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Bicycle
Biked
I got a new bike. Not really because I wanted to, but because it’s basically impossible to get replacement parts for the groupset on the old bike, and replacing the groupset would require new wheels, and… for want of a nail, etc. At some point maybe it’s just better to put that money into a […]
Tagged 5200, bike, Domane, Trek, weightParking
I tend to think that the lack of parking for the n-thousand employees where I work, even after recently spending tens-of-millions on a (too-small-even-when-planned [1]) parking garage, was just general bureaucratic ineptitude. But since the general result is that you have to come in early to get parking, and you can’t leave to take an […]
Left behind
Has there ever been a more useless convention than “On your left” (or right) when passing a pedestrian or slower bike? Nine times out of ten, the passee just goes in the direction you just hollered. It’s human nature! You hear “left”, you move left. But not always, so you can’t rely on it and […]
Perfect
This is perfect. Pasadena Police Department will step up Bike & Pedestrian Safety Enforcement Operations on Monday, May 15, 2017 with focused enforcement on collision causing factors involving motorists, pedestrians and bicyclists. This operation is also in remembrance of [a seven year old kid], who at the age of seven, was struck and killed by […]
Menacing
There are few things more dangerous than a mom with a mobile in a minivan and a moppet at 7:45.
Plate of shrimp
I was literally just thinking I hadn’t had a flat in a long time. As I pulled away from the intersection, my tire was completely flat. One second full, the next empty. There’s one in every car, you’ll see.
LBS
Like the local hardware stores (ahem, Berg Hardware Store – good riddance), the local bike shops are going to drive themselves out of business. They don’t even need online stores to do it, but that’ll help. Steve’s $75 tune-up cost me a $300 wheel-rebuild. He ripped three spokes out of the rim overtightening them. Oh […]
Seven years
I bought two pairs of these bike gloves on Steap and Cheap in September 2007, $28, after my former Olympian bike racer friend convinced me it wasn’t sissy to ride with gloves: “It’s not for padding,” she said. “It’s for the inevitable road rash. You want to be able to use your hands to change […]
Mouse
Brent Simmons wrote a short essay about his cat, and the point of view of the mouse. Picture the equivalent for a human, he says. As if it were a fiction. Scary. But it isn’t fiction. That’s how I feel every night cycling home on the unlit Forest Service road, overhung by trees. I’ve seen […]
X of the year 2013
Climbing: El Chontacoatlan, Taxco del Alarcon, Guerrero, Mexico, Thanksgiving. I sent Mantis, the first pitch of Mala Fama, and Procopio, all third try. Great climbing, fun partners, one of the best trips ever. This is my favorite kind of climbing. Close second: Maple, May and September. Sent ZT and 49, several one-fall burns on Dry […]
New PR
19:58. The route changed, so I've been averaging 21:30 for a slightly longer, hillier, and more trafficed route. But today I hit all the lights, so about halfway through, what was gonna be a casual ride turned into a PR attempt. Traffic going down the hill, and half the ride not even trying, so I […]
Laws for thee, not for me
One of the most frequent comments one sees anytime there's a news article about cyclists, cycling, or the death thereof, is how cyclists are scofflaws. We don't obey the rules. We weave about, we ride on the sidewalk (or we don't ride on the sidewalk), we ride on the right, we don't ride on the […]
NPR
New Personal Record: 17:37 Old PR: 17:45 That's with no angry ex-con pool boys. I made two fast lights, missed two, and got caught behind the bus into the entrance gate. Also cranked up the hill at 20 MPH for long sections. Now I think 17:15 might be possible if everything went right. I was […]
Borked
Thinking about it, if it’s not the weight, it could be: Psychosomatic – I am totally susceptible to superstition, placebo, imposter, dunning-krueger, and the oxford comma. Aerodynamic – For all that it weighs the same, the new bike is burly. The frame is almost twice as wide. Wheels are 35 instead of 23. Discs instead […]
Tagged bike, rant