On Sunday, I took Tosca out for a ride with Lakythia her friend Mildred. It's the first time I've seen Lakythia since I got back from Prague, so of course there was lots to talk about. One of the things I like about Lakythia is that she's a great social rider: I never feel as if I'm sacrificing the "social" part of riding with her, and I also don't feel as if I'm sacrificing the quality of my ride to be social. And I felt the same way about Mildred. In some ways, she's my opposite: She's petite, wiry and very athletic-looking, yet she has one of those gamine oval-shaped faces that allows her to wear her hair close-cropped and look absolutely great.
I can't help but to wonder what kind of a cyclist, and person, I might be if I had ridden with them, or people like them, earlier in my life.
I've had too much time to wonder a lot of things, in spite of all of the work I've had to do. It's rained, torrentially, almost nonstop since my most recent ride. The weather we've had during the last few days actually feels more like what I expected when everyone was warning us that Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene was going to level, inundate and otherwise annihilate this city.
You know you're not riding enough when...You plan on making an equipment change on one of your bikes and start to think maybe you won't do it after all, even though you've bought the parts you need for it. I've tweaked the levers on Helene a bit, and the brakes feel a little better. I'll need to test-ride them a bit more. On one hand, I like the idea of keeping the bike as it is because, well, that would be easier. Plus, the dual-pivot sidepull brakes are simply easier to adjust and maintain than centerpulls, and have a "cleaner" look to them. They also are chunkier, and I get the feeling the centerpulls might actually look classier, in a retro sort of way (especially if I install the mini-rack on the front) on the mixte frame. Finally, they just might give me better modulation, and they will almost certainly fit better around the fenders.
Oh well. I just want to get in a bunch of good miles before we get some snow, slush and other wintry delights.
I can't help but to wonder what kind of a cyclist, and person, I might be if I had ridden with them, or people like them, earlier in my life.
I've had too much time to wonder a lot of things, in spite of all of the work I've had to do. It's rained, torrentially, almost nonstop since my most recent ride. The weather we've had during the last few days actually feels more like what I expected when everyone was warning us that Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene was going to level, inundate and otherwise annihilate this city.
You know you're not riding enough when...You plan on making an equipment change on one of your bikes and start to think maybe you won't do it after all, even though you've bought the parts you need for it. I've tweaked the levers on Helene a bit, and the brakes feel a little better. I'll need to test-ride them a bit more. On one hand, I like the idea of keeping the bike as it is because, well, that would be easier. Plus, the dual-pivot sidepull brakes are simply easier to adjust and maintain than centerpulls, and have a "cleaner" look to them. They also are chunkier, and I get the feeling the centerpulls might actually look classier, in a retro sort of way (especially if I install the mini-rack on the front) on the mixte frame. Finally, they just might give me better modulation, and they will almost certainly fit better around the fenders.
Oh well. I just want to get in a bunch of good miles before we get some snow, slush and other wintry delights.
