chewiness.

sunny. 53˚. perfect riding weather. started out a little cold but soon warmed up to a perfect temperature. warmish in the sun and coldish in the shade. ah... i'll enjoy this for a few weeks before it just starts getting cold.



they finally finished paving the chewiest part of my ride to work. for the past few months it's been a minefield of pot holes and cracks, broken glass and gravel. last week they came through with the machine that eats off the top layer of asphalt and leaves grooved pavement in its wake... which makes for a nice ride on a cannondale. it would appear that last night they finished [for the most part] paving everything over and it's buttery smooth now. except for a few drains that have yet to be finished it has become one of the more pleasant sections of my ride... so far as pavement quality is concerned.

good ride.

muggish.

today was the first ride home from work that i got caught out in the dark. i did pack a blinky light and a neon-green vest so i wasn't too worried about it. despite the mugginess it definitely reminded me that winter is coming. a good 6 months out of the year where pretty much all of the riding i'll get to do will be in complete darkness. it's not all bad, though, it just makes me appreciate the daylight in the spring and summer that much more.


plus, on my way home i found a visibility vest tossed off on the side of the road. it was a large so it clearly won't fit me, but it occurred to me it would be perfect for motorcycle use... since i ride as late into the year as i can. a few months ago me and a buddy headed out to providence and on the way back he said, "man, at night you disappear... and i mean completely disappear". that certainly was an eye-opener so this vest will work well over my leathers. score.

achilles ankle.

early last week i had a senior moment whilst exiting a house. there were a few steps leading from the kitchen to the driveway made of the unfinished planks you'd find on any deck or porch. what appeared to be 2 steps in the dark was actually 3 and i rolled my ankle hard and went down like a ton of bricks with an old ford pick-up and a puddle to break my fall. needless to say i didn't ride for the better part of a week. today was the first day in the saddle since and my ankle felt good. a little sore in some spots but the pedaling motion certainly didn't irritate anything. it was nice to ride again.

today, however, my brian was racing a mile a minute while i pedaled at 15mph. i just couldn't focus or relax. my thoughts were scattered and random. i suppose it will happen every now and again, but i hate being cheated from something that is supposed to be fun and relaxing. i have the rest of my day to be stressed it shouldn't carry over into riding time. oh well... i still need to ride home, maybe that will be different.


river road.

today was a good day to ride indeed. i woke up extra early to make the commute out to a job in clinton, which google maps tells me is 25.0 miles. perfect. i stuck to rt. 80 for most of the way, as i am wont to do. in madison i turned off onto summer hill which started the last leg of my ride on some of the nicest roads around. country. scenic. quaint. i could not have been happier this morning.

when i left the house it was chilly and i even wore arm warmers... what a nice feeling. as i got closer to my destination it hadn't warmed up all too much, though it was warm enough that i had stowed my arm warmers. on the back roads i think a total of 3 cars passed me in either direction which left me to enjoy the sounds of the woods.






you may wonder what's with all the photos of bridges? well, turns out bridges are quaint, that's why.

river road is one of my favorites around. it has pretty much everything you could want in a road. it comes highly recommended.

sacrifices.

today i sat on my motorcycle as the engine warmed up. i looked up at the evening sky and watched some clouds drift by as they started to turn pale orange with the setting sun. i realized that i had gone for the past year without stopping and smelling the roses. the past couple of seasons have been nothing but business. money. business. money. money. money. i've completely missed out on the simple things that at one time i took pleasure in. it feels like a meaningless existence. the only time i ever open my eyes and enjoy the world around me is when i'm on my bicycle. i forget about work and think about the road in front of me. the trees and houses i pass. the sound of the chain passing through the 20-year-old suntour derailleur. the feel of cork tape. it is the only peaceful time in my life these days.

there certainly are sacrifices in business ownership, and i knew that going into it, but at what point does it become not worth it? next thing i'll know i'll be 35 and married with a kid on the way and the last 5 years will be a blur of bills, taxes, and sleepless night. i do not want that. i do not want to become a person whose only motivation in life is money. i've always said that i'd never be that person but here i am becoming just that. it's a road i'd rather not pedal down.

the first rule of business is "pay yourself", and seeing as though i do not have any money, maybe that means "make your life worthwhile". time moves fast these days and and life is getting shorter. i made a promise to myself to play in a pile of leaves this year and i intend to do it.

beware of the bike.

commute to work. grey and dreary the morning was just a prelude to the long autumn and winter to come. it made me think of quaint autumn rides passing by farm houses, down twisty roads scattered with fallen leaves and of course runny noses. i am also reminded of the less-than -quaint commute that lies before me... not everything can be farm stands and rural roads. chewy asphalt and other tire hazards add spice to the otherwise uneventful ride to work. every now and again i glance down at my analog odometer and watch the miles tick by. each time a new number rolls over it gives me a small sense of satisfaction. another day of work while my car sits unused down the block from my apartment. pedal, pedal.



toys and transportation.

it is unfortunate how people view bikes in this town. bikes are for kids' birthdays or for your physician and lawyer... or for that guy down the street that gets dressed up in spandex on the weekends and heads out for a few hours. it's always for some specific segment of the population, but not everyone. if a grown person is seen riding their bike and they're clearly not exercising, then something must obviously be wrong with their car. "well, they're just being Green" some progressive here in the northeast may say, but why does that even have to be said? why can't it be, "that person is going to work"? i know that for some people riding a bike to work is just not possible, but if every now and again people rode their bikes for transportation purposes, say to the store for milk, then notions of bicycles being toys or for DUI's would soon disappear. come on people, don't be afraid, you can ride a bike and still have a fully functioning car... i won't think less of you.



here, here.

working in a bike shop has spoiled me on high-end bicycles. it's too affordable at cost to resist. everyone likes a cutting-edge bike. however, it's nice to build a bike that is nothing but utilitarian. no carbon. no deep section wheels. 'aero' is not in its vocabulary. it weighs twice what your A-bike does. you will impress no one but that's not the point. this bike will do all of the grunt work when your A-bike rests comfortably at home. rain and shine, hot and cold this bike does it all without complaint. in a sport of the affluent these are the bicycles of the working class. dubbed 'commuters' or 'beater bikes' they often spend their time chained to a signpost whilst their owner carries on with his or her business. here's to all those underappreciated bikes out there.