Bicycle Love - a brief history of my affair with the Bicycle

I have been many things in my life, an avid golfer, tennis player, triathilete, mountain climber, rock climber, motorcycle racer, pilot, aerobatic competetor, gym rat, but above all, the one thing that has given me the most pleasure is the bicycle. Yeah, sorry folks, I know I'm suspose to be all about aeroplanes - but if I am truthful to myself I have to say that it is the bicycle that I have derived the most pleasure from. This is a short story of my bicycle love:

Back in 1982, Chrissy was in Lousiana caring for her mother who was ill. I was in Vacaville CA doing my thing with the Air Force. My airplane was in the middle of a rebuild and I was tired and out of shape. I decided to go for a walk - I could not walk a half mile without being tired. I decided to go buy a bicycle and get back in shape. I bought an el-cheapo 10-speed for a couple hundred bucks.
My first ride was actually 30 miles, I rode out into the country on Pleasents Valley Rd, all the way to Woodland and back - I rode slow, I talked to the cows, birds and anything else I crossed, I smelled the flowers and stopped at the country store for a soda. When I returned home I felt like I had gone thru some sort of magical transformation.
Whithin a couple months I bought a better bicycle, some specilized riding gear and rode everyday I could. Soon I had hooked up with some local racers and became part of the riding group. I watched the Tour de France and cheered on Greg LeMond, our somewhat local hero. I read everything there was about bicycle racing and became a big fan. I ordered a special Eddy Merkes (cant spell his last name) frame from Belgium and loaded it with Campy (the best gear) from Italy - I became a bicycle racer. I did several Davis Doubles (200 mile rides) with my best finish at 13 hours. I did several 24 hour races, my best being 338 miles in 24 hours. On weekends if I was not going to a century ride (100 mile organized ride) or a race, I would hop on my bike and ride hard - 60 miles out to the coast - then head up the coast- Chrissy would later catch up with me some 100 miles down the road - we would have lunch somewhere on the coast and she would give me a ride home.
In order to suppliment my riding I would spend close to 3 hours a day at the local gym - working out. After my first year of riding I had whipped myself into GREAT shape!! At the local military runs - NOBODY could beat me - I was beating kids half my age... then came 1988 and I retired from the Air Force and moved to cold Minnysota.
It was too cold to ride - I still spent hours a day at the gym. In 1991 I packed up my bicycle, caught a flight to Fairbanks Alaska and rode my bicycle 400+ miles to Valdez Alaska, camping out with all the wild animals. It was awesome! I also did multi-week rides in Montana and Wyoming. I had wild dreams of riding my bicycle across America... I still have that dream.
My riding tappered off, I was getting old and tired... I was more focused on flying and building aeroplanes. Eventually my bike was hung up in the rafters...
Recently I was turned on to an event - "30 days of biking", I signed up. It does not start till 1APR but this morning I pulled my dusty bike down from the rafters, changed the racing pedals out for some cheezy pedals I could use with my work boots, raised up my handlebars to a more comfortable position, put on some warm clothes and went for a ride. 7 miles round-trip for breakfast - I felt GREAT!! Tomarrow is the offical start of the "30 days of biking" and I have pledged to ride every day... perhaps is a rekindling of my affair with the bicycle. We shall see.