By Stacey Chaney

I finally found a bike I can ride around town for errands. I am staying out of my car, saving gas, hearing more Ranchero music than ever before and lowering my blood sugar. Of course, I could walk. I need to walk off this dangerous inherited apple shape and still get my lists done, but I have to decide between the milk or the Mocha Mix, because both would become too heavy about two blocks from walking home.

I prefer walking to jogging and delight in the exhausted, but content, feeling after a long hike followed by a hot shower to remove the ticks. I never miss the Skyline treks with my “Thursday Hike for Health” group through Hillview Community Center.

This new bike is a “Coaster” or “beach bike” without gears and with pedal brakes and low handlebars so I can ride upright instead of hunched over. I longed for the ease of the “Sting Ray” bike I had as a girl. I was searching garage sales, leery of the rusty fenders and the scarcity of spare parts. On my first test drive around my neighborhood, I ran into (well actually skidded to a stop) a friend from the Spa of Los Altos, who dutifully admired my new pink coaster. After accepting her praise, I cruised back home, now committed to making my new alternative transportation a part of my life - my goal to becoming “The Happy Woman.”

Since retiring from full-time work, I have not found the groove of The Happy Woman I thought I would become. I have been volunteering with the Friends of the Los Altos Libraries book sale group. While most patrons staggered up to us under a tower of books at a recent sale, a remarkably happy woman approached me with a single paperback held in both hands inquiring if the book were really only 25 cents. I was able to make her happy by confirming her treasure were indeed a true bargain.

As I watched her carefully fold her new purchase in her backpack and walk her bike down the path, I thought, I need to get me one of those backpacks.

Now I have another use, besides hiking, for the Salvation Army-found backpack that proudly bears the student name “Stephen.”

I am blocked from becoming The Happy Woman by this funky mood I slip into. I refuse to be defined by the midlife blues. I’m not depressed, just disappointed. So I am venturing off on my bike, determined to coast out from this numbing fog, not to be intimidated by the swarms of skinny, Lycra-clad bikers.

With good intentions, I biked my way to the Los Altos Police Department to get a bike license/registration or whatever I needed to be street legal. I was redirected to the Santa Clara County Fire Department station on the corner of San Antonio Road and Almond Avenue. The firefighters redirected me to the police department. So I am still riding outlaw. I may even join “ACT UP” and start wearing Lycra.

Chaney is a Los Altos resident.

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