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["SISU!" <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

I'm 45 years old.  I learned to ride a bike when I was 5, so one could
say that I have had this 'skill' for 40 years, but bikes today are very
different than the bikes I grew up with.  I started off, probably like
most of you, with an average style, 1 speed bike, a Columbia IIRC, that
had coaster brakes.  I rode that bike until my pre-teen years when I got
a Sears 5 speed.  Wow, that was cool.  At 15, English racers were all
the rage and I got a cheapo 10 speed-the first in my neighborhood to own
one, and I thought I was "all-that".  I rode that same bike back and
forth to college classes in Atlanta when I was 21 and very poor.  For
the most part, I haven't ridden much since.
Five years ago, I was diagnosed with severe RA and moderate OA.  A year
later, I was diagnosed with heart valve problems.  Between these two
afflictions, I have been medically relegated to either biking or
swimming for aerobic exercise.  For the past year, I have been riding a
25 year old exercise bike off and on for cardio.  I wanted a new bike,
but that wasn't in the cards....until now.
My son left for Hawaii today and has left his 21 speed mountain bike
here at the house for me to ride.  The damn thing is so complex that I
feel totally stupid on it.  I've been reading tips on Ehow.com to learn
how to ride the friggin thing.  Whoever thought there would be front
gears and back gears...a suspension system, two sets of brakes, etc.
etc. on a freakin bicycle?!?!?  I am feeling older and older and older....
Yesterday, an occasion arose where I had to borrow my son's cell phone
for a trip.  I felt like a technologically impaired moron having to get
a lesson on how to use a cell phone.  What's worse, I had to drive my
neighbors almost new F350 truck...a honkin' monster of a diesel truck
with all the bells and whistles.  I was totally out of my element.
Power this and Power that..it had seat warmers for crying out loud!  I
was afraid to touch any of the buttons!
I'm feeling really old and disconnected with modern life.  I remember my
grandmother refusing to use a hand calculator and I thought "how silly".
 I'm not laughing anymore.  Does anyone else feel this way or am I just
alone, isolated and really out of touch with the world?

So okay, aside from my little pity party above, can anyone give me any
advice on riding that bike, or should I just stick with the exercise
bike in the bedroom where it is safe (and boring).  I want to get out
and live, but I feel like I'm half brain dead on learning new things.

Bev, trying to put a little SISU back into my life.

--
Bevanron in NW Georgia          EarthNSky Farm  34.498N 85.076W
SISU! (Finnish--There is no single word in English that encompasses
all that sisu means, but it combines the following ideas: guts, pep,
determination, stubbornness, perseverance, hardiness, stamina, go, do,
nerve, spunk, pluck, and grit.  It's like "Just Do It!" & "Go for It!")
                                GO NAVY!