it wasn't for that bicycle, I'd still be a happy camper tooling around Kailua on The Flat Tire Wings of Mercury Special.
Now every waking thought is focused on riding and tinkering up that Celeste Devil(CD).
Why did it begin?
Where will it end?
Will I ever be happy?
Why, why, why???
Okay, to tell you truth, I don't understand it, but I kinda like it.
Okay, I really like it, the road bike thing I mean, and most of all, I love my bike.
There, I said it!
I used the L word, and I meant it!
Sort of.
Maybe that's it.
That's the cause of this escalating insanity.
I just happened to walk into a bicycle that for whatever reason is a match for what I've become as a cyclist.
A match made in bicycle heaven if you will.
Love at first sight.
Believe it.
Oh you Celeste Devil!
Such a tumultuous relationship.
Will I ever be released from your glorious grasp?
Sometimes I wish I never met you!
Okay, not really.
I'm glad I did.