So I went out for a bit to a friends house party on Saturday, much to the chagrin of my sickened body, but I am the ever vigilant socialite and must abide to an invitation by a friend. So off I went, riding pretty smoothly actually because I had been bedridden for a while, and I get to the gorgeous duplex apartment and, wheeling my bike in hoping to keep it off of the street, wow!! Here is a parade of old school bikes, belonging to the folks that live in the apartment. So like a dork, I whip out my camera and investigate.

The first bike that caught my attention is this one:

A John Deere?!?! Like the tractor dudes? I mean, is that for real? And I am genuinely asking because I really don’t know. I didn’t know that John Deere made bicycles. I can tell you that this bike was old because when I lifted the frame it felt like I was bench pressing a weight in the gym. Yikes. I can’t even imagine trying to get up a hill riding this bike, but I sure as hell would surpass the speed of sound if you put me on a downhill on it!! Here is the far-out shot:

Pretty cool for tooling around the neighborhood, grabbing scant groceries and some cat food no? I am a sucker for the front basket on a bike. It always makes me want to get out, pedal to the nearest Italian shop and buy some vine ripened tomatoes, fresh baked Italian bread and a brick of fresh spun mozzarella, and some flowers. Yeah, I girl out like that sometimes.

Next in line was this one:

Peugeot. Classic. Funny how being a more contemporary biker, I don’t come across bikes like these anymore and it is more reminiscent of my childhood than being a kitschy throwback for the uber-cool. I think it’s awesome that people ride classic bikes like they ride classic cars. It’s all about being in the know. Anyway, looking at the handlebars, I kind of squirm, as I have never liked the brake cords hanging out like this:

I am more of a streamline kind of gal.

But in speaking about these classic bikes, I have a a treat of sorts. I came across this site in my ongoing research to find all bike knowledge that I can. It is called Bicycle Classics and they have products to keep up your classic ride!! They seem to have a pretty good collection of parts and they seem to be as geeked out about bikes as I am!! Major plus in my book. Check it out. The site itself is very basic, they do not have any pictures of the parts, but it seems to me to visit this site, you really have to know your stuff, and perhaps this site is geared to bike geeks as well. It’s well worth checking out if you are serious about wanting to upkeep a classic bike.

(Photo taken from Bicycle Film Festival website, Bikes Rock 2007)

So today, staying in bed because I’m sick (booo) I had to at least do some more valuable surfing to come up with more and more info to post. I’m a dork like that. So in my vigilant quest to be in the know about everything I can, I cam across a wonderful and wacky site called Bicycle Film Festival 2008. Apparently it is the eighth annual event. There is all kinds of things going on with this organization and it seems there can be something here for anyone into the culture. Especially we artists!!

What kind of looks really cool to me coming up is an event called Bikes Rock. It’s happening Wednesday, 28 May at 9 and going on until late. It’s at Studio B, 259 Banker Street between Calyer and Franklin here in Brooklyn!! It seems to be a mixed media event, crossing film and music, sounds being created from bicycle parts. Very interesting. And what self-respecting film festival wouldn’t have a dance party afterward??

See you there dude.

On my ride home today, I happened to have come to a red light and waited next to a dude who was on a fixed gear–an old Bianchi. He wasn’t wearing a helmet. (Please refer to my previous post about riders that do not wear helmets.)

Anyway, when the light turned green, I wasn’t in the mood to try to race him, as it was the end of the day and sadly, I am sick today. And this hill was a doozie. So he takes off like any cyclist would, tearing out of the crosswalk in which we waited, baiting me for a race up the block. I bet he felt great peeling ahead of me and riding over his bar to get up the hill.

However, I wasn’t that far enough behind him to miss the fact that he was one of those riders I spoke about in my previous post about track or fixed gear newbies. As he rode over his bar, cranking his pedals to get up this hill, it was obvious that he had no real riding experience. He was rocking his frame back and forth so much that it looked like he had a metronome hanging off of his butt!! And riding as wrong as he was, expending so much energy into rocking the frame back and forth, I was still able to keep quite near him, as tired and sick as I am today!!

Novices!! Especially fixed gear newbies. It’s sad when they sport the fixed gear, chain wrapped around their waists with the trendy little mini U Kryptonite and their trendy hipster clothing, and CAN’T ride. And they don’t even know had bad they look to a trained cyclist!! As I have stated before, they think it’s just enough to sport the flashiest gear and most don’t take the time to learn how to actually ride, getting the full benefit of working out on a bike and actually beating the hell out of a good bike. You can ride the living bejesus out of a good bike and it’ll never let you down.

When will these trendsters ever learn??

I came across this site called Crank Brothers and nearly fell off my chair when I beheld this beauteous sight. This is their Cobalt XC wheelset, aluminum, stainless steel spokes, disc brake only, tubeless compatible, and in my favorite color, blue.

And being the bike-head that I am, I love tools. I can’t get enough of the Swiss Army style tools that cycling repair has to offer. I dig the fact that you can carry an array of tools on you in one little space in your bag and whip it out when you or a fellow cyclists need to fix a ride. So imagine the squeal that came out of me when I beheld this:

This too is on the Crank Brothers site. There are nineteen tools on this baby….nineteen!! Dude, I could sit for hours and play with this thing. And it comes with a “flask” to keep it in!! Oh my god, oh my god!! I need this to add to my collection of other fold-away tools, to keep in my bag and admire like Smiegel held on to the Ring of Power…

“Precious!!”

