Handshakes. The first physical contact with a stranger you’re supposed to like. A strange social greeting with which you can gauge the other person’s social confidence. Well, at least if the hand offered to you is limp, slightly damp and hardly makes an effort to grip your hand. There’s almost nothing worse. It leaves me [...]
Entries from June 30th, 2009
rim friction
June 29th, 2009 · No Comments · fixing stuff, training
Inexplicably, I get less sleep on the weekends than during the week. Well, “inexplicably” to the ordinary person. Usually asleep by 1am, up by 6am the following morning, I try to be out the door and on the bike by 7. Anyone who goes out on training rides knows the deal. Besides, riding early means [...]
Tags:brake pad·misaligned wheel·stress·suck·training·zoning out
axle agony
June 26th, 2009 · 8 Comments · bike shops, fixing stuff
Newly single after my first ever break-up, discussing boys and dating, my best friend asked a seemingly rhetorical question: “Don’t you like to be taken care of?” I remember giving some ambivalent answer. Never having been comfortable batting my eyelashes, I still find it hard to expect to be taken care of. It’s too lady-like. [...]
Tags:axel nuts·bike maintenance·international bicycle center·lady-like·temper tantrum·wrench
pony express
June 25th, 2009 · 1 Comment · general stuff, style
Coffee table books. I love them. Not because of their sheer size and authoritative weight, but because they reveal so much about their owners. When a person’s willing to spend at least $50 on a book – especially in this day and age of Internet everything – you know they have to love the subject. [...]
Tags:Bianchi San Jose·coffee table books·dolan pre cursa·pony express
monsoon in mass
June 23rd, 2009 · 3 Comments · bike shops, cambridge bicycle, food, hanging out
I firmly believe there are three kinds of sweat: the hot, dry kind of casual summer rides around town, the squeamishly humid kind that won’t ever seem to abate, and last but not least [and possibly the best], the drenching, dripping, addicting kind that can only be a product of a decent training ride. I’ve [...]
rainy optimism
June 22nd, 2009 · 4 Comments · bike shops, general stuff, handmade goodies, hanging out
Blame the NYC Bicycle Film Festival and the weather for keeping me from blogging regularly lately. Ironic, I know. A busy weekend full of bicycles and hats can do that to you, though. Saturday morning started with brunch before heading to NYC Velo [yet again] in the increasingly persistent rain. We hurried to the shop [...]
reconning
June 20th, 2009 · No Comments · bike shops, food, hanging out
The last time I reconned a ride, it took me 4 hours and at least 5 miles out of my way. It was fun, in hindsight, but slightly mentally taxing. No ride buddy, no iphone, no extensive map, I was at the mercy of whoever happened to be passing by. But yesterday I did manage [...]
Tags:Bike Film Festival·central park·food·nyc·nyc velo·recon
a fuzzy city
June 18th, 2009 · 1 Comment · general stuff, hanging out
On my way back down to NYC again today [for the Bicycle Film Festival Street Fair on Saturday - come say hello at the NYC Velo tent!], I’m simultaneously sort of glad I live in Boston. And not only because riding downtown with an overstuffed Baileyworks bag and another tote bag half hanging off my [...]
Tags:Bike Film Festival·boston·crush·fuzzy·loved·nyc·nyc velo·warm
choo choo train
June 16th, 2009 · No Comments · bike parts, bike shops, fixing stuff
So it ends up that I did have a reason to go to IBC this weekend. I needed to purchase and get new pedals installed because – gasp! – I’m flipping that wheel over and going fixed. Not that I haven’t been riding fixed on the track bike. But the Bianchi and the Dolan are [...]
Tags:cog·drivetrain·freewheel·green line·international bicycle center·screechy brakes·train
mechanical gastronomy
June 15th, 2009 · 1 Comment · bike shops, food, hanging out
Summers in bike shops are, obviously, as busy as the winters are slow. Any weekend day with relatively clear weather means that all the shops in the area are flooded with customers and their respective bikes. Mechanical issues, flat repairs, sales of bikes, tune-ups…and within the resulting deluge of regular customers, I barely get to [...]
Tags:cookies·international bicycle center·mechanics·popeye's·repairs·sweet·work