It was cold ,at least compared to the weather we've had. It was windy.
So what did I do today? I went for a bike ride.
That is not, in itself, so unusual (at least for me). For one thing, the cold and wind were balanced out by the bright sunshine.
So, perhaps, you can understand why I rode along the bay and the ocean: to Howard and Rockaway Beaches, then to Breezy Point (which certainly lived up to its name!) and Coney Island, from which I pedaled along the Verrrazano Narrows and under the bridge named for it.
The funny thing about the beach areas, at least around here, is that they are usually a couple of degrees warmer than the areas only a couple of miles inland. The wind, however, makes it feel colder, which is why I had long stretches of shore, beach and boardwalk almost entirely to myself.
Even on Coney Island, where I often find couples, young and old, strolling in the shadow of the Parachute Jump and and men fishing from the pier, I felt as if the boardwalk was my own personal track.
Speaking of which: I rode Tosca. Yes, my Mercian fixed-gear. Pedaling into the wind on a fixie is good training, to say the least. But riding with it--especially on such a flat ride--feels almost like cheating!
When you think of high-quality bicycle tires, some names that might cross your mind are Michelin, Continental, Panaracer, Schwalbe and Vredestein.
Panaracer is a subsidiary of the Panasonic corporation. People who aren't familiar with the brand, or cycling, might think it odd that an "electronics company" makes bike tires--and some very nice ones, at that. Or, for that matter, bikes, which is probably the reason why they didn't sell as well in the US as, say, Fuji.
Schwalbe doesn't seem to be similarly connected to some larger industrial concern. At least, I couldn't find any such connection. All of their tires, it seems, are made for bicycles, e-bikes, scooters or wheelchairs.
The other three brands I mentioned--Michelin, Continental and Vredestein--make tires for motorcycles, automobiles and other kinds of motorized vehicles (including industrial machines) as well as bicycles. In an odd way, their practices parallel those of North American manufacturers in the days when few adults rode bicycles--and, as a result, demand for high-performance bikes and tires was minimal--on this side of the Atlantic.
If you rode a balloon-tired cruiser, whether from Schwinn, Columbia or Huffmann (Huffy) or long-gone marques like Elgin, Rollfast or Monark, it probably was shod with rubber from Goodyear, Goodrich or one of the other companies that made tires in the US for motorized vehicles.
(In fact, B.F. Goodrich also marketed bicycles, manufactured by Schwinn and other bike-makers, under their own name before World War II.)
Another of those US-based tire manufacturers was Carlisle. From what I could tell, they were the only one of those manufacturers to make the transition from heavy balloon tires to lightweight high-performance tires. In fact, not long after Michelin introduced the "Elan"--widely considered to be the first high-performance clincher tire-- in the mid 1970s, Carlisle produced its own narrow low-profile clincher tire, available with a folding or wire bead, called the "Flyte".
I never rode Flytes myself, but they seemed to be of good quality, if a bit heavier than Elans and their imitators. I had not thought about them for a long time until I came across a listing on eBay:
The tire for sale is wire-beaded, though a folding version was also made. My impression of Carlisle 700C and 27 inch tires comes entirely from the ones I saw in the shops in which I worked. I don't recall selling, or knowing anyone who rode, them.
Part of the reason they didn't catch on, I believe, is that most cyclists who were looking for high-performance clinchers were, by that time, riding European and Japanese equipment. We were, by then, already accustomed to looking toward companies like Michelin--and Wolber, Clement, Panaracer and IRC, which would adapt and, in some cases, improve upon, the design of the Elan--for our pneumatic needs.
Panaracer and IRC, Japanese concerns both, would also make tires for a then-fledgling company called Specialized Bicycle Imports. Today, of course, you know it as "Specialized", and its "Turbo S" tire was probably the first to weigh (with the tube made for it) less than most racing tubulars while offering most of the ride quality of such tires.
By that time--the early 1980s--Carlisle was just barely hanging on in the bicycle world. In fact, it was the last company to manufacture tires for non-motorized two-wheeled vehicles in the USA. Today it is part of a group called Carlstar, which makes tires for industrial and agricultural vehicles and machines, ATVs and other outdoor vehicles--but not for bicycles. Interestingly, they also seem not to be making car tires, but they offer after-market and custom car wheels under their Cragar, Black Rock and Unique brands.
Today is Groundhog day.
As you know, if the motley marmot sees his or her shadow, there will be another six weeks of winter. If he or she doesn't, spring will arrive early.
The most-watched woodchuck of them all, Punxsutawney Phil, saw his profile. His New York cousin, Staten Island Chuck, didn't see his.
So what am I to make of it? Well, while pedaling to work this morning, I didn't see my shadow. Did you see yours? Did other cyclists see theirs?
This fellow was riding the TransAmerica. What did his profile portend for the road that lay ahead?
These guys, apparently, didn't see theirs. Does that mean the rest of their race was "smooth sailing"?
Then again, those guys were in England. If Phil or Chuck or any of the other furry forecasters were there, would they see their shadows?
