Friday, May 10, 2013

Speed and Hammocks

After months of sitting in the basement collecting dust, I finally sacked up and took the Fondriest in for some much needed adjustment. I was having some serious shifting problems and that's something I just can't stand for - part of the reason I ride a singlespeed mountain bike...


Yesterday on the commute in I was clunking through the gears and swearing like a drunken sailor in the process so I decided to take the rig into Back Alley Bike Repair where Julian hooked me up with some wrench love and a new/old Campagnolo skewer for the rear wheel, after the previous one was realized as completely stripped and unusable due to the repeated Thor-like tightening of it that was necessary to keep the wheel from slipping out, thanks to the polished chrome dropouts. (They look pretty but in actuality they are extremely dangerous - on several occasions the wheel dropped out while taking off from a stop light, in traffic).

A few turns of a spoke wrench and a quick setting of the limiter screws on the front derailleur (it was dropping to the outside often), and I was on my way to shifting jubilation.

After work I tested out Julian's handiwork by riding the Magnolia Loop and was so motivated by the ease of pedaling and shifting I decided upon numerous hill repeats in Discovery Park.

This morning my friend and coworker, Rick Peterson, swung by the house and we rode in together to grab some free coffee and bagels during a Bike Month presentation/gathering on 5th and Stewart. We took the extremely busy Burke Gilman Trail and the bike highway that is Dexter Avenue. Holy shit are there a lot of people cycling right now! At several red lights there must have been 30 cyclists idling.

The mayor gave a speech along with other advocacy types at the bagel event, then he pedaled away with an entourage. It's pretty cool that someone in his position is free to ride around with the rest of us and if you didn't know it was him you'd think it was just another of Seattle's uber-commuters.

Sunny and 80 degrees in May, a solid fitness level and a fast bike to boot. Life isn't so bad.

1 comment:

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