The Hajj

I made the pilgrimage to The City today. My destination was, of course, Harris Cyclery, the forever spiritual home of the Great Sheldon Brown, may Alla bless his name. Even though this shop is "conveniently located" right off the Mass Pike, I had to drop off some one in Camberville and so decided to take the overland route which just happened to pass right through the Broadway Bicycle School.

First, I want to note a few things that I saw about The City. There were a ton of bikes everywhere. There were tons of bike lanes everywhere. There were also TONS of cars and stoplights everywhere! That, and the fact that there were no real "hills" to speak of made me think that it would be nuts to get around and way BUT bike if I lived in The City. Of course I don't. And that sucks. I think that I would like living in the the City much, much more that I like visiting it, or, more to the point, driving into it! Blech!

Secondly, BBS is fricken tiny! I thought that it would be so much.....more. Initially, I strode boldly into the "shop" only to realize instantly that in this case "Shop" really meant shop and not "store"! The floors were wooden and well worn. The walls were lined with tools and the place was full of cold but happy cyclists and workers, who were much less cold but still appeared to be quite happy. It was cozy. There were very, very few things for sale there, other than a big rack of bikes that I assumed to be refurbished whips. I spoke briefly with a nice man with a beard, smiled inside myself, took a schedule of up-coming repair classes that I will doubtfully attend and left. The overall feeling of the place, to me, was a combination of my grandfather's garage and a ski lodge.

Then, it was off to the "big event": Harris! I drove over filled with a sense of anticipation that seemed appropriate for this season. Had I been on a bicycle I might have made it on time. Sadly, the shop was closed. Even though all I could do was press my nose against the glass and drool a little, I can see why this place is Mecca for cyclist with an "old school" bent to them. Lugged this, Italian that and all kinds of folding something elses. What a place! My father, who rode a Bianchi and always lusted after a folding bike (a more ridiculous and dorky thing I could never imagine in my teen-aged mind) would have locked himself inside before he would have allowed himself to be locked outside of that place! I can't wait to get back there! Simply amazing place AND they have stuff for sale!

Oh my! The new Trek!

Is a bike. Sadly. No more no less. It was not a rocket ship. It didn't let ,me go any faster or any farther. It handles nicer than the Marathon but not as sharp as the PRN-10. There are a LOT of gears, most of which I don't need and some of which are suprizingly far apart from each other. Despite the fact that I "went down" to a 58, I found the reach to the bars to be just a smidge too long. I moved the seat a little forward and hope that does the trick. I only did 5 miles or so. I like the 1500 better than the vintage bikes but not that much better. I guess I just expected so much....more. I'll keep riding it in fair weather. Perhaps as I pile on more miles I'll come to appreciate it more. Right now though it's just alright.

edit: I was reflecting today. Rainy days are good reflecting days. The bike, other than felling a tad too big for me, felt like nothing else at all. This was my first aluminum road bike, and pretty much my first aluminum bike at all. It is certainly my first bike with 23c tires that take 120PSI. I expected a rough, stiff ride. I did not get it. In fact, the way that the bike road or "felt" played no part, either positive or negative, in my cycling experience at all. And that's good. I'll say it agiane; nice bike.

I got a New (to me) bike!

But can't ride it. I just haven't had the chance. Heck, I don't even have any pictures of it! It is a 2005 Trek 1500. I only test rode it up and down the street in front of the seler's house but I can already tell that it is an experience worlds away from the Vintage Steel that I have been riding. I can't wait to get some miles on it before the snow and ice come. There is NO room on this bike for fenders or wide tires. Racey. Fast. Nice.

Cyclocross

I went with friends and family to witness my first Cyclocross today. I had heard a lot of hype about what to expect and I was thinking that it would be much more of a circus than it was. I was expecting it to be muddier than it was. I was expecting there to be more running than there was. I was expecting a lot more of....every thing than there was! What it did have were a lot of racers! There were more people on bikes there than I ever did see in one l place at one time. They were all going to be riding at one point of the day or the other. I think my small band were some of the few pure spectators there. I kind of felt out of place. I was there to support a small LBS owner who had given me a special bolt to fit an old bike. He did pretty well. He was racing Cat-4 and 45+ Masters. WOW! Were these guys fast! I was impressed. I am certainly in no shape ,yet, to even think about a cross race. There is racing right now and the Cat-1s go off in an hour or so. We had to come home because the babies were getting cold and tired. I was thinking about going back to watch the fast guys but I'm thinking that I'll just go for a ride so next year I can move from Cat-6 to Cat-4!

Oh, and PS two things:

1. Those guys are FAST! The cat-4 guys, the over 45 guys, the over 55 guys even the kiddos are FAST!
   
2. I didn't see a single Crosscheck in the pack. FWIW.
   

Boo-O-8

I took my new pride-and-joy out for a peddle today. I had some tinkering to do on it over the last few days and I knew that it was not 100% but it should have been road worthy. I had it on the stand last night and ran it through all the gears and adjusted the wheels and brakes so that, even though I knew the wheels weren’t 100% true, nothing rubbed and every thing worked as it should. I have a fancier model Peugeot that I rode around for quite a bit last year despite the fact that it was much, much too small for me. I guess I had too high expectations for this lowly UO-8.

Something was ticking. Front wheel or back, I couldn’t quite figure this out but I think it was the front. Last night I found a big divot on the back rim that caused one tire to blow out and another to almost explode. I used a pair of channel-locks to ease that ding back into place but it wasn’t a 100% fix so that was my immediate concern. I got off the bike and tried both wheels and they spun clear with no rubbing or real wobbling.

Secondly, there was something wrong with the peddling. As I would peddle through the 12 O’Clock position it would “click” on the left side. I have heard this noise before. I had hear this noise before. When I was ten. The kids with the crappiest bikes made this noise when they were peddling about. It was obnoxious then and it was obnoxious now. Of course, when I dismounted the bike and tried to re-create the sound by hand I was unable to do it.

The bike stopped poorly and handled poorly. It made noises that made me fear that it would explode or fall apart. It was nowhere near the ride of my PRN and certainly not even as nice as my Raleigh Marathon. I could pour a lot of work and money into it and I am sure that it would be a better riding bike! Sadly, I don’t have enough knowledge to diagnose these symptoms , nor the tools to fix most of them. I have a UO-14 in size extra-large that also rides nicer than this turd. That bike I got for free. I’m gonna slap a set of fenders on that and ride that as my winter beater. Perhaps I will make the time and money investment to make the UO-8 special but for the time being it seems as if I made a bad call with this one!

Three Speeds Again.

I dug the old three speed out of the cellar tonight and took her for a little around the block. Last year I never got her working right and I ma afraid that I might not this year either. I also remember thinking last year that three speeds simply were not enough. I think that i may have spoken too soon. I did not try to tackle and of the bigger hill on my usual route but I did some light climbing and first gear wasn't that bad. I suspect that with a larger rear cog fitted it would be fine for most around-town circumstances. I felt that I was going "more than fast enough" in third gear and I would have had to be peddling a lot faster to have been "spinning". The Kenda Cyclocross tires that I fitted to the bike (a mistaken purchase that turned out serendipitously) proved to be plenty grippy and plush on my all steel bicycle.

