Totally jealous! Nice bike! I managed to get some new (used) Cannondale shoes and a new (to me) seat at a bike swap in Columbus yesterday. Still, new gear is always fun!
Cheers guys, big props have to go out to the insurance company though! Probably the coolest thing though is that I could afford to get Campagnolo Super Record on it, which is pretty damn awesome. The shop weighed it and said the whole thing kitted out was only 14.7lbs!
Saw my colleague's brand new Madone today. Suh-weet bike. Knowing there's at least one Austinite on this board, here's a pretty interesting story about bike thievery down there. At least it's got a somewhat happy ending, not that every bike was or will ever be recovered, unfortunately. What a scumbag. To catch a bike thief.
I've met Matt Gordon before.....he told me and a friend to get the ******** off his wheel once I remember when this was going down, it was clear that whomever was doing it wasn't just some punk kid/s due to the quality of the gear that went missing. Most bike thievery around here was of low end department store stuff like anywhere else. Knowing what little I do know, I sure as hell have never left a bike unattended nor allowed a friend to either. It must be the big city paranoia I brought here from Dallas or NYC.
Here's what I'm *NOT* riding. I can't believe this. From: http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/2010/08/indignity-of-commuting-by-bicycle-case.html
Cuffed jorts, toe-clips, and a track bike worth more than my car for a city commute. I don't wonder why some people hate cyclists. This makes me hate cyclists too. That is one terrific post from bikesnob, and I for one would sign the petition for gravelling bike lanes immediately.
How'd I know the word "hipster" was going to appear in the description of the cyclist pictured in the first link? If that picture showed some ironic facial hair, it could've appeared at http://www.latfh.com/ Which, ironically (by which I mean unironically) features a hipster fixie bike on the Monday, July 12th photo.
What gets me isn't the fixed gear bike - I'm happy when people ride bikes - the more the merrier. But THAT FRAME as a hipster commuter!!!!! I just about died. What a great line this was, from that blogpost. "....giving New Yorkers a bike-friendly infrastructure can sometimes seem futile, like when I give my helper monkey Vito a fork at dinner and he just scratches himself with it before putting his face right back in the mashed potatoes."
I got dropped by one of those today. Fortunately it was on I-91 in Northern Vermont, on a bike rack. I had my 17-yo Giant hybrid on my bike rack. No way I was going to keep up with that machine. Wife had to yell at me to stop drifting left as I was staring at it.
This isn't about what I'm riding, but what I'll be touching tonight (I hope). I am working as a volunteer at Pelotonia in Columbus OH, and I know that there will be plenty of riders who have sweet bikes. My job is "bike management," and I signed up for this to help a good cause, and because touching nice bikes is, for me, like going to a strip club where they allow you to fondle the talent.
I'm always chuckling to myself when I come across rich kids trying painfully hard to look poor as they pedal around on $2000 frames. ...and I don't know what kind of job that guy is commuting to, but it apparently doesn't require a change of clothes* or "work stuff". *okay, so maybe he's a planner and has a week's worth of wardrobe at the shower-equipped office.
Since I returned to cycling 18 months ago I have been riding a Giant Cypress DX. It's fine for short trips and commuting to work. I've put just short of 4,000 miles on it in those 18 months. However for longer trips it's, shall we say, a little on the heavy side. Yesterday I took my first foray into Craigslist and purchased a Giant TCR 2T. It feels like it weighs half what the Cypress does. When I got it home I took it on my 20 mile residential street course I like to ride. A much easier ride with the TCR. I think I'm going to like this bike and if things go well maybe I'll treat myself to something better for my 60th birthday in 2013.
A couple weeks late on this, but how did this go? I know a Pelotonia rider was killed down in Hocking County - did it cast a pall over the event, did people brush it off, or did they just not know about it by the time they reached C'bus? I used to live down in Athens and rode a lot down there. It's a great place to be a cyclist, in large part due to the generally quiet, safe-ish roads. Sad.
Yeah, that was really a sad deal. The organizers canceled the celebratory events that evening (Saturday) there in Athens because they didn't feel it was right. I'm not sure I agree 100% with that decision, but I certainly understand it. From the sounds of it the ride went on with a bit of a somber note, and I think in most cases people getting to Athens didn't know until later that evening. Those who were riding back to Columbus the next day certainly did so with an extra glance in both directions at each intersection, but there was still plenty of reason to celebrate this great effort and cause - and I think in general it was still a celebration. SO many people gave money to Pelotonia in the name of the rider who was killed afterward, as well as to a fund set up for her son (she was a single mother of a teenage boy). Just really really sad for the rider and her family though.....not supposed to happen anywhere or anytime, but certainly not in an event like this (when there were police and signs directing traffic away from the riders.
Anybody have any experience with Child carriers ? thinking of bolting this onto my Specialized Roubaix Elite so I can get some more rides in with my 16 month old
Gotta say, I haven't seen them on a Roubaix before. I used to have a really cheap one. It worked great for rides. Don't think I'd get into the drops and interval train with it, but to cruise around Central Park, they are quite useful. After my first child grew out of it, we use to make a train to go around the neighborhood with my bike, the one wheel tagalong attached with the child carrier attached to the tag along. Kids had lots of fun with that.
Just a reminder that you can get some sweet deals on Black Friday http://www.performancebike.com/bikes/TopCategories_10052_10551_-1
Pulled the trigger on this from Nashbar with 20% off: https://www.nashbar.com/webapp/wcs/...oO7SR2uhTKQ==&ddkey=https:Logoff#ReviewHeader
I somehow find myself in the totally unexpected position of awaiting the delivery of a carbon bike. A well known internet bike retailer was listing the Ridley Orion (w/ 105 build) for 50% of the list price. I bought it, only to find that my order only reflected a 25% savings. Anyway, I pursued it with customer service and they credited me the missing 25% discount. It appears to have been a mistake, because the remaining bikes in the sale are back at only 25% discount. I'm pretty excited about this development. So here's some Ridley Orion porn:
