Purify the colors... purify my mind

 

 

What an interesting irony (?) that this bike is Merckx orange, and being used for this...  BTW, this was someone's trip to nursery school.  Not us, but we have...

A few words here and I'll get into more pictures.  I was at restraint training (no, not to teach ME restraint- though I could use that...)  today and managed to convince myself to get back on the bike.  Was running a little late, couldn't see a bike rack so just locked it to a tree near the door.  Asked someone who looked like a teacher, and he said it would be fine.  And it was.  Sort of.


Came down at lunch to just check with the lady that sits at a table near the door.  "That's my bike- is it okay there?"  Oh, she says, you're lucky it's still there!  "Why?" I said, "do they not want it there?"  Oh, no, she says, most people would put it in the teacher's lounge.  What?  Why?  I asked again- do they not want my bike there?  I didn't see a bike rack...  Oh, no, she says, there's no bike rack.  I'm thinking, well, then....


Then she takes me in and shows me the teacher's lounge and points to a closet, clearly too small for my bike, plus it's covered with snow.  Does she want me to bring it inside?  Why not just leave it locked up?  Oh, she says, you'd have to ask Mrs. ______ (I didn't catch the name) about that.  No explanation who that might be.  


"Uh, I'll just leave it out there. It's fine there..." I said, kind of backing away.


Even more amusing to me was when I mentioned this odd encounter at lunch with my fellow trainees.  Uh, I think there's one down at the bottom of the hill... One said.  It was there when I went to school here....  Down near the parking lot at the bottom of the hill.  Um, ok, I said, but I was running late...  trying to suggest that maybe I didn't have all morning to search the entire school grounds for a bike rack.  Or want to leave my bike near a major road while I went far away up the hill.  


Felt very odd-man-out commuting today.  Not at all the healthy good-for-you I get in warmer weather.

Tom Ritchey.  A long-time hero of mine.  Too many accomplishments to summarize here.

Katie Compton's bike at a cyclocross race in Belgium.  It would be good if this was the way more of the world saw the stars and stripes (she's the US Champion).

Just a fun illustration of winter riding.  Like the crows.

too many choices

Someone stole my backpack.

This was really kind of ok.  It was a north face pack (kids love it) that I got at school after the kids left last year (we were clipping locks looking for textbooks and were told to take things if we wanted them- they had been abandoned, after all).

Maybe they came back for it.  Whatever.

The point is, my gloves were in there.  Not keep warm gloves.  Those are a dime a dozen.  My bike gloves.

I told myself I'd just get something quickly.  But consumerland drew me in.  I don't think the internet helps this.  One million variations- each with almost the right combination of features, but all with not exactly the right thing.

People in other, less wealthy, countries must hear this kind of story and just... disbelieve. 

So I've been obsessing, and driving my family to the edge of murder with talk of bikeglove features.  You'd be surprised how this kind of thing, done regularly, could drive your loved ones to the edge of violence.  Turns out they really don't care about these things like I do.  Really.

It doesn't matter what I end up buying.  The point is to think about how precious this can make us about our belongings.  How perfect we think things have to be.  But you know what?  To quote Grant Petersen, our bodies can adapt- we're not robots who spark and explode if our bike or glove fit is off by 1 mm.  We're more adaptable than that.  There's a place for perfection in sports- its called the Olympics.....






It's just a ride in the woods, after all.

Photo Post...

Ahearne frame shop.  Sparks.

Just a pretty bike.  Gold Speedvagen.

Taiwan.

Tony Pereira's new baby, Oscar.  He's a framebuilder in Oregon.

I don't know why you say goodbye- I say hello...

 Goodbye, old Independent Fabrication.  Hello, new Independent Fabrication. 

Remember, when Mike left, we got A.N.T.

Free Apps that should interest you...

 Let's say, just hypothetically, that you've come here from my app- Mountain Bike Boston.  I'm not going to bother to link to it here- I'm tired of typing.  But go buy it if you haven't.  Anyway, say you like it, but don't want to spend another dollar.  Times are tight.  Here's some fun links to download outdoorsy Apps that sound seriously helpful for .......... FREE.  You're welcome, now tell a friend to go buy my app.

REI Snow & Ski Report:  Get this app here.  There's also a shopping app available which might be fun to have... even useful, if you want to find out specs about a product.  Both are free.
 
Trailhead by The North Face:  While I would hardly suggest you get this INSTEAD of my app, it certainly is worth having on your phone for free!  Get it here.

Accuweather:  Bikes and other outdoor activities are... well, outdoors.  That means either weather dependent,or they need to be weather-proof.  Good reviews of this free weather app.


MotionX GPS Lite:  I don't own an iPhone, so don't fully understand its capabilities, but from what I've read, this is a useful tool for enlivening your phone's GPS feature.  Check it out- it is, after all- free.  Here.

Thoughts on the handmade bicycle show movement...

I love the North American Handmade Bicycle Show.  Love the idea.  Love what it started as, and has become.  I love that it has started to change the bicycle industry, with large companies copying the aesthetic they see at that show.  I love that it builds a market for these pieces of art.  Because that is really what many of these are.  Sculpture.  I've talked about this here before.

But there's a dark side to this culture.  Not to the builders, because they should bring the best they can do.  That's their right and their privilege.  But with the internet's voyeuristic power, coinciding with the show's rise, there can be a tendency to look at these perfectly powdercoated, carefully sanded-and-polyurethaned pieces of perfection, with their 500 dollar leather and titanium saddles, and perfectly color-matched fenders, racks, stems, and leather bags.... Whew!  What a sentence. There can be a tendency to compare your own townie bike to these "townie bikes" and think, 'Man, what a pile of crap I commute on'.  I don't think any of those builders would ever intend that.  I really believe that.

As we're encased in snow, at least in the northeast, it is probably a good time to mention this- riding your bike is ALWAYS more important than the bike that you ride.  A person who rides will always beat a person who spends.  They can be one and the same, but someone who rides a low-end bike every day is still a better (more experienced) cyclist than one who buys the highest-end a manufacturer offers and rides it once a month.  Remember that. 

I have always loved Bike magazine for running photos of their test bikes dirty, the way they look as they are being tested.  The best looking bike is a bike that's being used.  Otherwise, it's not a bike- it IS just a piece of art.

Old. Fat. In Pain.

You know what?  I think I've had it with this stupid snowboard.

I mean, what am I trying to teach myself to snowboard for anyway?  Because I skateboarded 20 years ago?  Cause I tried to teach myself to surf, once (unsuccessfully)? 

Here's the thing, though- before all of those things, before bikes, even, I was a skier.  If a person can ever really say that- since you can only afford to go once or twice a year.  I was a member of the ski club at school.  Owned my own skis.

So why am I not thinking about skiing when the snow falls?  I'm not sure.  Because snowboarding seems lower tech?  Because all the baggy kids do it?  I don't think so. 

So after a disastrous attempt at using my snowboard the other day I'm rethinking winter.  It's not that I fell- I really didn't.  It just didn't do much for me.  Don't get mad if you're a snowboarder- it's not worth trying to "convert" me.  I've had a couple magic runs, where it felt like I was surfing in three dimensions and all that.  But I've had about 1000 of those skiing.

Does anyone else EVER think of these sorts of things?