Sadly, all is no well. My sprung Brooks saddle that is so much the rage on the internet was found to be rather un-comfortable. I suspect that a few simple adjustments wold rectify this situation. Of a more dire concern is the front wheel. It sat tight and spun true when the bike was on the stand, but on the road it wobbles from side to side in the fork. I understand that thee is suppoed to be a certain amount of "play" in the front wheel of a bicycle like this but the amount of play resulted in an unstable feeling and a tire that rubbed against the fender. Both potentially dangerous situations. I have been lax in the past to spend any dough on this bike,not knowing if I had any real use or interest in it as I never got it quite out the door last year. This year, I think it might be "worth it" to have the hub situation looked into. I suspect that they might need new bearings or something. Methinks that this might be the excuse that I have been looking for to make the Pilgrimage to Harris Cyclery that I have always wanted to make. Maybe I'll run into a "certain someone" while I am there!

Dumpy Bicycle

Two days ago I made the "jump" to the "Ten Mile" ride. I had to walk up "The Nemesis" from Juniper road to the top and had to walk up the back side of "Cemetery Hill" but I did it! I was prety stoked. I tried again today, even though I wasn't "feeling it". But it worked out better than two days ago. I made it all the way to Sleepy Hollow Road and didn't have to walk all the way up! I didn't even slow down to get past the cemetery. That's not the story. That's what's supposed to happen. The more that you ride the better you are supposed to get. The story is how I was dressed!



I was dressed like this. I know! How could I? No spandex (hold on)? No "tech" fabric (sorta)? So what the hell was I wearing? My gloves were nice gel-palm motorcycling gloves that made the transition very well thank you. I had on LL Bean hiking socks under tennis shoes. Had it been colder or rainier I would have been wearing them under gortex hiking boots.Tear-away insulated wind pants and a nylon wind breaker with a giant, reflective "N" on the back complete the outer layer. A hooded nylon windbreaker at that. Fuck it. As shocking as it may sound, I didn't even knit my own cycling-specific hat! I chose a DepartMart helmet instead. I'm sure that since it's cycling specific, said hat would provide nearly the same protection in the event of a crash, but I'm not sure. I DO know that it wouldn't blow off of my hair.

As much as I would love to rip on people who get overly involved in the fashion of cycling clothing I will have to admit that beyond a shadow of a doubt a shell worn for cycling should NOT have a big ol' hood, unless it zips securely into the collar. In the best of circumstances it billows out behind you in a way that reminds one of exactly NOT a silk scarf of a WWI Flying Ace. It also impedes one's view of traffic as seen over either the left or right shoulder. Under other circumstances it can un-furl itself (from it's position rolled up and tucked under the collar) as you are descending a hill at high speed. This has several effects. First, it scares the heck out of you when you hear the very loud "SNAP" right behind your (fortunately helmeted) head. Secondly, it creates a great deal of drag that is uncomfortable and slows you down like a parchute coming out of the aft end of a dragster.

Under that exotic mix of clothing I wore my GI issued Poly-pro shirt, and on the bottom layer my (too small) cycling jersey and my bike shorts with the little pad thingie in them. It was 48 degrees out today, according to the Interweb, and I was just on the wrong side of too warm with this outfit. The only saving grace is the humungus neck opening of the wind breaker that made quite a nice vent. I tell you these things not to show how much money I spent on my kit or display how fashionable I looked as I achieved neither of these goals. I show you what I was wearing because I want every one to know, especially thos of us old, fat, and new to cycling, that it CAN be done and done on the cheep and without over much regard to what you fucking look like. True to the original nature and intent of this blog, I also posted them for myself. I did this for two reasons. Foremost, I wanted a before shot. I'm topping in at 232 right now. That is the fattest and most disgusting I have ever been in the whole history of me. Secondly, as I reviewed the photos that were taken today, I realized that I do not look totally rediculous in my little outfit. I'm not going to get hired on as a cycling cloths model, that's for sure but a little spandex didn't make my fat rolls pop out that badly.

So there it is. I got out there and did a good job. I did it without breaking the bank on a bunch of "high tech" event-specific clothing and I did it without breaking the bank on a bunch of "old school" tweedy-wooly crap. I used what I had on hand and looked OK doing it. More importantly, I stayed warm and dry and had a great ride!

Out with the boy

I thought that it might be too cold to put The Bruce in his bike seat so I thought that I'd drag out his little trailer, even though I'm not convinced that it's the best thing to use on the roads. I guess I made the right choice and that he was pretty stoked to go for a ride as he almost ran me over to get to his trailer. As soon as I unsnapped the flap he was in! He even sat patiently in the seat while I buckled him in. I bundled him up and off we went. I spent more time looking back to try and get a feel for exactly where the trailers wheels were as I cruied along and I avoided what I think is the most dangerous part of the ride (narrow, fast and full of traffic). We made it home safe and sound, I got a little exercise and my boy LOVED the ride!

Testing, testing

My Ride.


I got the new chain and derailure on the BOP (Big 'Ole Peugeot) last night and got the new tube in and got every thing adjusted. I took her out for a spin this afternoon and I have to say that I love how it rode. Despite the fact that I really, really want this bike to work for me it simply IS too large. It's funny but I have a 60cm Raleigh Marathon that fits me very well, and I have a 54cm PRN-10 that is supposed to be too small for me but is not that bad really. Yet, bumping the frame up just 4cm is over the top. It worked well if it weren't for the looong reach to the bars it would be.....still too big for me. Saddle is slammed and the darn thing makes me feel like a10 year old who stole his fathers whip.

My Skilz.

A win is a win right? Well, until your next loss any way and when you loose two in a row, at home, it shakes your confidence and tonight my confidence is shook! Monday night, hen I had game I took the front tire off the Triumph, flipped it around so it was rolling the right way, changes the tube,re-installed the fender so that it didn't rub and called it a day. The chain, I noticed was prety loose, so I left it on the Park Tools Repair Stand to await final adjustment. Which was today. The day that I found out that one of the nuts that hold the back wheel on is stripped or something. Hum, I wonder, too late, if the nuts are different sizes from one side of the wheel to the next? IDK. I'm going to try to get another nut. I hope that they are not some Raleigh-specific spec. that is un-replaceable!

Well, since THAT didn't work out I thought that I would adjust the handle bars on the PRN-10. I got a socket in there and loosened the pinch-bolt, rotated the bars to the desired position and then could NOT get the bolt to tighten. The thing just spin in it's little housing as I try to tighten the nut. There is no slot for a screwdriver or other tool. I tried to hold it still with my thumb but, clearly, that didn't work. So, I am at a loss as how to tighten what should be a fool-proof bolt to adjust! Two losses in a row. I quit and went upstairs to play with the baby.

OK, I believe!

