Wednesday, June 25, 2008

How Many Bikes are too Many?



Ok so I admit it, I may have a bike problem. Is there such a thing as BA - Bikes Anonymous?

To spare y'all from counting (cause I know it's hard for The Donk - what with having hooves and all), there are 28 bikes in the picture. This picture doesn't include my 4 good bikes that no one but me is allowed to touch. Actually my bikes wouldn't be in the shed anyways. They usually stay in the classroom or our bedroom...hey it's a king-size bed so lay off.

We are kinda the default bike drop of house whenever anyone we know is getting rid of bikes (or pretty much anything else - well except for money). They figure we must have someone who will fit the bike. This actually works out fairly well. It saves me from having to do bike maintenance on a lot of bikes. Flat tire? Chain fell off? Tired of riding your sister's pink Princess Barbie bike? Go grab another bike out of the shed.

We had each of the kid select up to two bikes a piece that they wanted to keep and we gave away the rest. 13 were given away and 15 were kept. The shed is now nicely organized and clean...it should last about 15 minutes.

No making fun of my lousy grass...you try growing grass with 11 kids playing soccer, football, lacrosse, baseball, man hunt etc...all over it...

And yes I know that there are trees growing in my gutters. I'm starting a tree-farm to help pay for that new AC unit you see in the picture.

Much thanks to Sam and the kids for cleaning out the shed.

11 comments:

Catherine said...

Sorry I haven't undrestood in what consist your bikes traffic.
One thing is true it's that you belonged, belong, and will belong many more Unidentified Riding Objects than we will never possess.
In Paris, it's impossible to ride,except on the mid-july on the paved Champs Elysées (two days ago, there is another cyclist who dyed, 40 since the begining of the Year!

Anonymous said...

bro... how dare you not include the tri bike in this pic...

i got all excited to see the circus (i think you know what i mean by circus) HED.3's.... :(

i was very happy to see that LACROSSE was mentioned in this post... i think you need to have a post specifically about lacrosse for our foreign friends... complete with video from the MLL...

Denn Mom said...

That is such an awesome picture. I need to know, though, how big is your shed to hold all those bikes???
And what's with men and their lawns? Yours looks fine.

june cleaver said...

You know, if we lived next door to you I don't think I would ever have to hear my children utter the words "I am bored" ever again!

Rebecca Frech said...

Imelda,
It looks like June and I are moving in. We're tired of entertaining our own children and are willing to let your children do it for us. Are there houses on your street, or could we just sneak in your back door? Would you even notice a few more people in your house?

Rob said...

Catherine - we finally get the cable TV channel that carries The Tour de France live in the US. So I will be watching it a lot this year

Donk - My good bikes do not mingle with the common bikes. Yes I could do a post about profesional lacrosee and its 5 fans.

Tina - the shed is 144 square feet with 8-10 foot ceilings. 6 bikes hang from the rafters on hooks.
Lawns...its a guy thing...you wouldn't understand :)

Chris and TheMom - there are a fw houses for sale on our street. So move to our hood. Or we do have a large house with a big screened in porch, a large shed and a cool tree house...

Our kids aren't allowed to say they are bored. we tell them 'that's why God gave you 10 brothers and sisters' and if that doesn't work they are told to go scrub toilets

Blooming said...

Is it just me, or is there not a visible gutter in that photo? Aren't they the things that line your roof so that you have to climb on a ladder and risk death in the name of home maintenance a couple times a year?

Rob said...

KLJ - you are right. I wrote up the post and then i cropped the picture before i posted it and forgot i mentioned the gutters...i'm a moron.
I send my teenage boys up the ladder to clean them out

Roger Miller said...

We too collect bikes from, EVERYWHERE! Same goes for clothing, sometimes baked goods and old lawn mowers. NEVER money, which I could use more than another four bikes.

Your lawn looks well-used, maybe having the kids mow while playing soccer could be a fun new sport.

Who is the early favorite for the Tour this year anyway. It seem sto have lost it's flourish since Lance retired and then the whole thing with Landis (is that right?) didn't help matters. You can cheat in baseball and football, but if you do it in bicycling the American public shall shun you. Interesting commentary on us, isn't it?

Rob said...

Yeah the Tour (at least in this country) is not talked about much now that Lance is retired and with all the doping issues. And you are totally right that people in this country are willing to over look doping in 'our' sports but will bad-mouth cycling and track and field becuase of the same thing. I on the other hand get angry with all the cheaters but I'll still follow the Tour because it's cool...i'm so eaisly bought off

Possible winners:

Cadel Evans (2nd last year)
Alejandro Valverde
Kloeden
Menchov
Others include a Schleck, Cunego, Sastre, Karpets.

Alberto Contador (last year’s winner) team (Astana) was not given a place in the race this year. Some members have had drug problems in the past so the Tour didn’t invite them. Contador wasn’t one to test positive. He should have switched teams earlier this year.

Roger Miller said...

That is sad thing that the reigning champ will not be in the race, for reasons other than retirement.

We don't get versus (what a name for a channel) so we I will miss out on watching it as much this year. I love the scenery, France is a beautiful country.