Haunts

I talked to an old and dear friend yesterday - first time in a decade. I will spare you my personal thoughts about how overwhelmingly dedicated one can feel to old friends.

I got an unrelated email from a college classmate, George, a few months ago - he has truly lived a cyclist's life. As I reflected on my conversation with my other friend, I was thinking a lot about George's message:

Avoid the bicycle bug at all costs – the bars are a safer bet. The bicycle will ruin your life. I’ve been lost with my head in the spokes since we last parted ways about eleven years ago! Yet, the bicycle is the perfect metaphor for life. You wake up, you spin, you return home, you go to bed. If you're lucky, you’ll outrun time and keep your troubles behind!

Part of what I love about cycling is the absolute immediacy of it, the way it forces you to forget. But you fall in love with your favorite ride - you relive it, you visit it again, again, again. And the magic is, it grows right along with you - coy laughter and a knockout smile at the top of that impossible, long climb.

Finally, SNOW!

Damn it has been cold! Yesterday's ride to work and todays ride around Manhattan were cold and snowy! My tires got caked with snow going over the Williamsburg Bridge bikepath. I had fun doing some slides and skids in the snow (skidding with panniers=not cool). I take strange comfort in all the tire tracks in the snow - the strong, the undeterred! Keep at it people!

I stopped by King Kog today and spent some time talking to Gina Marie - who was kind enough to allow that I might still be a little punk rock...down deep inside, where it really counts.

Also - I am SOOOO excited about the new spats that I ordered from fabric horse today. They are gonna rock - they will look like this - very World War II....or marching band.

A few new links were added today, bikeblog and superimportant - which might be the funniest blog I have ever read. Ken is a genius.

365

I started with the 365days group today on Flickr - a self-portrait a day for 365 days. Going to work on my stictoitivness, I suppose. You can see my Gan Well Pro track bike in the background - and the orange rain bike that Taliah painted.

Starting the New Year

I kicked off the new year in Sanibel Island, Florida. I rented a crappy beach cruiser from Billy's Bike Rentals. The bike was J-U-N-K....rear wheel nearly flat and out of true, also set crooked in the dropouts. I think I rode it 20 miles the first day and every pedal stroke was like riding through sand. The first night, the bottom bracket started making a clanking noise and then suddenly refused to turn at all. Valerie and I left the bike locked to a stop sign. We both got on her bike and I pedaled us to dinner - we nearly missed our reservation! (The picture at the top of this post is the Sanibel Lighthouse - built in the late 19th century and probably the only significant piece of architecture I saw on the island.)

The most fun thing about Sanibel was all the wildlife. Tons of birds, gators, shells, & old people. They also have a great bike path that runs off-road for nearly the full length of the island.

I have joined RUSA so that I can start doing rides to qualify for Paris Brest Paris this year!

I took this last picture at the Ft. Meyer's airport - I was oddly happy to see the cop on a bicycle riding around inside the airport. I put away the camera before they decided I was a security threat.