I believe in U-Locks. I bought one. A very big one. A Kryptonite one, so if Superman tries to steal my bike I'm all set. If I have it with me. It's pretty big and pretty heavy. It came with a mounting thingie so I mounted it. I put it on the 91.5 inch 820, so it's a pretty big frame compared to what most people ride most of the time, especially considering the store where I purchased it. I had a dickens of a time trying to sort out where to put it. In the end I have it on the seatpost in such a manner that it rotates on it's mount to (hopefully) rest against the left rear seat-stay. As long as it works that way I'm golden. If it winds up flopping back and forth and banging off my calf and the bike I'm going to wind up carrying it over the handle bars and if I do that I'm going to wind up launching it through some one's window.

I believe in this guy:
[QUOTE=The Historian;11749342]... I had a pair of size 13 hiking boots (that he passed on to some one else) and they'll make a difference on his long walks, hikes, and winter riding. Ditching the idea that I wasn't athlete enough for specialized gear was part of getting rid of the fat mentality with me...
[/QUOTE]

Wow. So simple and so deep. You see, one of the things that I have fretted over was that my feet would get cold/wet when riding in the cold/wet conditions that we find ourselves in now. I went to the extreme of finding quick-drying, moistuer wicking, wet-insulating socks. I got them mostly because I couldn't move my mind any farther along than "...because my sneakers are going to get soaked through any way". Yea, but my GORTEX HIKING BOOTS wouldn't! Duh! Let's face facts: I'm not trying to win the TDF, or even get my 'Cross on. I'm looking to ride around the block a few times and drop some tonnage and have a good time. I can sure as shit do that with hiking boots (which co-incidentally have nice stiff soles that make peddling more fun). At the deeper level, I am on-board witht he thought that, even though I'm a borderline bufarillo that does NOT look attractive in spandex, having sport-specific clothing can make the activit y more enjoyable. If I'm having more fun I do it more often and if I do it more often I have more fun and so on and so on and so on.

I believe in fenders! I put them on the 820 because it's my "utility" bike and all "utility" bike have to have fenders! Truth: they have kept a little water off of me from time to time navigating throug some puddle some where but I remember, oh yes I remember. I remember being a teenager when the bike wasn't a toy or a piece of sporting equipment. It was transportation. It was freedom. Except when it rained. Yep, we got soaked but mostly we got that long, grimy, dirty, wet stripe up out back and over our but and all up the inside of each leg. HA! NOT with the fenders (yes, this was my first time riding in the actual rain sine I was about 15). They work as advertised. The rain gear did NOT sieve through like it does on the motorbike. The gortex hiking boots worked wonderfully. It was amazing: a catharsis.

Sadly, I also believe that I am fat and out of shape and am going to have to re-dedicate myself to riding. It's about time for that any way. What better season to tackle those out-door type activities than Winter?

One of the MOST important things in leading a cycling life style is...

... HAVING SOMEPLACE TO GO!!!! I got off my 24 at 7am, went home, and un-wound for a bit. I couldn't fall asleep but I certainly didn't have the energy to go for a ride. I went to bed woke up, got organized and brought the dog to his training class 12 miles away. Although I was rushed I DID take a moment to envy those "Car Free" people and the time, advance planning skills and ingenuity it would take them to haul a 60 pound dog 12 miles in 20 min without a motor! Then I snapped back to it, loaded his little but in the Jeep, got a cheeseburger and and we hit the books, so to speak. On the way home I contemplated "going for a ride" when I got there. Somehow a "fitness" ride in the freezing cold and dark didn't seem, well, any [I]fun[/I]. I started to look for "excuses" to ride. Go visit friends? Well, if that was something that grown, married men with a pack of kids in the house randomly did on a Wednesday night that would be a great excuse. But it's not. I could got to the pub for a few pints. There is a Bike Blogger that got his bike stolen and then crashed it out engaging in this sort of activity. I commend him! Sadly, that's not the type of activity that one engages in with said pack of kids, a wife, a girlfriend and a 7am on-the deck time to start another 24 hour sift. Not on a Wednesday. Errands! I can run an errand. At eight thirty on a Wednesday night. If I were a drug dealer or I needed something from CVS or store 24, which I definitely do not. Even if I wanted to get drugs, or even some beers but then we get back the that whole "Family" and "Responsability" thing. Truth to be told, I don't run many "errands" any way. "errands", I have found is just a fancy way of saying "spending money" and I don't spend a lot of money that I don't need to, other than on drugs and beer, and my lovely wife is in charge of spending the money that we DO need to so, ipso-facto: no ":errands"! BAM! (I just threw that in there. I don't know why but probably because I feel that I am on some kind of "roll" or something). So, in the end I squandered hours and hours of time that could have been spent dodging cars and frostbite out there in he darkness. OK. Sure. There are things that I can "get". I can get lights, or special socks or blinky things and a battery that looks like a water bottle. Truth be told, I am SO over the "getting things" part of cycling. I don't want any more "things" other than maybe a "modern" road bike or MTB next season. I don't want to spend any more money on cloths or gadgets or things that heat my undies or flash or blink or strobe. What I want is motivation. What I want is opportunity. What I want is freedom. What I want is SOME WHERE TO GO!

I gotta get back on!

Today was the day. I was going to go for a long ride. I was going to go off-roading. I was going to fix up the old Peugeot that is to be my "winter beater". I was going to put time in on the trainer. I didn't do none of that! It wa a rainy day, despite the warm weather, so I did rainy day things. I watched TV. I took a nap on the couch and I took the dog to training class. I rode no where which is too bad because I like riding! It makes my body and soul feel good. I like being out and about. I like the excercise. It's been many days since I logged any real riding. I'm fat and out of shape. I miss the smell of outside air. I'm a disgusting sloth. We hates it we do!

I did my bit!

I'm just not used to it. I know that it makes so much sense on so many levels but I just can't help but feeling.... silly tooling around town on my bike. I pumped up the tires and set out through down-town to go to City Hall and to do a little geocaching at a local park. Going through the DT area was the worst. If you have read this blog at all you know that recreational, altruistic cycling is not the norm in these parts. Most adults on bicycles around here are on them because they can not hold onto a job or driver's license, and "Down Town" is where most of these people are to be found. I guess I was "worried" that the other middle-class white males passing through this bottle-neck of Urban Blight would simply assume that I was "one of them" and that I was in some way in danger of being knocked off my bike by their scorn. I took great pains to avoid this. I wore my helmet and chose the Trek 820, conspicuously decorated with costly-appearing yuppyish doo-dads and NOT one of my beloved drop-bar vintage road bikes. "Bumcycles" down town, "vintage" in the countryside. After all, Image is everything when it comes to Utility Cycling Chickly. Right?

Well, I am pleased to say that I was able to safely and efficiently run my errands, find one of my geocahes and even find a more bike-friendly way out of the valley! I was not thrown from my stead by either scorn or 4 wheeled impact (although a schoolbus driver -of all things- certainly did her best to try!) I got in about 5 miles of riding that I would not have otherwise too! As silly as I felt about it initially, after it was over I was pretty pleased with myself and glad that I chose to do something healthy for myself and the Planet.

