14 posts tagged “bikes”
Finally got up the nerve and energy to ride Frick Park. It's the largest park in Pittsburgh, and the only one with single track. It's the little bro of the Middlesex Fells, with its lack of technical sections compensated for by its elevation. Beautiful weather and foliage today, glad I got out. I need some nobby tires!
bikes bikes bikes bikes bikes bikes bi- I went for a short ride today and it didn't hurt, but I still don't feel like I should force anything. I think I'm on the verge of healthy so hopefully by next week I will be able to ride regularly. That would make me unbelievably happy. Also next weekend is Oktoberfest in Germantowne!
I haven't mentioned this yet because I find it so unbelievably depressing: The day I stopped riding was the day I bought a Gary Fisher Utopia. The fork has a lock-out out on it which is so sweet for a pavement bike. It ships with 700s but can fit 29s so if I when like dumping more money into bikes ( which is often ) I know where to put it. Like I alluded to previously: riding fast is fun, but that doesn't satisfy the urge to take a bike off sweet jumpsz. I'm chomping at the bit people -ikes bikes bikes bikes bikes bikes bikes
TL, DR: I tried a lot commuter bikes and most of them sucked. Surpirse!
I spent most of Wednesday hauling ass around the city and looking at bikes. The Trek store had a Soho 3.0 which looked promising on paper but the longer wheel base makes it a really Vanilla ride. In 30 years maybe I'll get one, or the hover bike equivalent (which I'm sure will dominate the market by then). They had a Kona Dr. Dew which had much snappier handling, but it was a size or two too small for me and they are on backorder. If I find one in my size I would consider getting it. For fun I tried a Surly cross-check but it was way too expensive for the actually build. 1.2k for a cross bike without disc brakes, something better than bar end shifters or a group better than Tiagra? No thanks. The tiny saleswoman made fun of me for saying that Stanton is a big hill :<
I walked a few miles to a really crappy Giant/KHS/Look dealer on Forbes that tried to sell me a Jamis Coda which felt like it would rust to scrap after the first rain. They had a good pirce for a Jamis Aurora but the staff was a little off-putting so I probably won't go back.
Next up was the Specialized store ( literally across the street ) which offered me a Globe Centrum Comp that piqued my interested with its seductive internal Alfine hub, but they were charging 1k for essentially that and the hyrdaulic brakes. Bitch please.
The last stop of the day was a shop near PITT which tried selling me a really crappy Norco hybrid for twice what it was worth. They did however have a cute dog.
Today I made the final stop of my tour at REI, defying the commonly held belief that shopping at anything other than your LBS(s) is a bad move. I was curious about the 700lb gorrila ( OK, 34lbs according to the specs ) that is the Novara Fusion, but I don't think I could actually lift it more than an inch off the ground. The Novara Safari also caught my eye due to its comically large 1.9" slicks and wacky handle bar.
Surprisingly the star of this entire expedition was the Novara Big Buzz. It's a flat bar road bike with Avid BB-5 (could've sworn it said BB-7 at the store) disc brakes, an SRAM R/D and a Tiagra Double F/D. Say wut? I think REI bought parts in bulk, spec'd all their other bikes and looked at the remaining bits and shrugged. The coup de grace: the worst stock paint job I have ever seen on a bike. I actually thought independently: "This design is so bad that it's a theft deterrent" before the salesman said the same thing. Minus the twists it would be a reasonable cross-esque bike for the price. I'm really leaning towards this one, with an intent to eventually krylon the frame black and maybe switch to rapid fire shifters.
Lately it seems like the universe is conspiring against me riding, Hang-up du jour: waiting on craigslist buyer as well as my lube running out after a handful of links. It's perfect weather too, augh >:[
Bike Pittsburgh is wonderful, I love this site even if it's slow as molasses.
Dim sum this morning and then some time spent some time worrying about my drive train, flossing sprockets, oiling( Well technically it's teflon-ing, but let's not split hairs). I was intending to do a long ride but the drive just wasn't there. I don't know if it was too much wind, too much dim sum, or if I was still tired from Friday but I was just barely moving in my lowest gear. What a disappointment. It feels like it takes me about 10 miles just to get warmed up, is this good or bad? So instead of flexing nuts all afternoon I pussyfooted my way to the bike trail and endured 15 miles of bikes with kick stands and people trying to kill me with their negligence. Like riding on the road, but with less exhaust.
I'm going to borrow Dave's description of Yuengling: Woodchuck cider is mana.
This salty blog was mentioned in dirtrag this month. I like the photo journals, they sum up why I want to live in Colorado some day. You may have noticed there is a long list of places that I would like living.
Is there a tour in my future? Or am I going to keep it gutta for a while? Or do I want a little bit of both?
Lexington - Concord - Wayland and back loop
A route convenient to work with a lot of scenic rolling fields, deep woods, large houses, and ( when traveling down rt 27 and up rt 126 ) a sweet downhill section where I topped out my gears for what seemed like a long long time.
A little Friday night action to compensate for the impending rain storm. Took longer than I'd like to admit ( about 3 - 3 1/2 hours ) due in part to an energy break at mile 16, bonking at 31 and pit stop of desperation at 36. Plenty of juice this time, but not enough food. I also need to get a second and third (?) bottle mount so I don't need pull over and get foods out of my back pack. I want a cyclometer, but recognize that it's a largely frivolous item for someone who isn't actually competing. I met up with some guy who had some aero bars and almost kept up with him, but I don't think he was actually trying to go fast :[
Have I mentioned that Pittsburgh has a "cycling oval" ( or is it Ghettodrome? ) and there is cyclocross in the parks? I should make it a goal to compete in one of the events.
I smell so bad right now.
I went for a nice ride today: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1907931
with some added miles around the island of Nahant. Excluding the small section of Lynn the ride was awesome and the view from Nahant was spectacular. On the way back my metabolism crashed and the last 15 or so miles were a combination of nausea, headache, cotton mouth, and general exhaustion. I feel better, if a little sore. I made a similar ride last year and pretty much the same thing happened, whoops! Next time I'll pack more water and energy bars. I need to read more about training because I would really like to hit a century this Summer. For bragging rights and just because. Also on the list of destinations is Wachusett or Quabbin reservoir.
