Archive for the ‘commute’ Category
The worst bike rack in the world
Anybody who writes about cycling outside of northern Europe could do a weekly column on the worst bike racks. They’re everywhere. Most of them look like this one, but even the newer designs regularly fail on enough clearance for fenders and lights. I always have to lock up at the end of a rack because [...]
Filed under: commute | 3 Comments
Tags: bike racks
The new LBS
Oh. Hello. I nearly forgot this was here. Today I’d finally had enough of the slow leak. I had a flat twice a day. I would usually have patched it myself but time for that sort of thing is in short supply with 3-year-olds in the house. So I took my Raleigh to the new [...]
Filed under: commute | 6 Comments
Tags: bicycle, bike, lbs, Raleigh, repairs
Upright, con’t.
In fairness to Todd, I feel I should clarify my earlier hyperbole. Other riding positions undoubtedly have plenty of usefulness. Even cycling gear has great usefulness*. I own spandex shorts and clipless peals and shoes and a mirror that attaches to the visor on my road helmet. I have no desire to ride 90 miles [...]
Filed under: commute, Dutch, My Bike, Useful Things | Leave a Comment
Tags: bicycle, bike, city, commute, cycling, racing
Upright
Photo by Amsterdamize Fully upright is the best position for cycling. Don’t let anyone convince you otherwise. They’re only trying to sell you a bike that’s less comfortable in exchange for maybe a tiny percentage of gain in leg-effort or some other power dynamic that you won’t ever consider while you’re actually riding a bike. [...]
Filed under: bakfiets, commute, Dutch | 4 Comments
Tags: bakfiets, bicycle, bike, clothes, suit, upright
It really is. Don’t let the cold fool you. Better still, don’t let everyone around you fool you. You will be called crazy, repeatedly. Here’s what I wore cycling to and from work today with a high of 34 degrees. Same thing I would wear any other day. No special shoes; no pants tucked into [...]
Filed under: commute, Winter | 6 Comments
Tags: alpine skiing, bicycle, bike, cold, commuting, cycling, Winter
Riding home tonight, in the dark, I come to an intersection and stop. There’s a guy and his dog in the crosswalk. The opposing traffic is stopped, waiting for him to cross. One of the two lanes of cross traffic is also stopped, waiting to turn right. Only the cross traffic in the opposite lane, [...]
Filed under: commute | 1 Comment
Tags: bakfiets, bicycle, bike, commute, crosswalk, old man driver
Oh, corporate America. You do have your ways. One of those ways involves moving me through four spaces in two years, all within a thirty-foot radius. In a 1400-person building. Like a hamster scratching out a path in cedar chips. At least the facilities guys will always have jobs. So I took some things out, [...]
Filed under: bakfiets, commute, Dutch, My Bike, rain | Leave a Comment
Tags: bakfiets, bicycle, bike, canopy, rain, rain cape
Crane Bell Co.!
I was up at the best bike shop in the country as far as I know and I found this bell. This is a BELL. Like they took it from a minature boxing ring. Listen to that sustain! Made in Japan. I love it when their good bike stuff gets through to us. (This is [...]
Filed under: commute, My Bike, parts, Useful Things | 2 Comments
Tags: bakfiets, bell, bicycle, bike, Crane Bell, Harris Cyclery, Japan
Jesus does not love cyclists
I was just given the finger by a woman with a needlepont crucifix hanging from her rear view mirror. I didn’t get out of her way with enough speed to her liking. There’s a cliche here about the universality of grouchiness on the road, but I don’t know what it is.
Filed under: commute | 2 Comments
Tags: bicycle, bike, commute, jesus
Where’d the bike rack go?
Where I work, bicycles and motorcycles share the same little corner of one of the back lots for parking. Most of the time there’s plenty of space to go around, but on clear summer days like today, the cyclists get this scenario above in which the bikers park their motorcycles right up to and around [...]
Filed under: commute | 1 Comment
Tags: bicycle, bike, commute
