It's called KIT

Cycling Clothes, Its called cycling Kit. Special clothes that you wear for just cycling...

I know what your thinking, I made fun of them as well.

Until I bought my first Cycling Jersey. I picked up an Arrogant Bastard Cycling jersey in my size (double extra tubby - 4XL - yeah I really am that big) and I bought pretty much cause it was a beer shirt, and the beer was one of my favorites. Still I was not prepared for just how wonderfully comfortable the shirt was. it pulled the sweat away form my skin and allowed air to flow. it almost felt like I wasn't wearing a shirt at all.

I started to think that maybe, just maybe, these people who designed these actually knew what they are doing. so a few weeks later while I'm at REI looking at a set of padded shorts and I come across these padded boxers - which will give me the comfort of cycling shorts without actually making me wear cycling shorts.

I almost broke down and cried. - yes I know it isn't manly but it is the truth.

I bought them. I'm not ashamed to admit it. Now my biggest problem is I have to do laundry all the time so I have clean cycling clothes to wear each morning for my ride to work. (I don't wear the shirt all the time but I refuse to ride without the shorts - yes they do make that much of a difference.)

I guess next is the rain and winter gear. we shall see.

Pannier

I just took my first ride with my new pannier I got from Performance Bike. I bought the TransIt Grocery Bag Pannier (http://www.performancebike.com/bikes/Product_10052_10551_1023647_-1_1596009_20000_400103) I it was great to be able to go on a longer ride and not have to wear a backpack. I was able to put my little tools, two spare tubes, my lock, and my lunch in the pannier and even had room for a G2 and my helmet.

I really love my new pannier. However,

I just took my first ride with my new pannier and it is driving me crazy! I believe the phrase is “Heel Strike” and after a few miles of it I began to pray God would make my feet smaller. Since it looks like that is one of the only options I have. Over the next few days I plan on trying to move the pannier around and see if I can find a spot on the Rack that will allow me to use the pannier.

Until then I’ll just have to try and deal with the thump thump thump of my heel.

Transportation

A strange thing happened to me over the past few weeks. Well I don’t know if “strange” is the right word but it was the first one that came to mind. I have been riding my bike a lot more than what was usual. By ‘more’ I mean more in the last week than most of the summer.  According to the Car Free Calculator (http://car-free.bike-pgh.org/) I logged 18 miles in July, 75 miles in August, and over 200 so far in September with 70 of those miles being just this week. So yeah I’m riding more. At some point I began to view my bike, and my riding differently.
You see I have always looked at cycling as recreation, something I did for the fun of it. Even when I would ride to work, it would be something out of the ordinary, something I did because it was fun and the day made for an enjoyable trip.
None of this has changed, I still find a great deal of recreation in getting out to ride. What has happened is that biking has starting to become transportation as well as recreation. Nothing made this clearer than the Friday night ride with flock of cycles. As planned I threw my bike on the bus in Pittsburgh and headed off to Oakland. After being on the packed bus with the 700 other people who also wanted to get to Oakland I began to think “I could of ridden there faster!”
After the ride I was watching the clock figuring I could ride into to town, I ended up realizing I could just ride home. I realized then that I had started to seriously consider my bike as my transportation. It wasn’t until then that I realized that I hadn’t considered my bike as transportation.
This thought has led to a day of serious consideration, and it is something that I am still considering. I am hopeful that my bike doesn’t lose it’s recreation feeling and at the same time I am excited at the new ideas and thoughts I have when thinking of my bike as a serious form of transportation.

A little let down

This is what I found when I got on Liberty Ave. in Bloomfield this morning. I have seen the banners for the festival go up over the past few weeks and I was even toying with the idea of biking to it tonight before going home. The brand new bike lane has been taken over (for the weekend) by the Italian Festival. Both bikelanes on the street are like this (its a little hard to see in the picture but you can see the tents set up on the other side of the street as well.

I am not upset by this. I am not like some other cyclists ready to burn the place down at the first imagined slight. I am, however, a little let down. Just a few days after we finally get actual bike lanes on Liberty (replacing the sharrows which I have mixed feelings about)

Still I'm not going to worry about it, by the time I have to ride it again the festival will be over and things will be back to the way they were.

Did someone say rain

This was what I expected to find when I got up this morning, since this was what it was like when I went to bed last night. So when I got up at 5:00 am this morning I was expecting to look outside, see the rain, and go back to bed.  It looked damp outside but it wasn't raining so I decided to give it a try.

I'm so glad I did. The weather was cool but not cold enough to warrant breaking out the long pants. i.e. The weather was just perfect. I realized as I rode down the brandy newly painted bike lane on liberty that I am really enjoying riding more and more each day. While I am still finding it hard to get moving in the mornings I am surprised at how good I feel once I get moving.

Granted in the evenings now I'm just waiting for it to get dark so I can go to bed.

Been Busy

Been kind of busy lately, First off last week I had Four flat tires and three days, that would be one more than three and one less than Insane. I have to admit I was starting to rethink the whole Riding My Bike Into Work thing. Still some new tubes (slime is your friend) and some new tires and so far so good. Been riding long enough now that I am starting to get more comfortable with being in the streets in the morning and I am beginning to notice all the other riders I see.

I am pleased to find that I recognize many of them from Bike-PGH.

I don't drive, I don't own a car nor do I have a driver's licence and I say this not in some strange tree-hugger I'm better than you kind of way, but I write this to explain the increased freedom I feel from being able to actually get out and go places and have fun. Instead of just staying at home I now plan things around where I want to go, and not just where I can get a ride to.

Not to mention that I am once again feeling better, and feeling better about myself. So if you're wondering why I haven't been writing much the reason is that I have been spending my time outside riding.

Go Ride

Truly Hardcore

Found this over at Copenhagenize. Riding to the Hospital with contractions!!! The next time I complain about getting caught in the rain will one of you kindly tell me to shut the HELL up!!!

Seriously Welcome to the world Viggo Good luck trying to get something over on a mom that tough!

Oops

Stopped at the bike shop yesterday to pick up a new back wheel. (mine had snapped a spoke and I wanted to get a nwe wheel and then fix the old one up as a spare.) I asked all the questions I could think of and found the new wheel I wanted.

I took the wheel home and decided to swap the cogs over this morning. This went without a hitch and I was feeling really good about the whole thing. when I got the Cog off I saw why the spoke broke. Im guessing something really bad happened when I wrecked since half the spokes (outward facing ones - the same ones that I broke) were all chewed up. So I felt really good that I was replacing the wheel and would replace all those spokes before I used the wheel again.

My good feeling didn't last, when I went to put the tube back on I noticed that the hole for the valve looked a little narrow, and sure enough it was Presta instead of schrader.

Not only do I not have any Presta Tubes but I dont think My floor pump is presta either, also my front tire is Schrader so I either have to carry two different types of tube or figure something out to use a presta tube on my front wheel as well.

Some Days it just doesn't Pay to be motivated.

Art You Can Ride

Found on MakeTV