8 Years Already!

So why am I posting a picture of an 8 year old girl?

From Thanks, Mail Carrier

Well, she looks really cute on that bike. But she is relevant to this blog.  Better yet, she has something in common with it.

What?, you ask.

Midlife Cycling turns 8 years old today.   I wrote my first post on 2 June 2010.  I'm still "at it," 2567 posts later.  And I'll keep it up as long as I enjoy it.  Since I've never stopped loving cycling or writing, I don't think I'll lose the pleasure I've found in this blog and you, my audience.

So what has changed?  Writers are the worst judges of their own work, but I'm guessing that this blog has developed a "voice", whatever it may be.  In the beginning, I was probably making some effort to imitate other bike blogs I'd read, especially ones written by women. (I'm thinking particularly of Lovely Bicycle.) But I am a very different sort of woman, and cyclist, so I realized that I could do no more or less than follow my own instincts and inclinations.  Sometimes I write about my own trips or bikes; other times I write about other people's rides and machines; still other times I veer into topics that don't have much of a relationship to cycling.  Others will judge the results, but I am happy to be writing this blog and that others are reading it.

Aside from the blog itself, some other things in my life have changed since I started.  For one thing, I now have four bikes I didn't have back then:  Dee-Lilah, my new Mercian Vincitore Special; Vera, the twin-tube Miss Mercian mixte I bought about a year after I started this blog; Josephine, the Trek 412 estate-sale find and Martie, the Fuji Allegro that's become my commuter/errand bike.  And I no longer have Helene, the Miss Mercian I bought not long after I started this blog, and the two Schwinn LeTours I acquired and used as commuter/errand bikes.

Oh, and I now have one cat, Marlee, who wasn't even born when I wrote that first post.  Sadly, Charlie and Max, my feline buddies back then, are gone.  

On a happier note:  I have taken, in addition to hundreds of day rides, trips abroad which have included cycling: Prague, Paris (twice), Italy (Rome and Florence) and Montreal.  And I've been to Florida a number of times to visit my parents but also to enjoy some warm-weather riding in the middle of winter.  

I don't know what changes and adventures lie ahead.  All I know is that you'll read about them here!

A Mercian That Looks Like a Motobecane?

It has one of the most iconic looks of '70's bicycles:

The Motobecane Grand Record was also finished in other color schemes, such as silver/black and yellow/black.  But the black with red panels and headtube, and gold lug lining, is the most eye-catching and probably the most sought-after.

But it wasn't just a "looker":  From all accounts, it was a nice rider--sort of a  more refined version of the Peugeot PX-10.  

Like the Peugeot, the Grand Record was constructed with Reynolds 531 tubing and Nervex lugs, though Motobecane's finishing work was clearly better.  The two bikes share another trait that isn't surprising:  French components.  Well, the PX10 was all French, except when it came with a Brooks Professional saddle. (Sometimes it was supplied with an Ideale 90.)  The Grand Record, on the other hand, always sported the Brooks Pro, and usually came with the Swiss short-reach Weinmann Vainqueur centerpull brakes.  (Occasionally they arrived with Mafac Competitions.) It also had non-French components that, ironically, gave the bike its name:  Campagnolo Record derailleurs and shifters. Otherwise, with its TA Pro Vis 5 or Stronglight 49 double crankset, Normandy Luxe Competition hubs, Super Champion rims, Robergel spokes and Phillipe bars and stem, it was as Gallic as the PX-10.

Of course, people have turned Grand Records into touring bikes or classy commuters/city bikes because of its performance--and looks. (It was also available in a twin-tube mixte models, unusual for a bike so high on the food chain.)  In fact, the black-and-red scheme was so popular that Motobecane would later offer some other models with it.

Now, if you have been reading this blog, you know I'm a Mercian aficianado. (I own four of them.)  So, here's my question:  If I love Mercians and the look of the Grand Record, should I want a Mercian that looks like a Grand Record, sort of:

Well, that's what someone's selling on e-Bay.  And it has a vintage Campagnolo gruppo.  The price is good--and the bike is my size, more or less.  Hmm...Do I want a Mercian---that looks like a Motobecane?

