Bikes
Yesterday evening, after a family bike ride with the Trek Navigator, I took the Razesa for a short six-mile ride at dusk. As I cornered while moving quickly and had to quit pedaling hard to make the turn, I imagined I could feel the chainstays and seatstays flexing slightly as I rode.
Last night I corresponded with a bicycle restorer about a 1978 Trek 700 series with Campagnolo Gran Sport group. I have been really interested in Bruce Gordon’s Taiwanese manufactured BLT, and Carl Strong’s “Personal Blend” as touring/camping bikes, but at this point balk completely at the prices charged for these bicycles. I’ve seen pictures of the Trek 700 series set up for touring, but they’ve got a completely different, Suntour, group (and I hope I’m using the term, group, correctly meaning drive-train, brake whatnot, seatpost, and headset). The Trek’s probably a 10-speed, but I don’t think that’s necessarily a problem considering I don’t make full use of the 12-speeds my Razesa’s got.
I’m still fully enjoying the Razesa bicycle. Frequent, even short, rides have helped me keep the weight off and clear my mind. I do want to get out in a kayak more this year. It’s been about a year since I last paddled. The Pionier 450-S sits under a tarp in my garage, and I need to dust it off and look it over, maybe this weekend, to make sure it’s ready to paddle. Then inspect the gear in the boat-shed and get it packed and ready. Once that’s done, it’ll be easier to load up and head out on a whim.
Church
Last week, while at Gallatin, I worshiped with Reformed Baptist congregation in a part of town bypassed by commercial-strip or residential splendor, and it was good to spend an hour or so with other believers. Here at Stepford, the Reformed Baptist congregation with which my wife and I have worshiped for probably five years or more, has been and continues to be an oasis of biblical sense and real theological inquiry for me, as well as source of good fellowship. Although it has another official designation, I think of it as Ziklag Baptist Fellowship more than I do as Stripmall Church. It is wonderful to have no target demographic beyond the elect God sends our way, even though sometimes I wish God would send more. There is something glorious about maintaining, for as long as we can, a Reform witness in the metaphorical steeple-shadows of several “First Churches.”
Family
Every minute with my family is of greater worth than all riches. We are grateful for God’s happy providence and humbly rely upon God’s sovereign and sustaining will.
Christov_Tenn 