She's Here, Along With Diss

Miss Mercian II arrived today.  I haven't had a chance to unpack her, as I've just gotten home from work.  And I'm not about to start assembling a bike while I'm in the skirt and blouse I'm wearing!


But, as you can imagine, I'm looking forward to it.  I opened the flap of the box and pulled away enough of the bubble wrap to see how elegant the frame is with its dark green paint and gold pinstriping and lettering.  I really think the brown grips, leather saddle and mudflap will complement it nicely.


Poor Marianela is giving up those parts.  Is a lady who sacrifices for another lady even more noble than the man who does the same?


What kind of a rhetorical question did I just ask?  Hey, this is a bike blog!  I never promised not to be self-indulgent.


The amazing thing is that Pete just dispatched the bike yesterday--in England.  In Suffolk, as a matter of fact.  Things take longer to get from Suffolk County, Long Island to my place than it took for the bike to come to me.  There is an ocean between me and Pete; there is only Nassau County between the New York City borough of Queens, where I live, and Suffolk County.  Then again, a plane or ship making the trip from Albion to America is less likely to get stuck in traffic than a truck on the Long Island Expressway (a.k.a. The World's Longest Parking Lot). 

In our exchanges of e-mails, Pete told me about the Diss Cycling Club, which is based in his area.  Its president owns the local shop, which has the earliest recorded Mercian sale.  In the shop, he also has a photo of himself sharing the podium with Beryl Burton, whom I mentioned in a previous post. 


I intend to read more about the club, and about British cycling clubs generally, as they seem to have an interesting history and culture.  


And now I'm up to my fourth Mercian.  That, in itself, is going to be interesting when I write my post(s) about all the bicycles I have owned--or all the ones I can remember, anyway!

Another Mercian On The Way

What do a Miss Mercian bike and Anthony Hopkins have in common?  

They're British.  And, soon, they'll both be residing in America.

Pete, from whom I bought the bike, sent me a tracking number.  He's checked out this blog and asked me, "Have you picked a name for her yet?"  I told him I'll name her once I customise her. 

 

I envision her as a sophisticated roadster/elegant commuter.  So, today I also ordered a pair of Tourist handlebars, which are patterned after North Road bars, from Velo Orange.  However, instead of ordering cork grips, as I originally planned, I decided to order a pair of Kraton rubber grips with a "basket weave" pattern.  I figure they'll go nicely with the Gyes Parkside saddle I'm going to take off Marianela.  And, I plan to install a pair of handlebar-mount shifters.    Finally, I might take Marianela's fenders, too:  They're the VO "Zeppelin" fenders, with a brown leather mudflap, which I think will look really nice on the Mercian.

Of course, Marianela will get the saddle and fenders that come with the Mercian.

This is going to be interesting, to say the least.  And lots of fun.

Childhood Summer Riding

Today was a good bit hotter than yesterday.  Yesterday's sky, as blue as the sea and clearer--as it always seems to be in those ideal memories of Childhood--turned hazier, as it often does when one tries to recall that blue expanse of yesteryear.  


The only riding I did today took me to and from work.  I was about a mile from work when Marianela's rear tube developed a slow leak.  I was just barely able to get to work, and before I rode home I had to fix it.  That, in the college where almost nobody else rides bikes.


But none of that took my mind off the riding I did over the weekend.  For some reason, I found myself thinking about a group of boys who rode in circles and did wheelies in the park at Point Lookout.  As it turns out, I had a photo of them:

Now tell me:  Does that look like someone's childhood memory of summer, or what?

Two Great Rides, And I Won!

I followed yesterday's wonderful ride with another today.  Arielle and I took one of our favorite jaunts: to Point Lookout, along the Atlantic coasts in the Rockways and Nassau County.  Along the way, we managed to avoid some of the crowds and the Tour de Queens.  I've no objection to the Tour; I simply didn't feel like riding with 1000 other people.

Besides, the ride along, and to, the water is sublime on a day like today.  It was just a bit warmer than I like, but at least there was practically no humidity.  The only downside to that, of course, is that even though I drank all of the water I brought with me, I made two stops besides Point Lookout so I could fill my bottle and for other beverages.

The tide was in at Point Lookout, so I kicked off my shoes.  The waves washed between my toes and left--seaweed.  I saw lots of it today.  And, for a moment, I wondered whether I should find some fisherman's net and harvest some of it.  Just as I think of making pesto whenever I see fresh basil, I now have visions of miso soup when I see seaweed!


Before I left on my ride, I was watching the auction for the Miss Mercian and just barely resisted a temptation to increase my bid.  Turns out, I didn't need that higher bid:  When I got home and checked, I found that I won the bike for exactly the amount of my highest bid.  The shipping is going to cost a bit more than I thought it would, but from what the seller and Fed Ex say, I should have the bike within a week of shipment (or dispatch, as the Brits like to call it.)


I've been thinking of how I'd like to set it up.  At the moment, I'm envisioning a nice, classy transport bike. I'll keep all of the components, as they're of good quality.  However, I will definitely replace the saddle.  I might take the Gyes Parkside off Marianela (sorry!), as it's like the  Brooks B67 and I really don't want to spend the money for, or break in, a new saddle.  Also, I have set up the Parkside for my "quick release" Carradice bag.  And I'm also thinking of installing either the Velo Orange Montmartre or North Road bar with cork grips.  But if I install those bars, I might want a wider saddle.  Perhaps I'm getting ahead of myself.  But I think you can understand why!

At The End Of Today's Limits

Well, the thunderstorms we had yesterday got rid of the heat and humidity--for a couple of hours this morning, anyway.   To be fair, although it turned into a warm, sticky day, it wasn't nearly as bad as yesterday.  Still, I overdressed:  After going to Parisi's for a couple of snacks to take on the ride, I changed from the tank top I'd been wearing, and intended to wear, on my ride for a heavier, three-quarter sleeve shirt.  At least the shirt is cotton, and kinda cute (or so I've been told).


Anyway, it felt good to get out earlier than I had been riding, and to ride with Lakythia.  She says that today I pushed her past an old limit of hers.  It was funny to hear that:  For a moment, I though of myself riding in a studded leather bustier.  Then again, I've never owned one of those, and finding one to fit me probably wouldn't be easy!


What she meant was that we went on a longer ride than any other she'd taken in a long while.  The funny thing is that I wouldn't have known that unless she'd told me:  She was tired, but so was I.  It was the kind of day that would have tired out just about anybody who was riding five or more hours and wasn't a Cat III racer.


I do have one excuse for being tired:  I rode in a fixed gear.  I don't mean to blame the bike;  Tosca, when I pedal her, just wants to keep on going.  But I simply didn't have the option of shifting gears, which I would have liked later in the ride.  When you can't shift gears, even ascending a ramp to a bridge walkway can seem like a real climb.


I find that it's always late in a ride of two hours or more (depending on the season and my condition) that I notice the difference between the way my bikes feel.  Arielle and Helene remain comfortable and, like Tosca, just want to keep on going.  


However, I feel that of all of my bikes, Arielle can "carry" me the most at the end of a ride:  I can just find a comfortable gear and she'll get me home.  Plus, the drop bars allow me to find a position that's comfortable.  Paradoxically, sometimes I want to ride in the "drops" when I'm tired, because the efficiency of the position helps the bike to maximize whatever energy I still have left.  Of course, I can also do that on Tosca, but I can't shift to a lower gear.  On the other hand, on Helene, riding on the forward position of the Porteur bars isn't as efficient as riding on drops.  Then again, if I want to, I can ride upright on Helene, which I can't do on Arielle or Tosca.


Of course, I didn't explain all of this to Lakythia, mainly because I wasn't thinking about it while we were riding.  However, if she wants to know more about such things, or turn into a gearhead, I can help her with that, too.  For now, I'm content to have found someone else with whom I enjoy riding.

Resettting

The threat of rain was real:  By early afternoon, intense thunderstorms dumped two to four inches of rain, depending on where you were, on this area.  So I don't regret not having gone for a ride today. 

I don't mind riding on a warm, rainy day.  But the lightning looked particularly dangerous today.  I'm glad I wasn't out in some open area when it struck.

The rain has continued into this evening.  I had the opportunity to catch up on a few things, one involving a writing project.  That I did them earlier than I'd planned means that I'll get to bed earlier tonight.  That will be good, for I've wanted to reset my clock so I can go out for some early morning rides.   I plan to do that tomorrow, with Lakythia, my new riding partner.  

Believe it or not, I once had a year in which I rode 361 days. Back then, I would have been pouty and nasty and worse over missing a day of riding.  But I think I needed this day.  I would not have understood something like that back in the day.

Another Mercian?

If you've been reading this blog, you know that I never, ever do anything irrational.  Right?

So, what I just did doesn't qualify as irrational. Perhaps if I were more religious, or were still enamored of Kierkegaard, I would say it was a leap of faith.  To those who know me best, it might just be a typical act of visionariness (Is there such a word?) or pure and simple insanity.

What did I just do?  I've bid on another bike on eBay.

However, it isn't just any bike:

It's a 1997 Miss Mercian. The fellow who's selling it bought it after a hip injury prevented him from using a diamond (or "men's") frame.  He set it up, he says, as a tour/commute bike.

If I were rich, I would buy the bike just to give it a good home.  And, yes, that is one of my intentions.  However, I thought of some practical ways in which I could use the bike.

The frame size is a centimeter bigger (at the seat tube) than any of the Mercians I now have.  And its top tube is a centimeter and a half longer.  If the bike fits the way I think it will, I might swap the drop bars for North Road-style bars, or Porteur bars (like the ones on Helene) on a stem with a shorter reach.  And, of course, I'll change the saddle.  Then it might become my transport bike.  (In that case, I might even put drop bars  on Helene.)

I've given myself a limit as to how high I'll bid because the bike is in England, which means that shipping it will be expensive.  But I do like the way the bike looks.  And I don't think I would change anything else, at least in the beginning, besides the bars and saddle.  The components are all good-quality, and the bike has a rack and fenders.

The auction for the bike ends Sunday afternoon.  This will give me something to obssess over between now and then!

The Day After An After-Work Ride

After yesterday's spontaneous after-work adventure, I just did a normal commute today, over one of my normal routes.  But, as the weather was about ten degrees (F) hotter than it was yesterday, and the humidity rose in tandem with the temperature, the normal commute was more of a workout than it usually is.  Plus, Marianela is a considerably heavier than Helene.  She can't help it; she's got heavier tubes in her frame.  At least she doesn't seem to have body image issues.

And I won't, either, even though my students surprised me with this today:

Hmm..,Maybe I should've taken another ride after work!

A Voyage After A Great Labour

This is the story of an excellent after-work adventure.  (Can you believe that twenty-two years have passed since that movie came out?  Can you believe that, just about every year, someone has managed to make a movie even dumber than that one?)

Anyway, about my excellent after-work adventure on an excellent and fair day:  It goes to show how English ladies, after getting a little bit of French culture, lead impressionable young women down all sorts of paths they never planned:

Well, OK, I'm not so young anymore.  As for impressionable....All right.  This lady certainly didn't protest when she whispered, "Let us abscond!"


And abscond we did, first through an exotic land:

West 139th Street, Harlem, NYC

From thence she transported me to a land where the language spoken was not mine:

Union City, NJ:  No es necesario para hablar ingles aqui.

Then, after our journey down a mighty river, we came upon a realm of ships and bridges: 

From the Staten Island Ferry

Thence we boarded a great vessel and countenanced many more bridges:

Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges, seen from the Staten Island Ferry

Finally, we encountered an aged but fine vessel:

And so ended our great voyage: 

(Somehow I get the feeling that this is the image many people have of American History--or of immigration, anyway!)

Yes, twas a sweet voyage.  This young maiden gaped in disbelief upon realizing she had pedaled over 45 miles in her after-work ride.   She was well contented, for I am that maiden.     

So ends this tale of an excellent after-work adventure.               

Showing Their Colors On The Fourth

Hello there!  Today is the Fourth of Joo-lie.  


Yes, it's American Independence Day.  And it's my birthday.  But I can't say I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy:  I was born in Georgia!  Then again, it was one of the thirteen colonies that declared independence.


(One thing they never teach in American History classes, at least in the US, is that there were really fifteen colonies.  Thirteen seceded.  The other two, Quebec and Nova Scotia, didn't.  The reality is that they couldn't:  Nova Scotia was the North American base for the Royal Navy, and Montreal and Quebec City were essentially garrisons for the Royal Army.  But I digress.)


Anyway, on a day like today, what better theme than red-white-and blue bicycles?

Perhaps it's not surprising that red-white and blue bikes come out in the wake of victories by American riders.  It seemed that during the reign of Lance, every other Trek model had some sort of variation on the flag that poet Bill Knott referred to as "a starry sweatband of cheese."

All right, it's a Do-Rag.  My question is:  Will it fit under my helmet?  


Back when I was training in Prospect Park, I sometimes rode with a guy who wore a yarmulke under his helmet.  And the fringes of his tallit dangled from underneath the hem of his jersey.  I also sometimes rode with an observant Jewish woman who carried a skirt in her jersey pocket.  As soon as she got off the bike, she pulled the skirt on.  Where else but in America, right?


Speaking of Americana:  Like baseball, basketball and snowboarding, mountain biking originated in the USA.  So, of course I had to include a mountain bike here:

And, of course, the Fourth is not complete without parades and such.  And there are always kids on bikes.  This one's for them:

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't end my homage to red, white and blue bicycles on the Fourth without mentioning the web page of someone who has a red, a white and a blue Cannondale.