Back on a Bike

I bought this bike today:

(Purchased at Action Bikes in Finchley.)

It's a Dawes, a hand-built British bike made by a Birmingham company.

It's the first bike I've purchased since 1999 -- and that bike was only ridden a few times before being abandoned, and later donated to charity.

Previously, I owned bikes continuously from childhood right up until 1998. My favorite -- and longest-lasting bike -- was an Italian-built Atala, a very light, white road bike that I purchased in Ithaca, New York in the summer of 1974. I rode that bike all over upstate New York, New York City and Long Island before taking it to Israel, where I continued riding it well into the 1980s and, I think, 1990s.

This new bike cost around £200, and I've added on a cheap bike computer to track distance mostly.