I can’t say that I can even begin to imagine whay anyone in this city, ANYONE, would set out to ride a bike without a helmet on. Even despite the warnings I’m sure they hear, even peripherally, yet also the rants that I myself have posted regarding the drivers here in NYC as well as other posts I have read by other bloggers in and outside of the city also ranting about careless drivers.

I have had this conversation before with folks that do not wear helmets. I get distressed when they want to argue against wearing helmets. It is quite disturbing the things people say, and even sometimes the blase arguements that they throw together at the last second when confronted about not wearing them. And I see all kinds of riders not wearing helmets, from pro riders to the average rider, to people riding on cruisers in the middle of traffic, just nonchalantly peddaling as if there were not semi-trucks whizzing by them so close, their hair picks up in the breeze.

What I have always said about driving I will now apply to cyclists: You cannot for one moment think that anyone else on the road is going to move around YOU. How can they when they are not paying attention to the road like they should? The best defense for navigating the road is to be hyper-aware of what’s going on around you and to treat everyone else on the road like they are out to get you. Think about it. If you are walking down a dark street at night to get home, you don’t just walk like it’s a bright spring day. You clutch your bag a little tighter, you perk your ears up for sounds of footsteps behind you, you may even, like me, keep an eye on the shadows around you to keep abreast of any sudden movements behind you. That is how you should treat riding your bike any time of the day. You have to treat it as if you are being followed down a dark street at night and you are prepared to protect yourself.

Now first and foremost, I believe that a lot of riders here in the city don’t wear helmets just for the simple fact that they have not seen an actual accident involving someone who has fallen without a helmet and has hit their head.

I have.

Consider this: the accident to which I am referring involved a woman who was on rollerblades. This was about a hundred years ago when I used to race and was training everyday in Prospect Park. On one lap around, there was a woman lying in the road, and I kid you not, her brain was partially hanging out of her head. Or perhaps it was just some scalp or something. However, it was a serious accident, she was bleeding profusely and was most certainly in shock. She was still conscious and talking, but you knew she was in shock because she was saying how she was fine and could get back up and go. Then she started rambling about something other than laying there in the road and it was quite scary to see that she was obviously not fully functioning. There was already a small crowd around her (those of us that could stand to see this horrific sight) and waited until the ambulance came for her.

Now I brought that up not only to demonstrate that head injuries are real from road related falls, but the fact the she was on rollerblades is even more sobering for us cyclists. Why, you ask? Because we are moving at higher speeds than a person on rollerblades and if this poor woman could bust her head open on rollerblades, imagine the effect of moving at 30 or more miles an hour!! Yeah, I get that queasiness in my knees too.

I also happen to know of people who got into biking after watching a lot of Europen races. Now those races can get anyone jazzed about riding, if even not for racing, but just to get on a bike. And I am all for that. However, it is very misleading, I think, for Americans to watch these races as the riders–what seems a lot of Italians–do not wear helmets, but those cloth hats with the floppy rim and tons of logos on them. I have had people tell me if the Europeans can wear those cool hats, then they too will want to wear those and look the part of the suave Italian racer. Oh boy.

People who propose that argument fail to realise that for one, the hats are worn to keep longer hair out of the eyes of the racers. Yes, being that they had something else on their body for advertisers to cover with logos was what happened, it did not spring from an idea for another cool accessory to wear with thier logo covered jerseys. The hats came from a need to help a rider with loger hair be able to see. Yet also what seems to elude folks watching these races is the fact that the riders are riding on closed courses!! If the rider so chooses not to wear a helmet, that is his choice, but he is riding in a controlled environment (for the most part) and they are not riding in the streets of Manhattan or Brooklyn, contending with traffic and spaced out vehicle operators. They are NOT on city streets: I cannot stress that enough!!

Track riders seem to be the worst offenders. They believe that their own control keeps them safe. Again, I don’t care how controlled you are, there are drivers on the road driving with shitty brakes, and will hit you. Or perhaps a driver may hit an oil slick left on the road from a car or truck leaking oil onto the street. Again, this is something beyond your control. And in fact, what will you do if YOU hit that oil slick left in the road? What happens if god forbid (and it has happened to me) an important part falls off the bike, your chain splits, you go flat during your “patented” corner turn?

You have to think ahead. You have to think in a way that you will protect yourself at all times on the road. And as such, we want to road to be safer for all that use it, and make potential riders want to be out there too, enjoying the same high we get from riding!!

And trust me, I feel like SUCH a dork when in dusk I have to slip those nerdy lights onto my bike–both front and back. But you know what, I have gotten a much different response from drivers when using the lights. They actually acknowledge me, which is important. Same thing with helmets. That helmet on your head shows that you are serious about protecting yourself on the road.

Don’t ever give anyone else the chance to decide your own fate.

So tonight I went to the third annual Brooklyn Blogfest 2008 at the Brooklyn Lyceum, 227 4th Avenue. It was really pretty cool. I went with a friend from work who sent me an email about it this morning, I checked out the webpost and decided I had to come to promote my blog here. I got to go up on stage at the end and talk intoa microphone and tell about my bolg. I got a realy good response!! I’m thrilled I went and got to meet other Brooklyn bloggers and we met and connected and there are some really awesome bRooklyn blogs and Brooklyn bloggers out here.

