What do you get if you take a Dutch-style city bike with a "loop" frame, turn it upside down, move the chainstay (made of bar stock) about three inches above the bottom bracket and add a spring suspension on the front?
Well, I have never asked that question until now. Actually, I didn't ask it: I came up with it when I saw the (or an) answer.
It sounds kind of like I was playing Jeopardy. Can you imagine if they offered one of those bikes as a prize?
Joey Ruiter of Grand Rapids, Michigan designed the Growler City Bike after taking a Growler from a local pub and designing a bicycle--a cafe racer, specifically--around it.
The Growler features fat 29 inch tires, a Monarch springer front end, a two-speed internally-geared "kickback" hub , disc brakes and--the most important feature of all ;-)--a holder for a half-gallon jug ("growler") of beer.
Somehow I get the feeling I would actually like that bike. Does the Brooks Flyer (Or is it a B67?) saddle come as standard equipment on it?
Today I took Arielle on one of our favorite rides: to Point Lookout. Although the temperature topped 90 F, it was quite a nice day for cycling: The sky was almost preternaturally clear, which meant that the humidity was fairly low. And, along the stretch from Rockaway Beach to Point Lookout, I was pedalling into the light wind/strong breeze. That meant, of course. that it blew me back on the ride home.
I am not boasting when I tell you I took that photo. It's not a postcard or an illustration; you get an idea of what kind of a day it was if someone with my photographic skills (or lack thereof) can take such a photo.
Of course, there has to be something to complicate a perfect day:
Can't you just hear the theme from Jaws" in the background?
Those guys have no idea of the fate that awaits them!
Actually, they were fine. But you can see, from this photo, the sandbar that, just a bit later, came to the surface, as it does when the tide goes out.
Tomorrow I will probably do a short ride, or errand rides, as I am going to Prague the day after. Somehow today's ride seemed like a perfect sand-off, and a perfect follow-up to the ride I did with Lakythia yesterday. Yes, life is good.