A Day of Spring

It's been called "The Year Without Spring."

Here in New York, people talk--and complain--more than most farmers about the weather.  This year, though, they do have reason to complain:  Since March, we've had days or weeks when it's been cold and wet punctuated by a day or two of summer-like heat.

Yesterday was one of the few spring-like days we've had, at least temperature-wise.  The mild air, though, was humid, probably because of the heavy clouds that covered the area until mid-afternoon, when the sun broke out.  Also, we had march-like wind.

So what did I do?  I pedaled into that wind--to Connecticut.  Yes, I cranked most of the 70 kilometers (43 miles) up to the Nutmeg State into a 30KPH wind.  I had to remind myself of that when I arrived, more tired than I'd been on previous rides this year.  I thought I'd grown soft over the past couple of weeks, when papers, exams and other end-of-semester duties made me more sedentary than usual.

At the Veterans Memorial in Greenwich, the flowers--and flags--were in full bloom.  Unfortunately, my camera wasn't up to the occasion (or I'm the most technologically incompetent person writing a blog today).  Fortunately, Arielle was.*

Of course, the ride back was--if you'll pardon the expression--a breeze.  

*--I'll be riding more of Dee-Lilah, my new Mercian Vincitore, soon.  I have ridden her a couple of times, mainly to test things, but I wanted to save her for the nice weather--and my birthday, for which she is my gift to myself!

Gooooal?

The World Cup football tournament starts in a couple of weeks.

Perhaps even the US, which didn't qualify, is getting ready:

Will the "ball" go through the" posts"?  If it does, and Andres Cantor isn't there to announce it, does it count as a goal?

Interesting, what you can see on a bike ride in the Bronx!

From Cars To Bikes, On A Highway

Twenty-five or thirty years ago, streets in Chinese cities were as choked with traffic as the Long Island Expressway (a.k.a. The World's Longest Parking Lot) during peak commuter hours.  The difference was, of course, that the throngs of people going to work or school in Beijing or  Shanghai weren't enclosed in four-wheeled motorized vehicles.  Instead, they were astride bicycles:

Westerners--especially Americans--were amused by the idea of "bicycle traffic jams."  The Chinese who were part of them, like people stuck in any kind of traffic jam, probably weren't (or so I would assume).  But within a decade or so, their problem would be "solved":  Instead of being surrounded by cyclists on their way to work, they would be stuck in automotive gridlock that would make a trip across the George Washington Bridge at 8 am seem like, well, a bike tour along la route departementale 618 from France to Spain.

Now some folks in Beijing are realizing that driving isn't always as quick or convenient as they'd hoped. They, especially the young are--you guessed it!--getting back on their bikes.

I haven't heard any reports of bicycle traffic jams like the ones the city experienced when few people had cars.  But city planners might be anticipating them--or responding to folks who want their bike commutes to be safer and more convenient.  To that end, construction on a 6.5 kilometer bicycle highway is set to begin this September.  

Because it will cross major highways, much of the bike route will be elevated.  There will be no traffic lights, and its use will be restricted to pedal bicycles without motors.  Moreover, it will have a gated entrance--a feature borrowed, along with others, from the world's longest elevated bike path in Xiamen.

That southeastern Chinese city was mainly a port city until three decades ago, but has morphed into a center for financial services and technology.  It has also become, interestingly, the city frequently cited as "greenest" or "most livable" in the country.  The influx of highly-educated professionals probably has something to do with that.

Those are the same sort of people who live and work in Zhongguancun, the district in the northwestern part of Beijing where the new bike highway will be built.  It's often called "China's Silicon Valley."  If the area's scientists, engineers, venture capitalists and creative people are anything like their counterparts in California, it's not surprising that they've taken to cycling--and want better conditions for it.

What I find fascinating is that the move from bicycles to cars and back has happened more or less within a generation.   Here in the US, the cycle has taken a century--that is, in those areas where there are people who ride to work and school, and for pleasure.