I think I have to accept that this bike is just badly constructed.
It was great for two days and then started clunking again when I pedal. Unlike before, the fly wheel is no longer wobbling back and forth and feeling like it could shear off, but it clunks twice with every go-around, at the top and the bottom, and…I can’t remember how much it cost, but if it was the low end of what it might have cost, I’ve spent nearly that much trying to get it fixed, and if it was at the high end, I’ve spent half the price again, which is very frustrating.
The thing is, I don’t even WANT a great bike, partially because I can’t justify it but mostly because bikes get stolen a lot in Ireland (although it might be less of an issue in Sligo than it was in Dublin). I just want one that doesn’t go clunk. But afaict there’s nothing else wrong with it, so I’m going to suck it up at least as long as it takes me to cycle enough to be able to justify upgrading, or the money fairy visits, whichever comes first. And neither might ever happen, let’s be real.
Anyway, despite two weeks of no cycling I’ve had zero bike butt and I’ve gone on a couple of moderately short (3-5 miles) bike rides that have been very pleasant, and my current vague plan in the Whup Dan Project is to get a gym membership next month and start going in to do a dry workout, weightlifting, etc, for a month so I can try to adapt to “cycle, exercise more, cycle again” before actually starting to SWIM, which is a very tiring kind of exercise.
I would like to start swimming before January because everybody starts exercising in January, but also, December never goes as planned, so we’ll see.