Cycle Chic. Sort of.

I was pretty darn excited to see today, a young woman riding a bike in the small city that I work in. People on bikes here are nothing new. College kids ride them all over the place and we have a very large population of folks who are not financially able to support a more lavish vehicle. Being near some "prime riding" suburbs and having a great bike-path leading from them into town, there are a lot of "Cyclists" that come storming in with lycra-clad backs bent low. This girl was something different. She has a step-through, dutch style bike with an IGH and a basket (lots of baskets actually) and flowers on the bars. The whole nine. It looked like a very new and very expensive ANT style bike. She was dressed the part too. Fashionable in black with no helmet or stitch of spandex of any sort any where. Thank goodness, because spandex on this poor girl would not have been pleasant for the rest of us. The sad part of it was that she was clearly not riding it well. She was wobbling all over the place and looked as if she would fall at any second. I hope that this was imply because she was anew cyclist but watching her I couldn't help but wonder it those sit up style bikes might not be just a little harder for a NooB to ride than a more...... "normal" styled bike. I know that, even though it is of a much older design, I personally feel ever so slightly out of control on my 3-speed than I do on my dropped bar bikes or my MTBs. My fear is that, despite the marketing push to get people onto these kinds of bikes they might not be the best for every one. In this young lady's case her weight was very unevenly distributed because of her size and the riding position that her bike made her assume. If she were leaned more forward, she might have had her weight on the front wheel more, making it more planed and easier to control. It would be sad if people DO go out, buy these nice, and very expensive "city bikes" and then felt uncomfortable riding them, or worse, got hurt on them. Still, it was very encouraging to see some one riding, by choice and design, a utility bike for utility purposes in the small city that lends itself so well to cycling. Even though I might have poked a little bit of fun at the girl, if she keeps riding that thing she will be healthier and fitter than she is today. That is if she doesn't fall off and hit her head first.

NBR

Those Coonasseses are hunting 12 froor Gators with .22 rim-fires! Just wow.

"America is all about speed. Hot, nasty, bad-ass speed."

OK, Elenore never said that but it still rings true. It certainly does for me. I have noticed that I am totally incapable of going "slow" on a bike. I am by no means fast but I go faster than I should be going. When I ride I don't "warm up" or "get in the grove" I start pounding up the hill and get up to speed. I don't have a computer on the Raleigh but on my MTBs "speed" is about 13MPH which is not fast for the fast guys on road bikes but for a fat guy on a MTB or a 30 year old clunker with a sticky back wheel, it's a lot of energy-sapping effort. I do it all the time too. I do it riding off road, or going to the bank or even on the bike path with the trailer attached! I think this is why it's so hard for me to get over that 6 mile "hump": by the time I get to Decision Street I'm whipped out from the initial 2.5 mile sprint and bail into that nice mile long descent that is just around the corner. It doesn't help that I know that the next climb on the "long route" is, to me, tourturously long and that I have only once ever been able to ride the whole ascent. I think I might try a route that I found on MapMyRide.com that is just under ten miles long and has the worst climb of the route near the beginning of it.

Not cycling realy

but hiking. REAL hiking, up and over rock faces and down steep grades. 400 foot elevation changes in a few hundred feet. All with a baby in a back pack. We did about 4 and a half miles and I can't remember hiking any thing like this since I was in the military. Not that it was particularly hard: it was Skyline trail at the Blue Hills. The computer says that I should have burned about 1600 calories but my bathroom scale says that I gained a pound and a half. I have GOT to get back on the bike!

Hiking just ain't cutting it.

Over the last month I have taken to Geocaching and therefore, hiking. About half of that is done with The Bruce in a baby-backpack. I looked it up and at my weight + baby load I am burning about 1200 calories in an hour and a half. Not bad. So how come I'm not loosing weight? I imagine that there is some muscle development going on there and I imagine that the pace just isn't aerobic enough. Those are my thoughts any way. Whatever the reason, it's just not working out the way that I had hoped.

So, I broke the bike out and peddled a little bit here and there on the various bikes in the stable. I even hooked up The Bruce's little trailer and pulled him for a little ride till the back tire exploded! It scared the heck out of my but he never even woke up! I was terrified that a piece of flying rubber would take his eye out but he was fine.

So, today's 5 mile ride out and back to try to find The Geocache That I Will Never Find was the longest in recent history. My riding buddy crashed out prety good in a wash out. He was following me at a prety good pace (like 13MPH) when I hit the thing. I kinda panicked a little and thought that I was going to bite it but I guess that I managed to keep my weight OFF OF the fork and get the wheel far enough up the other side of the bank that I cleared the ditch so smoothly that He didn't even realize that I went over something. He did none of the things that I did and bought it big time. He was carrying my GPS at the time and, sure enough, the screen got cracked. That was it though, other than my buddy getting banged up a little bit.

Things are much worse than I thought that they would be.

I got out and about tonight and went down town to see how bad things are from the seat of a bike instead of a car. Bad. The downtown commuter rail station has two bike racks. Both of them had bikes one bike each chained up.

There used to be another one there but the owner must have forgotten his key. I guess that no one wants to park their cars there wither because there were only thirty or so parking spots. This lot lived up to every thing that I expected. So I set off across a very busy street and over a very busy and narrow bridge to the other commuter rail station, less than a mile away. There things were both better and worse.







That's how many car parking spots there are. There are two bike racks, each can hold a half dozen bikes and at least one spot was claimed! It must be safer to leave them over here. As I suspected. So, after this sort-of-win, I took off to the downtown area. The main street was just as congested and dangerous as I suspected. What I did not expect was that, since the flow of traffic is so slow there to begin with, the drivers didn't seem too put out to be stuck behind my bike which, in fact, cut through the congestion faster than they did any way. Bear in mind that this experiment had a sample size of one, but statistically 100% of the motorists I encountered were content to follow along at a respectful distance as I peddled on through. Which is all I could do since there was no where to park the damn bike! Out of three municipal lots down town only one had any thing that even LOOKED like a bike rack, and honestly it didn't look like one. I found this contraption in on the farthest side of the parking lot farthest from the actual down town. No bikes but I didn't feel too bad since the garage is so far away from every thing that no one even bothers to park their car there either. Luckily for me I work almost thirty miles away in a place where the commuter rail does not go but Rt. 495 does! Bike commute in downtown Haverhill? Forget it.

It's Still a Tween Space

OK. When I started making these notes it was with the intention of observing and participating in the cycling experience in an area where not many people cycle. Sad to say, not much has changes.

The vast majority of bicycles in these parts come from the local Walmart and are ridden by children or people not allowed to have cars due to legal or financial constraints. There are few, very few, active cyclists about. I see them from time to time riding alone on some back road in town. No groups. Ever. There are a few people who cycle for utillity, as I once dreamed that I would. And that sums it up. We have one, and only one, road in town that has a "share the road" bicycle sign. Of course that road leads into an affluent neighboring community and does not connect to the city's infrastructure at all. Our local bike shop is marginal at best. Loath to fix up an older bike beyond the "tune-up" and all about selling new bikes to people who don't want them. Dismal and disappointing.