However, one of the bloggers, a woman named Heather, got up and spoke about her blog called New York Shitty and she referenced a joke on one of her posts. However the post was about bedbugs in the subway system!! Here is a little clip I swiped from the post:

“It was at this point that one of the more terrifying points of this entire meeting (in my opinion) was brought up: bedbugs make good “hitchhikers”, e.g.; they can attach themselves to a person’s clothing and spread. Five different subway stations have turned up positive for bedbugs. Three of them (the ones Mr. Brownbear could recall) are:

1. Fordham Road, Bronx
2. Union Square, Manhattan
3. Hoyt-Schermerhorn, Brooklyn

At the latter most they were found on a subway bench, which makes sense given it is has been established these little critters like wood.”

Ewww!! God I always knew that riding the subway was bad from the fumes, the dirt, the passing of flus and colds and what really made me stop riding was people farting all the time. But now this?!?! I am SOOOO glad that I stopped straphanging!!

Check out the rest of Heather’s post here.

Thank you Heather for letting me know this!!

What IS IT with the drivers here in NYC?!?!? I mean seriously, getting sideswiped on me bike not twice, not three times but FOUR times on my way to work this morning? One dude sideswiped me on the drivers side, had his windows open and his kid was in the back seat also on the drivers side and heard me go, “Whoa!!” as he grazed past me, and I swear I think even the kid got scared for me!! Another driver rolled down a long street with me on his right, knew I had to be there because (YAY!!) they just put a brand spaking new bike lane on this big street near my house. They took out the second lane to give us riders our own lane!! So anyway, here I am rolling on the right and this dude speeds up to the light so he can cross into the bike lane at the corner to make his precious right turn. However, it’s a red light. Um…yeah….so what’s the point of trying to overtake me at a red light? I had to slam on my brakes to keep from speeding right into the back right side of his van.

Now, I have no energy to argue with people, I really don’t. It’s just not in my nature. I pick and choose my fights and if I argued with every driver that did me wrong on the street, I’d never get down a mile of an avenue. Usualy what I do is to try to roll up into their sight and give them a dirty look. This guy wasn’t even looking in my direction, so I had to roll on without displaying my fury with the carefully crafted “Don’t fuck with me” look that I have. You should see it, it’s genius…..or maybe you shouldn’t…..

Luckily, or thankfully, however you’d like to look at it, I do not freak out when cars come too close or just turn me off my path. I think cyclists that freak out and tense up end up falling or making a bad move and make things worse for themselves. Like scaring themselves more or even worse, getting hurt by falling. All I do is go Whoa!! and then contemplate the near miss later….like on here.

Fucking NY drivers. I don’t know how half these people got their licenses or even stay on the road, but there has to be more to getting your license than just being able to move a few levers…..like any trained chimp can do. Drivers don’t respect cyclists, they NEVER pay attention turning, they think speeding through a red light in traffic is going to get them where they’re going faster. They park in the bike lane!! I want to break out all their lights and windows with my lock and chain when they do that, then leave a sticker right on the windshield in front of the driver’s eyes that says, “Don’t park in the bike lane!!!”

Hey, that may not be a bad idea. If I got those reverse stickers that say the words on the sticky side….but wait, no. I can’t go to a place to have those made up and then get caught by someone who’d track me down by finding me through the printer. Hmm. Maybe then just regular stickers that I can stick on cars that say don’t park in the bike lane. It’s a really good idea, but risky. If caught by drivers, I’d get my ass kicked. If caught by the authorities, I’d probably be charged with defacing property. Maybe I can find some psycho riders that would be willing to do that…..

Must meditate on this one……..

So like I stated, I didn’t do the 5 Boro this year, and god was it hard to be riding around yesterday and seeing the riders coming back into Manhattan, still wearing their little blue smocks from the ride, and seeing the look of contentment on their faces. Yes, I must admit, I was a little miffed. BUt I kept telling myself, “The Tour de Brooklyn, the Tour de Brooklyn!!”

In any case, I went out yesterday to get some of that beautiful sun and air, despite the fact that I was still hungover form the night before. Rock and roll I always say. But I got some beautiful shots from my ride…

And believe it or not, but this shot is down by the Staten Island Ferry dock where people were still coming back, but somehow I snapped this corner with no one in the intersection!!

And here’s one more….

Looking at the beauty of mine own city, is there any question as to why so many of us ride?

…or do you have to? Who’s to say that a rider can like only one style of ride? I must admit that I have had problems with the fixed gear community–mostly (as I stated previously) the problem being the same as we snowboarders vs. skiiers. I suppose that there must always be two sides to every equation.

But going by my years of riding experience, I have come across many riders. All outdoorsy, clean air loving, out of the box kind people. I cannot say that I have any animosity toward another fellow two wheeler. (I have seen a rider in Prospect Park hit a roller blader, knock him down, injure him and take off without stopping. I wanted to smack the hell out of him and remind him of how cars treat us riders, but alas, he was faster than I was and I lost him on the criterium.) However, it’s like in any movie you see where one car pulls up alongside another at a red light, both drivers look at each other, nod in silent understanding, and as soon as the light blinks out of red and starts glowing green, they peel off in thunderous screeching. Classic American rivalry.

