It was exactly 52 weeks ago today that I took my wife's ex-boyfriend's clunky, rusty, bad mountain bike for a final spin. After grinding my way over Portland streets on that thing for nearly a decade, I was pedaling it up the hill to the wonderful Community Cycling Center on NE Alberta Street.

God bless the dedicated volunteers at CCC, they take in old bikes, teach folks how to fix them and take care of them, and then give them away to deserving youngsters or sell them for funds to keep their program running. Safety is their main message, and they won't help a child with a bike unless the child has his or her helmet on.

On that March afternoon, I was donating the old mountain bike, and hoping to shop for a nice used steel road bike.

And they had the perfect one for me -- a 10-speed Centurion Omega. This Japanese (I think) road bike was at least 15 years old -- there's a parking sticker on it from Oregon State U. dated 1986 and another sticker that indicates it originally came from Tigard -- but it didn't look to have too much mileage on it, and the capable technicians up at CCC had refurbished it.

It was a big change from the mountain bike, which was never very rideable and had become highly unreliable. Not being much of an experienced rider, it took me a while to get used to the feel of my new used bike.

But since learning its ways, I have ridden many happy miles on the Omega, particularly running errands around my Portland neighborhood. This is a fantastic city to bike in -- some say, the best among all the larger cities in the United States -- and the little Centurion is all I need to get out there and enjoy it. It has the distinct advantage of being nice enough to groove on, but not so nice as to shout, "Steal me!"

As much as I bemoan the City of Portland's inclination to throw money at frills, I must confess I love what it has done for biking. No doubt this is due in large part to former City Commissioner, now Congressman and someday probably Mayor Earl Blumenauer, who has commuted on his own bike for many years.

Cycling is great for a lot of reasons. For me, it's not the ecology thing that does it so much as the psychic benefit derived from riding. Fresh air is good for your brain.

Moreover, as a person who sometimes runs the same routes as those I bike, I have come to appreciate fully what a useful invention the wheel is. You can get places and combust calories without sacrificing knee cartilage.

The $80 I dropped at CCC last year was the best money I'd spent in a long time. Plus, I now get to write off the fair market value of the mountain bike. My conscience tells me that's about a $15 tax deduction.