What this town needs is a cycling activist. I am poised to be, at best, an advocate. I wold love to see things change around here. The city is doing a lot to promote the down town area as a dining and shopping destination and artist zone. Many abandoned factory buildings have been converted into condos and there is a Commuter Rail Station right there! The downtown area is primed for a cycling boom that just isn't happening. I imagine that the route of that problem is two fold.

First is common sense. The main street through the down town area is a death trap for cyclists! With on-street parking on both sides, the roadway is barely wide enough for the two lanes of traffic. No room for a bike lane there a t all and there is no practical way to free up more space there other than eliminating one of the sides of parking and that would never fly with the local business owners. Of course, even if you could get cyclists safely to and fro down town, you would have to be a heck of a risk taker to leave your bike unattended there. Sadly, our down-town area directly abuts the worst neighborhoods in town. The Train Station is in the heart of the slum. It's such an un-appealing place to be that most people choose to drive over the river to the next station in a nicer part of town. I could never imagine leaving a bicycle, locked up or not, at the Haverhill train station for a single day, never mind routinely.

The second barrier to making the city more cycle-friendly is geographical. Some people might just call it sloth but the truth of the matter is that the down-town area sits in a river valley that has steep climbs out of it on all sides. One of those climbs is directly in front of my house and in all the time that I have lived here I have seen only three people successfully climb my hill: a hobo on a bike loaded with cans, one spandex-man and a kid on a BMX bike. That's it. I have seen lots of bike pushed up the hill but ridden? I have pushed my bike up the hill several times and you know what? It's a hard hum up that hill even on foot!

So, to recap, nothing has changes. We are too poor to have scads of recreational cyclists and too rural to have scads of commuters and utility cyclists. I still like to ride my bike around when I can and plan on keeping up with my fitness riding as I trty to loose some weight. Perhaps, if other people see me out and about it will inspire them to get the old bikes out of storage and get on the road. Maybe one of them will rise up as the activist that we need here in town to make it no longer a Tween Space for cyclists.

PMC

Until recently I had no idea what a big deal the Pan-Mass Challenge was! It's a big deal for charity and for cycling. There are routes of various lengths and difficulties, it's not just on mass of riders heading along the same route. There are routes as short as 50 miles and as long as a hundred and fifty. My friend Newt, who is a great rider and charity fund raiser, avoids this ride and I need to find out more about why. In any event, I think that I am going to try to make this a goal for next year: to ride the PMC!

I have burned Zero calories

I was supposed to go riding yesterday but my little girl was sick so I just hung out with her. Not a single calorie burned but the snuggle time was priceless. AND she feels better today. THAT'S the power of daddy. Work today but tomorrow.....

Saddle Sore

After putting a couple hundred miles on the Vintage Leather Saddle, and by "vintage" I mean that the actual saddle is wicked old, it's just not working for me. It's not breaking in. It's making my but uncomfortable and I'm not even sure that it was adjusted right. So I replaced it. I have a"trek" brand saddle that is pretty wide so of course I didn't use that one but a smaller one that I salvaged off of a Shogun 400. It took me a few tries to get it adjusted right but after a while I got the riding position right but it was only slightly more comfortable than the old leather one had been.

But what to do? Why, get a more comfortable one of course! Which one though? How can you pick one? There are all kinds of leather ones, and a billion kinds of synthetic ones. How do I pick one? I have no idea. I guess I'll try the one that's on there again since it IS marginally more comfortable than the other one. But I'm serious. How the heck DOES one pick a descent, comfortable bicycle seat?

My little stumbling block....

This is my daddy-baby rig. I use it to drag this little guy around on Bike Trails like the Rockingham trail or the Bedford trail. He likes it. What I would like to do is take him on the roads in it! That way I could run errands with him or even do some fitness riding with the little guy behind me. I have to tell you, I am very apprehensive about it. I have some pretty busy streets and some pretty steep hills around here and I don't want my little guy to get hurt. Tomorrow I might give it a try. Nothing serious just a little jaunt through the neighborhood back-roads. Sadly, there is no where cool that I can take him, like a park or something, without going down one of those mad steep hills or one of those pretty steep hills. Baby steps I guess (pun intended).

UPDATE: Ok. We DID it! The Bruce and I went out for a little ride around the hood. the thing that I was MOST apprehensive about (going down hills) turned out to not be such a big deal at all and, as I read some where but didn't believe, cars give the trailer a WIDE birth! It was a good ride but peddling that MTB with the trailer behind was more work over natural terrain than it is on a nice level bike path!

My IPO.

So, I have made a decision. I am going to put a link to this blog in the sig line of my BF profile. I have to admit that I am..... apprehensive. I like strangers little, and crowds even less. Now, I am going to invite crowds of strangers to read what I have said and how I have said it. I want to pull a hood up over my head and hide. Of course, I can't be all that apprehensive about it or I wouldn't do it. I suppose it's better to have hundreds of people see it than no one.

So, as I go forward, I hope that others can gain something from my experiences and ramblings. Perhaps there are other people who ride in one of these places between the places where riding is "cool". Perhaps I'll discover that there are more riders in my town that I ever thought. Perhaps it'll be a giant dog pile and I'll hide in some corner of the internet and cry. We will see. Dog pile on!

An Open Letter to Children and Hobos.

Dear Hobos and Children,

I admire you. Here I sit, in a position in life that I actually get to choose how I spend my money and how I spend my free time. I have been back "into" cycling after loosing a few months due to illness, apathy and other hobbies. I have long toyed with the idea of buying a "New Bike", either road or mountain as I enjoy both. However I realize that what I need more than a new bike is more TIME to ride the ones that I already have. With the concerns of work, family and other interests, I have precious little time to peddle my fat arse about. And make no mistake about it, my but is big!

Pushing all this meat around is hard work. It's work that I am not equipped to do for more than about 6 miles at a time and that's a shame. I LIKE riding my bike. I like the fresh air and exercise and the ability to see my town and countryside in a way that is not possible in a car or even on a motorcycle. Sadly, I can't DO it at will! Once a day, five days a week for as long as it takes me to go 6 miles is it. Sure, someday I'll do 12 miles and then maybe even more but I'll never have the all day energy, or the opportunity to develop that.

And I remember! I remember! I remember when the ride was the ends to a means, the way to get TO an event. It was never the event itself. I never had thoughts like "maybe that's all the riding I'm up for today" or "am I hydrated enough"? I just jumped on and went.

So today I look with envy upon those who just jump on and go because that's how they get where they are going. Weather it is because of age, financial status or (especially) by choice. To all of them, and all of you: hat's off and hazzah! I hope you realize how good you have it. Some of us can only dream about having the time to ride whenever we want and to have energy to ride wherever they want to. I am jealous.