And rightly so it should bleed into the cycling community!! Granted there are sub-divisions of the track and free wheel groups, but I’m sure we can all agree that these two categories are the parents of our own little miniverses. Also at red lights, we too, check out the “other” guy/gal on their wheels and thus begins the drag.

My first thought when you say fixed to me is, “Damn snobs.” I can’t tell you how many times I have been sitting at the end of the turned up nose of a fixed gear rider when we talk shop, and they scoff at the extra components on my bike. Gears? Laughable, they shout out. Brakes? Ugh, they huff, I’m bored with you already. And you know what? That is really not the way to make friends. It’s bad enough that the road is divided among pedestrians, runners, roller bladers, cyclists and drivers–and none of us seem to get along!! So why do the fixed gear-heads want to keep themselves apart from we free-wheelers?

Apart from that, I think that riding fixed gears on the city streets is not really a good idea. I only say that because I know how badly the streets are chewed up, and rolling over bumps, potholes and outright canyons in the asphalt is so much more navigable on a free wheel. With a free wheel, you can roll over these crotch-busters, riding over the bar, legs stationary and ready for anything, absorbing the shock with your knees. With the fixed gear, you have to keep pedaling no matter what…that can’t be good for the bottom to keep pedaling, can it? And to go barreling toward traffic at the end of the block with no brakes…my knees go weak just writing about it… I can stop on a dime with my brakes and even on days when your body is just tired, squeezing those grips to save your life is heaven sent. (Not to mention those days you may be completely hung over and the difference between squeezing handles and having to use more musclature to stop is also what creates the divide for me.) You have to have a higher level of control in order to ride, period. Most people in general don’t pay much attention to their environments around them, even less in the city, but to be hyper-aware on two wheels takes a certain kind of mental fortitude. Fixed, I admit, you have to be Jedi. That is, only if you are a demon on your wheels and know what you’re doing.

I understand that there are fixed riders that have been riding forever and know how to navigate through the urban jungle, but there are a lot of newbies with their tracks that think just because they have a track, they are immediately taken into the fold and, by association, they are cool and knowledged. These newbies ride for a crazy short amount of time, perhaps thinking that by being able to get up that hill on the way home they, by right, are a true fixie. Dropping thousands on a track that you only tape up immediately afterward seems to be the thing. Or collecting variations of fixed gears, with pretty colors and straight bars (GRRRRRRR) by default–even having three or more bikes–gets them in the know. It’s easy to differentiate between the old schoolers and the newbies. As for one, I can easily blow the newbies away!! They handle potholes with kid-gloves, slowing down considerably to circumvent the hole. They think of their frames as designer labels, something to show off, not as an extension of thier own bodies!! And if the frame takes a beating, so be it any seasoned rider will say. Chicks, as well as dudes, dig scars. It’s cool.

Keep in mind that I call them newbies because I know that some will truly get the bug and stick with it for years to come, whereas most (by law of permutation) will drop the notion like every other trend they have followed. And many good bikes get recirculated back into the community for those of us that are broke but would spend their last dimes on the used dream bike and forego eating for a few weeks.

Coming off the high of road racing, I rode my road bike for years on the city streets and realised that the streets were killing my poor bike, but I liked the urban course. I did some research and found that the cyclocross was what I needed. Free wheel (of course), drop bars, thinner-than-mountain-bike tires but more bite than road wheels, aerodynamic, lightweight and durable, this was the bike that I had searched for. Then it took a few more years to find the right one. And the right one I did find.

That in mind, I find that a lot of the fixed newbies don’t do any research, they just know what is trendiest (even without history behind the trend), buy blindly and get out there to be seen. This is cycling: sweat, dirt and broken bodies, not a runway guys… get over yourselves. I can’t deal with a rider who thinks that they know everything about riding but have never entered a race. Fashionable gear and flat rides in Manhattan do not a rider make!!

I am making a call to all riders!! We are a breed all our own, whether free-wheel or fixed, but at the end of the day, the result is still the same:

Sweaty, salty and dirty bodies
Another cool story of how you have avoided death one more day on the city street
Dirt, asphalt, tar and grime on your body/bike/clothes/sneakers
Rockin’ thigh/calf muscles
Almost total disdain for drivers
Awesome blood/oxygen circulation
Blood rush to the head that beats any drug or drink you put in your body
Kick ass face/arm/leg tans
Runy nose (hehehe)
Keen insider’s knowledge of city streets–i.e. the Grid
SCARS
Freedom to move around the lanscape anyway you like
Sprocket markings on the ankles
Chain grease on everything you own
Inability to function without your bike shoud a situation arise where you can’t ride

Am I right? Let’s all be friends….can’t we all just get along?

This morning, riding on my way to work, I was stopped at a red light and this minivan pulls up next to me and I just hapened to have noticed it out of my peripheral. No biggie. Then the window on my side rolls down and the driver honks the horn. I hear a voice call out to me. I turned and the driver said,

“Hey how are you feeling? You’re better now?”

I looked for a second, then realised it was the woman who had stopped and called the ambulance for me when I got hit by the car weeks ago. She not only recognised me, but stopped to ask how I was doing!! I yelled out,

“HEY!! Hi!! Yes, I’m better!! Thank you so much…..”

