all biked up with many places to go

I now have a bike. I left work a bit early to be able to hit the bike shop before its 8 p.m. closing time. The bike didn't come with pedals, but the shop owner gave those to me for free after telling me the pedals would normally cost W70,000 new, and about W30,000 used (the pair I have is used, but in excellent shape, or so the owner avers). I got also a free bike lock, but I did have to pay for the biker's face mask (yes, I now have a face mask, even if it's useless against COVID-19) and for a pair of fingerless gloves. I asked the guy about a gel cushion for my seat, given the pain I remember experiencing back in 2017. He strongly recommended that I simply spend time on the bike and get used to riding it the way it is: a gel seat, according to him, allows for minuscule impacts that actually bruise and damage the lower part of your hip bones, thus producing the opposite effect from what you're hoping for. (If I had my druthers, every bicycle seat would be a soft, flattened-out beach ball.)

The bike's seat was way too high when I first tried getting on the bike; the owner adjusted the seat for me, and he showed me how to use the bike's little flashing light (for night rides) and how to shift gears. He advised me to tend to the air pressure in the bike's tires every few days, which seemed overly frequent to me, but as I told the shop owner, I haven't really ridden for years, so I've forgotten everything I might have once known about bikes and biking.

I look forward to taking the bike for a spin in the morning. More reports—and pictures—then.