Miss Mercian II Gets Ready For Me To Leave

Just so you know this blog didn't go to the dogs the other day, I'm posting this photo:

Charlie just happened to be there when I was setting up my new camera, which I bought because my old one is dying and I wanted a camera with a wider-angle lens for my upcoming trip.

Believe it or not, he was rescued.  With a face like that, how in the world did he end up on the streets?

All right...Enough rhetorical questions that question the state of the human race.  You're not reading this blog for that, right?

So I'll answer a burning question.  Yes, Miss Mercian II is just about done.  I only took her for a couple of quick test rides: not enough to offer a detailed ride report.  That, I'm afraid, will have to wait until I return from my trip.

I've kept most of the equipment that was on the bike when I bought it.  However, I changed the fenders (from black plastic ones), brake and shift levers, and chainrings (from a triple to a single with a guard).  However, the most interesting--to some of you--change might be this:

I flipped over a pair of Northroad-style bars to give a position that's somewhat similar to what Helene, my other Miss Mercian, has with the Porteur-style bars.  The bike originally came with dropped bars, which necessitated changing the levers. 

I had originally planned to use the bars in the upright position.  But then I found it more upright than I really wanted, so, as per Velouria's idea, I flipped the bars.  That made yet another change necessary:

I had originally planned to use the Gyes Parkside I took off Marianela. However, I found it was too wide after I flipped the bars.  So I went to Old Reliable:  a Brooks B 17, the same saddle I have on Helene.  (Arielle and Tosca, my road and fixed-gear Mercians, have B-17 narrow saddles.)  And we all know that you have to put a honey or brown saddle on a green bike, right? Of course--especially when the grips match!

And I decided this bike simply had to have gumwall tires.  There aren't as many good-quality ones (that is to say, real gumwalls as opposed to ones that are merely yellowish) as there were in the '70's or '80's, and even fewer in 700C.  The ones on this bike are made by Schwalbe.

I might make another change or two once I get some miles on the bike.  But most of what you see is what will remain on this bike, I think.

Note:  My posts during the next two weeks will probably be more sporadic.  If you don't hear from me, I've joined some group that's riding to Moscow or someplace.  Or, I've gotten a job teaching English or met a guy named Vaclav!

Under A Clear Blue Sky

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.

Letting Sleeping Dogs And German Bikes Lie By The Sea

What's that about letting sleeping dogs lie?

They are under...a broomstick, a couple of trees and a clear blue sky.  Seriously, they are under the care of a couple of park rangers at the old Fort TIlden site, which is part of the Gateway National Recreation Area.


Lakythia and I rode there, among other places, along the ocean.  I can tell already that she's a real friend:  At Rockaway Beach, she saw me in a bathing suit and didn't flinch.  As this is a family publication (ha, ha), I won't post a photo of that, or of me when I was soaking wet.  However, I will post a photo of her.  She's absolutely radiant, just having returned from two weeks of voyaging along the Italian coast.  

At Rockaway Beach, we feasted on the round loaf of whole wheat bread I bought in Parisi's Bakery, a mozzerella and tomato salad I brought and a tortellini salad she brought.   Now, just because my last name is Valinotti, I don't want you to read any bias into what I'm going to say next:  You really can measure the level of civilization of any nation by the amount of olive oil and garlic it uses in its national cuisine. ;-)

All right, there are other things that determine how civilized a society is, such as the transport bikes (or lack thereof).  This one, as best I can tell, is either German or Dutch.  The few inscriptions on it were in what looked like German.  I tried to photograph them, but none of the inscriptions are legible in the photos.


However, I thought the headlight was attached in an interesting place, in an interesting way:

I don't think this bike had a hub generator.  Rather, it seems to have had a bottle-type generator mounted to the front fork.  There was a brazed-on tab for one, and it looked as if the generator had been mounted at some point.  Was it stolen?  Or was it removed for a repair?


I was curious to know more about the bike.  But sometimes I guess it is better to let sleeping dogs lie.

Anticipation: Cycling in Prague

In four more days, I'm leaving for Prague.  As you might imagine, I've been reading what I can about cycling the city.  And the comments on everything--from facilities to guided tours to cycling itself--are very mixed.  I guess that's not surprising, given what a metropolis Prague is.


One interesting insight offered by the Lonely Planet guide is that while cycling is becoming more popular, and the city is building bike lanes and doing other things to make cycling more popular and safer, and viable for commuting, things are nowhere near as good as they are in Vienna and some of the German, Dutch and Scandinavian cities.  Part of the reason for that, the LP editors say, is that while the central city is flat, it is surrounded by hills, which makes commuting from the outskirts less enticing for most people.  Also, they say, the lanes don't yet form a unified system that the lanes in other European cities are.   


Of course, comments like those aren't going to stop me.  Whatever they have in Prague, it must be better than just about any American city--and many European cities--had twenty or thirty years ago.  One thing that sounds familiar is the warning LP and a few other sources give:  Czech drivers are anti-cyclist.  As if they aren't in other places!


What I have decided is that I'm going to rent a bike.  If I were going to be away for longer, or if I were going on a tour or a cycle-camping trip, I'd want to bring one of my own bikes.  But, as a general rule, I like to travel as light as possible and, in these days of "security" measures and airline policies that seem increasingly capricious, I want to make everything as simple as possible.  For example, whenever I go to see my parents in Florida, I take only a carry-on bag with me, even if I'm going for ten days, as I did during the most recent Christmas season.


I still haven't decided, though, whether to take a guided bicycle tour. I might take one for my first ride there, as I've never been in Prague before and know only a few basic phrases in Czech and German.  (I once knew some more German, but it has all but disappeared from disuse.  On the other hand, I have had numerous occasions to use my French and Spanish.)  However, the reviews I've read of read of various guided tours are even more mixed than what I've read about cycling generally in Prague.  


I'm sure, though, that cycling there will be interesting.  How could it not be if people park bikes in places like this?:

Mixte-O-Mania

Miss Mercian II is almost there.  Today, Hal at Bicycle Habitat installed a new headset for me.  I'd hoped to get it in silver or gold.  However, because the original headset has a short "stack height," the number of headsets I can use is limited--unless I replace the fork with one on which the steering column wasn't cut.  And why would I want to replace the fork?  So the headset I got is black, albeit of high quality.


I'm also making a couple of other changes, which you'll see when I unveil her--after my first ride.


And the mixte-o-mania continues.  I found this photo of an old Raleigh Super Course mixte:

Back in my early adolescence, when I was barreling around town on my Schwinn Continental, I wanted--for a time, anyway--this bike.  Of course, back then I wanted the diamond frame, which was no less pretty than this one.


Its color remains, to this day, my favorite shade of red I've ever seen on a bicycle.  I don't remember what Raleigh called it, but I would say it's a deep candy-apple shade.  And it looked great with those white panels and outlines.  


I didn't get the bike.  It was just as well, really:  Later, I ended up buying a Peugeot PX-10, which was a much nicer bike.  When I started to work in a bicycle shop, during the mid-1970's, I saw that the quality of all but the three or four top models of Raleigh was declining.  In fact, I saw more than a few new (at that time) Records, Grand Prix and Super Courses--not to mention Sprites and three-speeds--with misaligned frames, bottom bracket threads that weren't cut properly and bearings that seemed to have sand instead of grease in them.  


Even so, those red Super Courses sure were pretty!  Not as pretty as my bikes though, just as no other cats are as cute as Charlie and Max! ;-)