She honked again then pulled off. I was stunned. I just couldn’t believe it. I got to see her again and thank her especially after my posting here in which I hoped that I could thank her even aside from thanking her in my post, sending out my gratitude into the universe.

Sometimes I am absolutely amazed at how life works out sometmes.

You know, every time I say that, I feel like I’m cussing myself, because, yes, I AM a driver. Although not as bad as the others on the road. (Dont’ we all think that?) However, I came up with a good idea–I think–for people getting and renewing their driver’s licenses.

Put them on a bike for about two to four weeks on the road.

Think about it. If drivers became cyclists, I think not only would they learn just how badly they treat us, but they might, just might be more cognizant of us on the road when we share it.

Take for example this morning when I rode into work. This one driver was on my left, I was in the bike lane which was on the right. I am going at a pace right alongside him, and he speeds up to try to make a right turn. He nearly had me roll right into the right side of his car, thus causing yet another collision between me and hardened steel on four wheels. Asshole!! Now if I give him the benefit of the doubt and he has his blinker on, I can’t see it alongside him on the right. And just so, what is the harm in giving me the two seconds you’d give to a pedestrian to let me pass? Really, what is the problem?!?! Why do drivers feel they have such an entitlement to the road?

Or how about cars that double park in the bike lane? Which forces we riders to turn out into traffic in order to avoid the car sitting in the bike lane, which is oftentimes parked right under the black and white sign designating the bike lane for bikes only. Why is a car being steps from a doorway more important than my fragile body being forced into traffic? Why can’t the car turn down the sidestreet? God forbid they can’t sit and idle in front of whever building they’re sitting in front of. (And the last time I checked, idling engines are non green.) It’s almost laughable, but since my accident, I can’t laugh at it–I get angry and frustrated.

I think if I put that driver that almost turned into me today on a bike a put him in the same situation, he may think twice about turning without looking. Let that mofo try to reapply for his licence then. Or how about I email him a picture of the hole in my knee I got from being hit by a car, then put him on a bike for a while, then let him renew his license…

I can’t get over how drivers talk on their cell phones, eat, gab with their frinds in the car, or just plain are ridiculously retarded enough to make a right turn while looking left or vice versa. I have seen it with mine own eyes!! I know that the next bad thing that may happen to me (if I so choose to let it) is that I get into yet another twist with a car and I go after the car with my chain and lock. I’d break every window and light on the car to teach the driver and every other driver that saw it a lesson: that we bikers will not be intimidated and we have just as much a right to the road as they do!! However, like I said, the bad thing that would happen is either I get arrested for destroying private property or the driver just kicks my ass.

I wish I had an answer for making drivers treat us better (other than destroying thier precious cars with chain and lock), but I do not. I also think that it takes more than putting up those (super-awesome) signs that say “Share the Road”. I think my idea is good, as putting folks in actual situations teaches them more than having them sit in a five hour class watching a video in which Christopher Reeves is walking around talking about driver’s safety.

Here is a post I wrote the other day on Yelp.

Radegast Hall & Biergarten

I finally made it out to this infamous biergarten out in Williamsburg and I must say I was impressed. The selections on tap are your usual good picks, but the bottles that they had…..OH!! I tried to be adventurous and found that everything I had picked was awesome. The menu items in which you receive service was not really my dig, but they had a variety of sausage picks. I went with the Kielbasa and boy was I stuffed!! The drawback is that you have to go up to the grill yourself to get the sausage fare, but really it’s well worth the stumble. I also noticed that the surrounding area outside was real bike friendly-i.e. many spots to lock up, including the scaffolding right across the street which provided unlimited poles to secure your ride. The waitress was friendly, the vibe was good (although I can’t possibly imagine why anybody brought their children there–the food isn’t really kid friendly) and the skylight was a really cool feature of the room in which I sat with the communal tables.

So I got the brakes fixed on my sweet little Jake yesterday. I went back to Recycle-A-Bicycle in DUMBO. And as there is really no place to kill time as they fix your bike. I just stood there watching the mechanic work on my bike. I noticed that he cleaned the rims before adjusting and replacing the brakes. Novel idea!! I did not think of that in terms of having the brakes work more effectively, much less keeping Jake looking as close to new as he can look.

The brake pads in the back were changed, but not the front ones. He swore up and down again that the pads in the front were still good, but I gave him the look like just-change-them!! I explained the accident, and for some ungodly reason, he didn’t seem that phased about it. Really. Usually I get the look all the time: Awww!! Accident? You poor dear!! Does it still hurt? This guy was like, “Oh…..that sucks.” Yeah dude, it does suck, now change my pads!! They didn’t have another new pair to put in the front so all he did was adjust the tightness.

Which brings me to my next conundrum.

It seems there is some weird design flaw on the braking system vs. wheel equation. If the brakes are adjusted to the proper tension, you can’t get your quick release wheel off!! So I guess those that design the bikes don’t live in a city like, oh, I don’t know……NEW YORK, where you can turn your head for a nanosecond, and parts thereof or the entire bike itself is gone. So that just totally confirms it for me. I have to change the brakes often so that I can brake properly, but yet still keep the front brake tension loose enough to chain up my bike with the front wheel chained to the body. I bet there are other braking systems that could work for the cyclocross and I will look into that.

