March 2011
11 posts
Waiting for Saturday
I bought the lobster gloves, three kinds of munchie bar, a pair of thinner wool socks than my current pair (in case the tightness is restricting circulation), and am considering cutting off a pair of jeans to make windbreaker over-pants.
I’ve also signed up for a first aid workshop with a doctor who volunteers his time for this every year, with the A-SIG group. More on that after it takes...
Cleanliness, Hold the Palm Oil
Yesterday at the Met I viewed a mosaic floor. It was originally laid in the ancient colony or city (I can’t quite tell which) of Lydda, around 300 A.D. As with so many material objects and art works, I wondered how people of the day cleaned the floor. Certainly they cleaned with water, but what did they use for soap?
The mosaic has nothing to do with biking except this: our Saturday...
First Sunday after First Saturday
The gear-head trip begins.
Do I have enough … everything?
Should I buy a second water cage (they’re dirt cheap, though Arundel has a new one that is called “a design perfectionist’s dream”), or use the water backpack my half-friend left to me? What about another “base layer” to go underneath my supposedly thermal cycling tights? Should I buy cleaning...
First Saturday
At 8 a.m., the temperature for pedestrians was 29° and felt like 19°. It was also sunny and beautiful, especially for someone sitting by a wood stove.
A hundred and fifty or so C-SIG members began to gather at 8:30 in the seemingly unheated cafeteria of a public school on the Upper West Side. Over the next three and a half hours—people would be walking around fully balaclava-ed and gloved, some...
Anticipation
It’s the Friday afternoon before the Saturday morning. I’ve had air put in the tires and sleeved my handlebars in black neoprene “mitts” the shape of cornucopia baskets. The mitts are the smoother, Veblenesque variation on the windbreaking I Love New York plastic bag “sleeves.” Still need a pair of gloves.
The hologram memory of my half-friend is in the...
On Falling
Tonight I talked with a fellow biker who’s been biking in clipless pedals for years. He’s fallen twice. He said that when he started on the second descent, he decided to fall differently. To avoid hitting his shoulder, he stuck out his elbows (not straight out) and knees (ditto) and rounded his back, and rolled when he hit the ground.
Clips and the Six o' Clock Foot
I was padding around the shop in winter socks, waiting for Imbert to finish attaching the new pedals. He brought the bike over with my new shoes attached. They looked like plump black fish fins.
A customer called Al offered to hold the bike steady as I tried slipping in and out of the new pedals. Al was wearing a lot of bike clothing.
Another customer hesitated near the front door, watching as I...
Grouped
I received my official C-Sig (note the lowercasing) e-welcome this morning. One of the ride leaders informed me that during the self-classification ride, my actual speed ranged from 12.8 to 13.9 mph, which not only translates to a cruising speed of 14 to 15 mph but also suggests that I might consider strapping a 1904 gramophone onto the back rack.
Piermont is about 40 miles roundtrip from West...
The Shoes
How important are stiff-soled biking shoes? Soon I will know.
So far, I know that the technical cycling clothes I’ve purchased, with their thermal this and wicking that and windbreaking magic fibers, have been well worth it. My new bike seat: also well worth it. So maybe the shoes (and clipless pedals) will make a difference.
There is nothing particularly occasional about buying bicycle...
1 tag
The New York Cycle Club →