Raleigh Marathon

That's my bike. That's what I have decided to ride on the road. It's old. Very old. It's heavy. Very Heavy. But it's paid for, had a lot of family history in it and is, most of all, perfectly functional! And it's beautiful. It has sport touring geometry!
[IMG]http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff57/noreasterDL/Bicycles/Raleigh7-10050.jpg[/IMG]

I don't know what that means. I found a .jpg of an old catalog a while ago and the Marathon is near the top of Raleigh's non-competitive "10-Speed" line from back in the day. "The Day" is the Eighties. This is NOT from the Eighties:


This is from the sixties and it was on every bicycle that my father in law has owned since then. He has never struck me as much as a cyclist, but I guess that was a mistaken preconception on my part.

I rode it a little bit last fall when it first cam into my hands and I liked it. I was riding my Peugeot on the road at the time despite the fact that it really is too small for me, no mater how much I wish that weren't true. For this year I put a little rack on the Marathon. It's designed for a MTB but fits over the top of the 27 inch wheels of the Marathon with very little clearance but it's nice and level. I don't think that a fender would fit in there but I don't have any fenders for it (yet) so that is not an issue (yet). What I DO have is a Triumph 3-Speed with a flat tire. Upon closer inspection I found that the valve stem is ripped away from the body of the tube. No sweat right? Well, it looks like the tire is also "sliced" at another location so now I ahve to source a 26 1 3/8 tire from.......wait a minuet. I bought some 26inch tires last year that did NOT fit my mountain bike..... Hey! they are the right size! They are gum-wall cyclocross looking things but they are on hand and will go on as soon as I get a new tube or two, which isn't on the front burner since I'm going to be riding the Raleigh Marathon exclusevly on the road this year. Right.

Back on the bike

I've done a couple of bike-path and neighborhood rides with friends and family over the summer, but nothing for "fitness". But I started yesterday and today to get back in the game. I've decided to ONLY use the Raleigh Marathon on the road for consistency sake unless I'm just fooling around. My legs hurt.

Not much going on these days

The sun came back out and the weather got warm and DNR stocked the trout ponds. I haven't cycled nearly enough in the last month or so, only getting out for a few bike-trail rides with the family. My little guy LOVES his trailer and I am so glad to have it! Any sort of "training" stopped and the Cycl_ops sit;s idle as does the 3 speed, the Peugeot and even the Marathon. My "MTB" is in pieces in the basement workshop and I somehow lost touch with the nice man that was going to sell me his one-owner UO-8. My wife's project bike sits neglected as well. I have had some lovely paddles on the local lakes and eaten some yummy fish dinners though. I miss cycling though. We'll just have to see what kind of time that I can make for it soon!

Minuteman Bike Traile with the new Burley

Saturday morning I was lucky enough to meet a wonderful couple up in New Hampshire who were selling a Burley bicycle trailer that was in excelent shape. Like new in fact. I bought it and quickly made arrangements with my wife and another trailer-towing couple to head for the Minuteman Trail to try it out. We met yesterday morning at the Bedford end. It was colder than I would have liked for my baby's first bike ride but we bundled him up and at the end, he seemed no worse for wear.

The Burley Encore trailer went together in a jiffy and was very sturdy. The nylon covering was tight and there were no rips or tears any where on the trailer. The only design flaw that I saw was that to use the flag there had to be a small opening where the cover did not fit all the way on the frame. Not a big deal unless it was raining, which it wasn't. On the trail the width took some getting used to. The weight of the trailer, and The Bruce, was noticeable but not overwhelming. Once underway it didn't really slow me down all that much.

The trail, on the other hand was a but of a disappointment. I had expected something wider and nicer from the grand-daddy of the Mass Bike tails. It was crowded, but not overly so, with walkers and joggers. There were PLENTY of recreational cyclist and families out too. The little ones trying out their first little bikes with their training wheels were adorable. We had the only two trailers that I saw. Honestly, I wish that there had been a lot less traffic out there as I was still just learning how to maneuver the Burly.

I have a pet-peeve about cycling and that is Road Bikers. Not a guy on a road bike, or even a couple of people out on road bikes together. NO, the thing that scalds my butter is when a gang of six, ten or twenty of the lycra-clad once a week cyclists with bikes that cost more than my car spew out of the suburban bike shops lots to clog the roads and (yes) sidewalks pretending to be some European TT star or whatever fantasies are being played out under those $300 lids. As obnoxious as they are on the roads, at least they are in an environment where people walking their dogs or letting their children ride little tricycles and stuff. These people with their inflated Egos and low self esteems do NOT belong coursing down the MUP at twenty miles and hour in big gangs. They didn't bother me any or I would have been in the news this morning instead of typing this but the behavior that I saw was atrocious. A few years ago I had a Harley Davidson motorcycle. I loved that bike but in the and d I couldn't STAND the Harley "people" and did not ever want the "real" motorcycling public to think of me as one of those Hayley Guys. I sold it. I smell the same smell coming off the Road Bikers as I did the Harley Guys. I love my Vintage road bikes but I'm not sure any more that I will by buying a modern one any time in the future. They come with a smell that is distasteful to me.

Salisbury Paths

I noticed that there was a new, paved MUP in Salisbury a couple of weeks ago and decided to look into it more. According the web site this was part of the Coastal Trails Network and that "Salisbury’s Coastal Trails provide an integral link in the Coastal Trails Network that connects Amesbury, Newbury, Newburyport and Salisbury." Well, not really. You see, the trail in Amesbury is separated from the Salisbury trail by a major highway (Rt. 495). None of the trails in Salisbury connect without riding on roads that are not marked as bike routs nor without crossing over Rt. 110. Newburyport's paved trail is separated from Salisbury's paved trail by a small thing called the Merrimack River. Other than that last one, these obsticals are rather minor and any one that is fairly confident about riding on the road can string together a nice little trip that ends with a rather dramatic view of Newburyport and the river from the point where the trail would have crossed the river when it was a rail line.

Previously, we rode the Amesbury part of the trail. Although paved, it was quite hilly for what one would expect of a "rail trail". It was a medium-scenic peddle through a quaint New England town. Today we rode the Salisbury part.

The Salisbury Point Ghost Trail is said to be hard-packed gravel and to "pass through beautiful woodlands". Well, today found that the gravel was pretty loosely packed and quite difficult to peddle through. Surrounded on wither side by scrub forest, marshy ground and the refuse-strewn back sides of commercial buildings, construction yards and private homes. There were benches and planters along the way and it certainly had the potential to become a scenic ride but for the time being I'll just have to give cudos to whoever wrote the grant. I rode this section of trail several years ago before the hippies gentrified it. At that time it was not passable by a recreational bicycle rider but it was passable by dirt bike! Well, the trail today has been graded since then and....... that;s about it. Other than the installation of the above mentioned benches and planters there is not much different about the trail or the view since then. Some body got a lot of money out of somebody else for very little work.