Also, remember I mentioned that my derailleur hanger was bent and I could not shift down to the bottom two gears? Well, first, I got Jake to shift down to the next to last gear. How? I hit this ginormous pothole on the street one day and dude, it fixed my derailleur!! I could then shift down to the next to last gear. I think that may be the first time a pothole has some usefulness!! So carry on I did, pedaling downhill on a gear that gave no resistance and I kept telling myself that I had to get it fixed. The problem is, I was told that I’d have to go back to the original store I purchased the bike in order to get the proper hanger. And my bike store is all the way down in Bay Ridge. I haven’t had much time to get all the way down there, although I really should to check out what’s new in the store. Anyway, so this morning when coming out of the elevator of my building, I looked down and saw how the mechanics knew to point out the derailleur hanger–it really did look bent. I don’t know why I didn’t notice before, but I noticed this morning. The mechanics at Recycle (two of them) told me that you can’t just simply bend it back to make it work again. But I know my baby. I looked at that hanger for a second or three, set the bike down, bent the hanger back out and when I got out onto the street….voila!! With a little patience, I could shift back down to my bottom gear!! Do I know my baby or do I know my baby? It’s as if Jake hath sprung from mine own body…..

Unfortunately the street that I power down in the morning is under construction, so I stayed on the sidewalk. I do not recommend riding on the sidewalk because of course, there are people walking, but also it’s kind of illegal here in the city. But I like to weave in and out of obstacles and since my brakes are spakin’ new, I rode on the sidewalk.

Also when you ride close to people and brush right past them, they have little mini heart attacks. I swear–try it if you don’t believe me. But only if you are a seasoned rider my dear….

I also wouldn’t recommend trying to bend back your own bent hanger. You could probably do worse damage if you don’t know what you’re doing. Not that I really do, but I had a feeling that it might work and I went with my instinct.

I am glad that I have this running record of the work that I am putting into maintaining Jake. But now I am starting to realise that maintaining a bike you ride every day takes as much maintenance as a car you drive every day. It’s all moving parts that need to keep moving. And they break down constantly. However, it is far less cheaper to maintain a bike than a car. But if you have a nice bike……

It is time for the fourth annual Tour de Brooklyn ride!!

In checking out the website (link in header) the preliminary information so far is that is on 25 May. Check in is at 8 am, line up at 9 and ride starts at 9:30. Much like the 5 Boro or the Tour de Bronx (which I have also done twice). The starting point is down in DUMBO at Water Street and New Dock Street. If I know the area at all, I think that it’s right near the lighthouse and Brookyln”s famous Grimaldi’s (best pizza anywhere).

Aside from that, there is not much else info on the website. There is a sign-up page which probably they mail all the info to interested riders.

I just registered!!

They just gave some simple instructions on what to bring, but still not much else going on on the site. Hmmm.

Well this time around, now that I have this blog, I have to take pictures, meet new people, get info on other rides and races…

I’m going to be a busy bee this May!!

Well kids, it’s been over a week since my last posting. Far be it from me to leave you hanging without having a good story to tell.

I got hit by a car.

Let’s go back to the beginning for a moment. The beginning of this story goes back beyond the day that I actually got hit. All the way back to the posting that I put here when I got my bike fixed and got the new lights I was so happy about. At that time, I knew my brakes were on the way out. I asked the guy who was fixing my bike to change my brake pads. He looked at them and told me that they were fine. He had me take a look at the pads and convinced me that there was still more than enough rubber to stop my one hundred fifty pound frame on a dime. I nodded, but was unconvinced. I don’t know why I didn’t even mention that when it rained I really felt unsafe with those brakes, as I kept rolling if I had to stop suddenly. If I stopped at a red light in the rain, I had to hit the brakes about fifty feet or more behind the corner to come to a stop at the crosswalk. God, why didn’t I say anything? Why didn’t I even just get the brakes changed before the accident?

So come back now to the morning of the accident. I was rolling down my usual route until I came to this part of the road in which the next block the traffic comes toward you head on. Which means that I had to make a left turn in order to get around the little triangular sidewalk in the middle of this road. I am almost flying down the road (trying to get to the office in time for my morning meeting) and take that left turn…..only to realise that the traffic going in my direction is backed up almost behind the light so I have to overcompensate the left turn I made. Which then brought me right into the path of a livery cab that was rolling to its stop at said light and we were headed right for each other. I hit my shitty brakes and knew I was going to roll right into the car. I believe that he knew that too, but failed to try to give me any room (as any cabbie in NYC would!!) nor tried to at least turn out of my path. We collided. I hit the front of the bumper and fell right over, kind of on top of my bike.

He never got out of the car, and not only that, WAITED until the light turned green and took off!! It was other drivers that looked at me and waited until I at least moved a muscle to ask if I was OK. (Usually when I do fall on my bike, I lay there for a second contemplating my fall. I guess it can be misconstrued as being seriously hurt.) I got up, more embarrassed than anything else, and stated I was fine. I dusted myself off and noticed a stinging in my knee. I walked over to the sidewalk, leaned my bike up against a railing and decided to take a look at the bruise that surely was already raging over my knee from the fall.

I rolled my pantleg up. No purple skin yet. I rolled it up more. Still no red, no black. I get just under the knee and…..

…..I saw the inside of my leg.

I screamed out, “OH MY GOD!!”

