Today is my mother's birthday.
One year, I gave her a new bicycle. She'd been pedaling an hour or so every day on an exercise bike. At the time, she was relatively young (and I wasn't relatively young: I was pure-and-simple young) and I figured she could transition from indoor to outdoor cycling.
It didn't work that way and the bike was sold or given away (I forget which) when my parents moved to Florida. She apologized for that, adding that "it was a nice bike."
It was actually a halfway decent machine: a Peugeot mixte in a burgundy color with sunset orange graphics. My mother even thought it was "pretty" and that giving it was "a nice thought" on my part. Oh well.
Now, you might say I should have given her an even better bike. I probably would have, if I knew she'd have ridden it.
Actually, maybe I should have given her a more unique bike. At least, when I went to visit her and saw the bike hanging in the garage, it might have been more interesting to see something like this:
The Velocino is handmade in Italy. (Remember when Colnagos, De Rosas, and all of those racing bikes were?) According to the Abici family, who make them, the "unique artisanal bike includes a "braze welded frame with three coats of paint" as well as Michelin tires and a Brooks B17 saddle. (Maybe I could ride it after all!) It costs $980, plus $300 to ship it to the US. The bike "ships in 1-2 weeks". Hmm...Maybe she won't mind a belated gift. It does look good, after all!