The second part of the non-interconnected trail is called the Old Eastern Marsh Trail. This is a flat, wide, paved fairly straight MUP with a nice little down-hill at it's head. The scenery along this trail was much nicer than along the Ghost Trail encompassing rolling woodlands, vast salt marsh and the aforementioned view at the end of the trail. Rumor has it that eventually the old railroad bridge will be modified to allow the MUP to continue onto the paved trail on the other side of the river which is clearly visible from the overlook.

Overall it was very enjoyable to be out WITH my wife for a change. She had fun and we both got a little exercise. While the "Trail" was actually "trails" and did not quite live up to the billing, it IS a great start and a welcome and relatively safe way to get out cycling. If the cyclist is moderately comfortable riding "transitions" on the street, there are a wide variety of relatively easy and family friendly cycling opportunities that rise from these trails including a trip the the Dairy Queen a nice little playground and the bike rout to Salisbury beach and the state reservation.

Trek 820

I recently added a bike to my collection. The intent was to get ahold of a "winter beater" that I could ride around and trash with relative abandon. I had tried several times of course. I got the three speed because of the IGH and fenders and chain guard but, alas, I feel in love with it and couldn't see "ruining" by riding it around in foul weather on salty roads. So then I got my first Trek 820. It was a 1999 model and aluminum. It was too small for me didn't work right anyway. It caused a pretty good wipe-out that has me very apprehensive about "hammering" on a used bike since, up to the point of the crash on my first "real" ride, the bike had performed flawlessly on multiple test rides. Then came the latest, a 2006, steel framed Trek 820 in the 19.5 inch size.

Brand new these bikes are Trek's CHEAPEST adult bicycles at $329.99. I paid considerably less for mine.I have to rave about it. It fits me perfectly. It is smooth riding and quick shifting. It did NOT have a component failure that caused me to crash. It has trigger shifters, which I prefer to grip shifters. The seat is reasonably comfortable. The bike rides very smoothly and comfortably and even felt sturdy after taking it off of a few small drops to try it out. Amazingly, especially at this price-point, the fork is supple and not overwhelmed by my 220 pound weight! I have to highly recommend this bike as an around-town fun bike. I have taken it on neither long-distance rides or any off road rides but I think that it's weight would hinder it in either venue. Combine the out-door fun that I am having with this bike and the in-door fitness that I am having with the Cycle-ops trainer and I would have to say that this was a very well spent sixty bucks.

New Junk

I have, for some time now, desired to transition from one who gathers together old, used , low end bicycles to one who gathers together functional bicycle equipment I have, sort of, succeeded. On Thursday I purchased another Trek 820 (steel), of all things. This was to replace the Trek 820 (aluminum) that fell apart under me and is to serve as my "winter beater" when I need that multi-geared bike and the Three Speed isn't going to get me there. So, I now have seven bicycles, three bicycle frames and a bunch of spare parts. With the steel 820 though came... THINGS! I got a set of green Nashbar panniers, a spare wheel with a MTB slick tire on it (rear only please) and a Cycleops trainer!!! WOOT! Add this haul to the Wald basket that I got and installed on the Triumph and I am starting to usefulunate some of these things.I got the trainer set up to work with the PRN and I got her brake cables and bar tape straightened out. Tomorrow morning I RIDE baby!

Getting a UO-8 and I think I like it.....

As you may or may not know, I am currently in possession of a late 70's Peugeot PRN that is two sizes too small. I was surprised to find that it was mostly original and for that reason and because it was a gift, it has a special place in my heart. Plus: it's French. In researching it I realized that French is to bike as KLR is to motorcycle or Apple is to computers and I AM a dedicated Mac guy! So I like them because they are quirky. I also respect the history of the things that I have collected and hold my father's old camera in very high regard as I do my father in law's Raleigh Marathon that he passed along to me recently. I use them, but carefully. I have been searching for a larger PRN or PX to come up for reasonable money locally, but it has not been the case. Even the UO level Peugeots that have come up have been "big bucks". Then, one day I found a bike on Craigslist for cheep enough money and sent an inquiry for a picture. I got a very long and detailed reply from a nice gentleman who bought the bike new and had ridden it ever since, making some practical modifications along the way. We made a "deal" in the sense that I didn't haggle at all and he agreed to hold it for me for a couple of weeks until I can get some other things straightened away.

I know tha this is a low-level bike-boom bike. I know that it's going to need some work to make it road-worthy. I know that the guy is asking a little more than it's worth. I know it won't be as nice as either the PRN or the Raleigh. What it will be is a 10-speed bike that fits me and that I can feel completely free and comfortable riding in all circumstances because that is what the man who owned it since new want's for it and has always done with it! And it's French. I'm as giddy as a school girl. Seriously. I can't wait until next week to get it!

Thank you for listening. I just wanted to share.

I heart my babysitter

She came over and watched The Bruce for an hour so that I could go ride. Since she was "going out of her way" I felt compelled to cycle for exercise and not just to be wandering around on a bike. The too-small-for-me-anyway Peugeot is OOS with disconnected break levers and the Precious Sorrento is OOS because I rode it into the ground and now I can't make it shift right. That left the Raleigh Marathon. So out she came. I gotta tell ya, I like this bike. I got a chance to adjust some things over the winter but haven't ridden it since my Father In Law gave it to me. I really like this bike. It's smooth riding and shifting. The riding position is sporty enough to get me out of the wind but relaxed enough that I did not feel at all uncomfortable. The bars have a larger diameter than the Peugeot's bars do and I liked the bend of them better and the cushynes of the old-school foam bar-wraps was very comfortable. The reach to the brake levers is much, much less than on the PRN. Of course, it did not feel as fast or as "lively" as the Peugeot. It doesn't speak french. It is WAY easier to get up hills with it than with the Triumph three speed though. It's a shame that I get so emotionally attached to these things. This is really a great, all around bike but it's an irreplaceable heirloom and if any thing ever happened to it...... I am supposed to be picking up a nice UO-8 in a week or two. I am hoping that that bike will combine the best features of the two bikes for me in a package that is designed and supposed to be RIDDEN not cherished or admired.

I hate the internet.

But, how can this be? I hate it because it makes me feel bad about my cycling habits. The forums tell you that unless you cycle to work you will never be fit and are destroying the planet. Well, I have researched this until I am blue in the face and there is no way to make my 25 mile, one way commute by cycle, transit or combination of the two in anything less than an hour and 45 minuets. Well over two hours if the bus plays ANY part in the trip. Contrast this to the TWENTY minuets that it takes to drive and, well, there it is. The twenty minuet ride (each way) to drop my daughter off at school becomes and hour and 15 minuets. So I drive my car.

I drive a used car in good repair that meets the states emission standards. I picked a car out of the current fleet. Not a single additional resource was used to "put me in my car". Because I love and maintain it it will not become scrap or waste and no part of it will be polluting the environment and no energy will be used in recycling any of it's components. No parts of Canada were strip-mined to produce this car. It required zero energy to ship to this country when new because it was MADE in this country.