This woman who was initially one of the drivers that asked if I was OK actually waitied around for a second I guess to fully make sure I was OK. She heard my scream, leaned out of her wndow and said, “Stay right there!! Sit down on the bench. I’m calling you and ambulance!!” She then comes over and makes sure that I sit, because at this point I am totally freaking out. I was somewhere inbetween crying and hypervertilating, holding my knee in disbelief at what I saw. And in fact, after the first time I lifted that pant leg (which by the way wasn’t even torn), I never looked at the wound again. That is how traumatic it was for me. I still even get flashbacks about that moment and cringe and want to cry. (Even reliving that moment writing about it now has me almost in tears.) But I’d like to go out of my way to thank that woman who helped me. I’m sure there is no way in the world that she would read this, but I must put the good vibes out in the universe for her.

Anyway, believe it or not fellow cyclists, I waited all of five to ten minutes for that ambulance!! I thought I’d be sitting there forever, but no, I didn’t wait long at all. They came over to me and took me in the back and I explained what happened and they looked at my pantleg and saw it wasn’t cut, nor was there any blood (for some odd reason). I dropped my pants for the EMT and he was like, “Oh, I see!!”

Anyway, to cut this story that I could go on about for like three pages down to a relatively still interesting post, I get to the hospital and get twelve stiches in my knee–or rather it is just below the knee on the side, right into the fleshy part aside of the kneecap. I still am not sure why it didn’t bleed that much but in a way I wish it did, so I didn’t have to see firsthand my own glaring anatomy. Also the painkillers they gave me were fabulous!! I am not a fan of painkillers at ALL, but whatever it was they gave me, I was up and around that night, hanging out and showing off my latest bike injury. (Yeah, I show them off.)

What the doctors and I theorized what happened was that I caught my knee on my METAL bike pedal and tore the skin right open. Great. I just got those pedals…with the lights I was so happy about…

Anyway, besides showing off my injury to the cyber world, I’d like to state the moral of this story is that if you feel there is something on your nike that needs fixing, FIX IT. I don’t care if a bike mechanic with a degree from HArvard tells you otherwise, fix whatever it is that you feel you need to fix. Because in the end, you do not want to have a story like this one–cut and busted up, with flashbacks of the horror that was your knee. And flying on painkillers at work when you really need to focus.

Who is Matt Canale you ask? He is a 24 year old fine art, video production and animation extrordinaire, who hails from Fairfield, Connecticut, graduated from Rhode Island School of Design and even attended the RISD honors program in Rome. He is a sweet, soft-spoken, cool dude who now resides in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

He also happened to have biked clear across the country from Fairfield, Connecticut to Florence, Oregon. The trip took about three and half months, starting 24 June, ending 6 October 2006.

He rode a Fuji touring bike–new at the time. He can’t recall the model, but he says it’s gold and brown colored. He still rides it now around the city in springtime to get to and from work.

Matt and his two friends, Brendan and Tom, first decided to do the trip as a fun thing to do right after school. They planned for about a year, and decided to do it upon the boys’ return from Italy. When asked if he had any prior conditiong for the ride, he smiled and gently said no. He stated that they made some kind of “weak attempt”, but they figured that they would best get in shape during the trip itself. Well, that didn’t exactly work out the way he would have liked. According to Matt, the first two weeks were terribly painful, especially on his left knee. He hobbled around when walking, and it got so bad that at one point, they were only riding about 30 miles a day. He rode with toe clips, a pair of hybrid riding shoes–half hikng, half biking. Unfortunately, he wasn’t quite used to them and found that trying to pedal correctly was difficult. He said he didn’t get full rotation, and becaue of his knee, for miles at a time he would literally pedal with only one foot. The coolest thing, he said, was to actually take off the riding shoes and slip into a pair of Sambas!! He expressed that he wished he had gotten more used to the shoes beforehand. Good advice.

What kind of gear did you have? Cell phone, sleeping bag, tent, crank light flashlight (which died on him), mounted two panniers on the back wheel, a bag strapped onto the back bike rack and waterproof coverings that covered the panniers and bag. He had bike tools, a patch kit and extra inner tubes. He said he didn’t get a flat until Denver. (Lucky you!!) They rode the Rockies from Denver into Montana and then onto Oregon. It was very cold at night and they woke to frost covering the tents. He went out of his way to put extra layers on his feet at night before bed. His feet were so cold that he couldn’t even warm them for a few hours after riding in the morning. His mother worried about him during his trip, so he had to use his cell to call home every night to assure her he was fine. They got the route maps from Adventure Cycling, where he says is the best place for cross-country maps (link in header).

Looking back, what would you say was the one item that was the most important? Matt looks down for a moment, looks right back up at me and said, “A pillow!!” I laughed. He said that sleeping on some of the rougher terrain, he thanked god for that pillow. It was a roll up pillow so it could fit into a bag. The only other option for having something under your head was a rolled up pair of jeans. I winced at the thought of a hard pair of jeans under my head trying to sleep on a rock. Matt was like yeah, that’s why the pillow was awesome. Agreed.

What was your favorite state to ride across? “Virginia was pretty. Kleenex box pretty.”

He told me about riding west in the Rockies into Montana and then Oregon. He told me about being in Denver and Boulder. There were long stretches of empty space in Kansas and Wyoming. They shaved once every two weeks. They took showers at truck stops and at the few campsites that had them. However, there were many people along the way that were more than willing to offer food, shelter, showers, backyards, anything to help out. There were many nice people along the way. There were other cyclists they would run into. He mentioned that they had spent weeks on the road and not seeing any kind of diversity. They went through the Continental Divide eleven times. Some of the altitudes they rode through were very high and strained them sometimes. They found that Kansas from east to west, gradually went up in elevation about three thousand feet. But he really bonded with his two friends, and he felt it was a defining moment of his life to have finished the trip.

He also said that his girlfriend was truly instrumental in helping receive the pictures they sent to her as they went along the trip and posting them up on his website. Friends and family were able to keep up with them on the trip and see all the sites as she posted the pictures for him. She is a good lady.

What advice would you give to someone who may be considering an undertaking such as this? He says to just do it. Don’t over analyse it because you may not go through with it. He says he totally would have regret it if he hadn’t done it. How jealous am I?

Would you do it again? Yes.

Matt has the pictures from his trip on his own website–I posted the link in the sidebar, under the pages tab.

So I was riding hard on my way home from work. The traffic after five o’clock is always a nightmare and I won’t even get into how people drive me nuts clogging up intersections trying and failing to get across lights faster. Anyway, I was coming up behind a line of cars waiting behind a red light. As usual, I attack this by just cutting to the left, riding along the double yellow line to keep going. As usual, the driver was not paying attention to anything around him and for whatever bizarre reason starts to move to the left. “Idiot.” I thought as I veered even more to the left which, as you know, means that I’m going further into the oncoming traffic. As luck would have it, a bus is now coming upon me as I’m veering into it’s path, and for whatever bizarre reason decides to turn the wheel to it’s left. Which means that it is leaning towards me now. So here I am, in a split second being closed in by a brainless cab driver and a daft bus driver. I kept rolling through thinking that it was cool. However the rear-view mirror of the cab also cut into the diminishing space I had to roll through. Throw in high speed winds and I came out of this by a hair’s breadth, as I had to lean to avoid the bus and did this rubber woman thing to not catch my shoulder on the bus. I made it through OK, but flying from the rush.

This is the text string between a friend of mine and me today….

Matt: Did you sign up for the 5 Boro?

Me: Not sure if I will…will decide by this weekend…

Matt: We have a big group. You are more than welcome to join. This year’s focus is going to be solely about boozing.

Can life be any sweeter??

So now that it is springtime again, I guess I have to get some new gear. I’d like another new tech-top, I already have the gloves I need (Pearl Izumi), I have shorts and a cycling tank. But I think I’d like to get a new jersey. Nothing with any logos on it. I’d really like to get the Brooklyn jersey, but it is so played out now. I have to find something else that I will like for the season and beyond. Oh yes, I even have a jacket for spring, complete with the three pockets on the back. I don’t really ever put anything in the pickets though because I ride with a backpack all the time. I have a Camelback that I’ve had for the past few years and it’s cool in that it it small enough to sit on the back comfortably (without the water pack) but still can hold all the crap I seem to lug around all the time. I just recently bought a new bag, called Hard Wear and I really like it. The biggest selling point of it for me was the fact that it has a compartment to hold my laptop. And it doesn’t feel like I have this lumbering bag on my back either. I am very picky about that actually. Years ago I had another great backpack by Black Diamond, which is mostly for hiking and mountain climbing, but hey, sports are sports. Kelty is also a great company for backpacks. I have a huge Kelty pack for when I travel–you know, the mountain backpack. Anyway, the Hard Wear also has a sweet compartment that is fleece lined and super soft to hold sunglasses. Word!! Also has lots of other compartments to organize all my crap. And I really do carry around a lot of crap when I ride. My friends make fun of me and say that if it all went down today, I’d be prepared for the apocalypse. And they are right.

I have been considering getting toe clips too lately, but the jury is not back on that one. I have a real fear of being strapped to my bike to the point of not being able to free my feet in time to catch myself when falling. I wear strapless stirrups now and have not freed a foot and fell on that side….embarrassingly. However, I think that the tendinitis I developed last year in my Achilles tendon came from not situating my foot properly on the pedal, and I felt my other one starting to give out as well. That’s when I thought that maybe the toe clips would keep me from ruining my Achilles tendons. The shoes are pretty cool, but the mechanics of the clip kind of elude me. I don’t know, maybe I’m just picky about my first choice stirrups. The ones I have are plastic and they just go right over the toe with no straps. At one point I fell and broke the right pedal and rode a few days with just the left stirrup and thought that I may stick with just the one stirrup, as I am right handed and always drop the right foot when I come to a stop. But then I changed my mid and fixed the pedal and I am back on two stirrups.

I am going to start doing my research and find the best of the best in terms of usability for the toe clips and report right back here what I find.

This weekend I am hoping against all hope that it is really nice out. I feel like taking a ride, taking some pictures to post and meeting some of the fellow road bikers.

Oh joy-SPRING!!

I have noticed the past two days more cyclists on the road. Cheers to you all!! I am hoping that as it gets warmer, more and more folks will get out on their bikes and ride to get around. Especially with the price increase on transit fares. I see no reason to pay money to get around when I can do it for free. Why put expensive gas in the car to get around on the weekend if you don’t have to carry anything?

Also cheers to the longer daylight hours, so that now I can see the ginormous potholes coming from a mile away….