I don't really run "errands" so I'm not a good eco-cyclist there either. And the errands that I DO run are typically done on the way to or from work or school. I'm not out spending money willy-nilly on lots of consumer goods that are made in carbon-belching factories, transported in trains and trucks, break in a few months and get pitched into a land fill. I buy a few things that are important to me, of as high a quality as I can practically afford and make them last. Dam it Green Police: I AM doing my part!!!

I love my bikes and I cycle for fun and fitness. That's all. If my situation were different then I would certainly be inclined to cycle for transportation and my hat is off to those of you who can and do. I just wish you could STOP being so damn proud of yourselves in public and making me feel bad.

Bikes are cooler when they WORK.

Right now I have SIX of my own bikes. On;y one, the oldest by far, actually works and is rideable. I have an old Cannondale M500 frame that I am building up for fun as an around town bike. I have my trusty Diamondback Sorrento that won't shift right, a Trek 820 with a bad hub and a cracked Grip-shift, a Peugeot PRN-10e that is awaiting a brake cable replacement and bar-wrap, a Raleigh Marathon that belonged to my Father -in-law (so even though it technically works, I can't ride it in foul weather) and a Triumph three-speed from back in the day. THAT is the one that works! So, if I want to cycle, I ride up-right and slow. Not very sporting and hard to keep a target heart rate with only three gears but I'll tell you what: I LOVE that bike. It's so much fund and oh-so proper to ride. I pretend I am a Merchant-Ivory character as I ride about town on it. I had a great success with it today as I mounted a kick-stand to it! I needed the "win".

A few days ago my Sorrento gave up the ghost and would shift only into the low gears, not out of them. As you can imagine, this made riding rather difficult. I found that the metal of the barel adjuster had been torn open and decided that that was the cause of the problem. So I went out and bought another one and installed it and the bike STILL wouldn't shift back down. I messed with that bike for hours today and still it only works kinda right. The 820, despite three different test-rides crapped out on me the first time that I used it. THe hub spun while I was hammering up a hill, causing me to stop and cracking the grip=shift. I have a set of 7-speed trigger shifters that I could swap out but my two spare wheels are both 8-speeders!! So I can fix the hub problem OR the shifter problem but, of course, not both! This bums me out because this is the bike that I bought to "save" the Sorrento which is also now on the D.L. too. Grrr..... I neede that kick-stand install to save my day, mechanically speaking.

Sorrento: ownership OR posession.

Remember Christine? No, not your high school sweat-heat, the killer car dreamed up by a certain novelist from Maine. Well I never saw the movie or read the book but I understand that the car was possessed. My bike must be made from scraps from that car.
This winter I have brought three different “winter beater” bikes into my home and each one has fallen apart. The cranks fell off the Cannondale. The cranks won’t come off the Trek, but pieces of the front derailure did! Now, enter the Trek 820. I tried it out before I bought it. I tried it out after I adjusted it. I tried it out after I put the fenders and stuff on it. Then I went to fide it and, low and behold! It didn’t work! I know, hard to believe. The pedals spun but the back wheel did not. Hey great! I brought the thing in and readjusted some things and took it out for a spin. Great1 It works and the bike feels just like my BMX bike did when I was a kid (the frame is a little small for me technically). I was having fun. I went out around the block and was hammering up the hill when all of a sudden the whole drive-train got slack and…… I crashed. Wow. How fun. Now I’m on the street trying to figure out what the hell is wrong with this bike. I pick it up and it works perfectly. Grrr…. Half a block later and it’s slack-time again. It turns out that the grip-shifter housing is cracked. For real? Yep. I am convinced that that Sorrento of mine is cursing every other bike that I bring into this house. Why she wants to be subjected to the salt crud and grime or a New England winter I can’t tell. Maybe she loves me. Maybe she’s a masochist. Well, what should I do? Should I give into the demands of my psychotic, possessed bicycle that is able to effect the mechanical well being of the other bikes in the house or should I forge ahead, secure in my knowledge that I am sentient and my choices are right?

A Long One

One of the internet sites that I visit has an entire forum about living car free. It’s hard to determine if these people are choosing to live without a car because they are sticking it to The Man or if they have to live without a car because The Man stuck it to them. It seems to be a little of both and you can almost guess by the postings who is who. I tend to think that these people represent one or the other faction because most people who are just poor and don’t have a car are just poor and don’t have a car. Most poor people that I have run into do not consider their carless status as something rebellious, cool or hip and would, given the choice, quite like to have a car. They certainly don’t blog about it on the internet. We didn’t. Oh yes. I have been car-free! Of course I was like five a the time and would have been pretty much car free for years to come any way but our part of the family, the part that wasn’t my dad, were all car free. We walked and took the bus and I rode my bake. Man! Did I ever ride my bike!

I was one of “those kids”. Not on purpose mind you but never the less I was one of them. I would tell my mother that I was going over Mike’s house and, true enough, I would. But then we would go over Keith’s house. We would tell Mike’s mother, of course and if my mother called Mike’s mother she would know exactly where I was. Right? Invariably, on the way to Keith’s house we might stop at the park or swing by the beach or who knows where. And from Keith’s house we would wander even farther afield. We would go from place to place all day long leaving a trail of blissfully uninformed and woefully under-informed mothers in our wake. We had, for the most part, BMK bikes. Little bikes with one gear and the handle bars that came up with a bar across them that was just about the perfect height to catch a boy across the chest and knock the wind out of him if he crashed or fell forward off the seat. I said mostly because one summer when we were about twelve or so years old Mike got a “ten speed”. I remember it well. It was a brown Columbia ten speed with orange, red and yellow striped stickers on the tubes. It was so much larger than any o your other bikes and FAST! Wow. You would think that the rest of us would have “seen the light” right then and there but that was not the case. Most of us were stuck in one of the great catch-22s of childhood: the Item Upgrade Quandary. In this case the items were our bikes and it worked something like this: We all had the standard issue twenty inch BMX bikes that we had hounded our parents for because they were cool and “all the other kids had one”. Except, now, Mike did not. Now, the odds of getting new bikes out of our parents were slim to none as long we had perfectly good bike. On the other hand if something were to happen to those bikes, intentionally or not, we were likely to wind up getting a lecture or worse punishment (these were the days when the Old Man could still legally and morally beat the bag out of you in a Mall on a Sunday and no one would look twice) and have NO bike at all. So we rode and pondered how to solve this problem, and a problem it was! We were all friends but mike found it hard to ride that noble, high-strung thoroughbred at the sedate pace our BMXers demanded and we grew weary huffing and puffing after him as he rode at even a slightly slower than “normal” pace for his bike. Sadly, in the end and as it should be, the force of friendship prevailed over that of mechanical advantage and we, as a group, walked everywhere together. In hind sight that ten speed bike probably did more to constrain and control our activities than any other single thing at the time. I have to wonder now weather those supposedly uniformed moms might have figured out a way to keep us safer and closer to home after all.

But that’s not what I wanted to write about at all……..