Or trying out a recumbent:
(Via Rivendell)
Then so be it.
For I am nothing if not a Renaissance Fred.
(Also, when Grant Petersen tells you to ride a recumbent you don't argue about it, you just do it. Unless you want to get stabbed with a lug.)
Anyway, it was in this ecumenical spirit that this past weekend I rode from one end of the cycling rainbow to the other:
It all began on Friday when I donned a suit, unfurled a Brompton, and waded waist-deep into smugness at the Transportation Alternatives Bike Home From Work Party:
The @bikesnobnyc is roaming around the @transalt party in a fancy suit with his Brompton. Prepping for the #BWCUSA? pic.twitter.com/OkiiHrRk0P— Brompton Bicycle USA (@bromptonusa) May 19, 2017
Actually, now that you mention it, I think I very well may register:
After all, what better way to celebrate Father's Day than by totally humiliating myself? Sure, by the looks of things I fall far short in both the sartorial and fitness departments:
But some simple upgrades may be all I need to win the race, and to that end I'm trying to decide if I should go with the crabon trispokes:
Or else the paired 16-spoke setup:
Most likely I'll just bring both and make the final decision based on race day course conditions.
So if you go to the Harlem Crit and you see someone in a suit with a Brompton sticking a moistened thumb in the air be sure to come by and say hello.
(Though generally speaking I'd advise against approaching strangers wielding moistened thumbs.)
Yes, with the addition of some sweet, sweet crabon I can transform my Brompton from this genteel circus bike:
To this slightly less genteel circus bike:
And in the process forever consign my dignity to this:
Oh and speaking of today's Bike Forecast post, here's the uncensored version of the note I left on that SUV:
So if your money was on "fuckstick" as the censored word I'm afraid you lost the bet.
Then yesterday I went from smugness to singlespeed when I partook in the "Singlespeedapalooza" race for derailleur-challenged mountain bicycles at Stewart State Park:
("Weed Road." Heh heh.)
And as you can imagine it wasn't pretty:
(From here)
Well, I'm only getting slower, but I do have a fancier bicycle:
And I also got a really good number:
As for the race itself, it was the most fun I've had on the bike in awhile, even though we had to share the park with these people:
There will be kennel club activity throughout the weekend using live and blank ammo. We have contacted them, and there is a mutual understanding that we both have a permit to be in there and must respect each other's event. If you are pre-riding, and during the race bump into one of the kennel participants, be courteous and cautious as they may be driving from one location to another. This is just one of the many hurdles in dealing with Stewart.
Who were kind enough to remove some of the course markings, which as I understand it resulted in the lead riders getting totally waylaid. (Fortunately I was nowhere near the lead riders and managed not to get lost.)
Assholes.
Then after the race I ate pork:
In all it was a thoroughly well-rounded weekend of making bike.
47 comments:
Podium?
My AA meeting finished early so I'm on the podium!
I have a case of the Mondays.
Hello!
I hate sharing the park, too. Never goes well.
I think you would of fit right in with the Bromptom Crowd...Probably would far exceed the sartorial "splendor" of pink-suit-guy.
"Sure, by the looks of things I fall far short in both the sartorial and fitness departments"
Cracking into the top ten is easier than it used to be.
7th Scranus!
Heheheh, sign sez "Weed Road Parking Area". So that's where the locals sit in their cars and toke. Probably also a kennel club activity.
I'm a pretty diverse bikist who played bike polo for a few years, went bike touring for more than 10 years, and have done club rides/charity rides, folding bike (not Brompton),alleycats, recumbent, BMX, Unicycle, and many many, other things; and have never considered myself to be "lowering" myself (O.K., bike polo maybe, somedays). I personally would have only felt like I was "lowering" myself if I would have tried cyclocross or triathalon, maybe.
coincidentally, 2009 was the last (and only) time I "raced" the singlespeed-a-palooza. Lots of fun as I recall
Wildcat is one handsome devil all suited up for circus-biek-riding.
Moistened thumbs and all.
...I put my money on 'Douchebag'
who's "Stewart"?
Do bike poloists ("polists? " polioists?" "populists?") ever lower their saddles so their feet touch the ground more better?
Bravo Tom Dumoulin on grabbing the pink in the Giro.
The team name change must have something to do with your success.
Last year I always heard the announcers call you boys "team giant owl pissing".
My dog borrowed my bike yesterday for a different kennel club activity.
In Piermont, he poured out an iced cappuccino for a past peloton patron and then followed the Gran Fondo New York home.
He reports solving the Zen koan inquiry about the sound of one wag tailing.
It's "woo-hoo," something else, or nothing at all.
@It all really seems mostly bike-neutrality to me
The recumbent was the low point. Recumbents are always the lowest point.
Cyclocross beneath you? Those guys rock! Roadies never kick spectators.
You look good in a suit.
The license plate on the offending SUV was a Massachusetts plate
Well if I had a nickel every time I stuck a moistened thumb........
Damn dogs - always messing with trail markers - they think its funny we can't smell our way around
Anonymous 2:59pm,
Thanks.
--Wildcat Rock Machine
Andrew Talansky's win in the Amgen Tour of California queen stage breaks his Slipstream outfit's two-year WorldTour win drought. --VeloNews
It could always be worse Snobbie. xoxo
I hope you ate the pork while wearing blended fabrics. That way, you're out of compliance with the Big Three.
having fans who sling mud and beer at you the entire race sort of proves cyclocross is at the bottom of the barrel, bike riding wise....The fact that a "racer"* may kick back at their "fans" doesn't add to their reputation very much.
*more like a wallower
My b-hole puckered at the mention of a moistened thumb.
Childhood trauma revisited?
Pork?
Eben, may I have a word with you, please?
Happy Victoria Day from Americas Royal Shower Cap.
Cyclocross is too similar to bog snorkeling to get me interested in participating or even spectating, even if there is beer and fries involved.
Dear Snob:
How you been? Good I hope! Long time no write for me. I must admit, now that I know what you look like, I'm less eager to read this blog. Sorry, that's Showbiz, Kid!
*******
I'm at the strange age of taking care of sick parents.
And no one ever gave me an instruction manual for how to do it, but when one's mother succumbs to terrible dementia and one's father eats himself into a quintuple bypass and subsequently into a wheelchair, it ain't pretty.
So, I include this obit. from the April 7 New York Times. My Mom, I'm proud to say. But I'm only linking it because she WAS a special, talented person, who used her great brain and the great schools of New York City to go from The Bronx to the White House, and after that, I lifetime in teaching world decorative & fine art history to the "ladies" (housewives) of Washington, D.C. in private classes.
She was one of the Greatest Generation, and I guess my Father is too, although he should have taken care of himself better.
Here's the link: Lorraine Waxman Pearce Obituary
She was a steam locomotive, a pile driver, a force of nature for 75+ years, even working as she was getting sick, and then her brain just deserted her. She ran out of gas. I'm trying to be some of the things she wanted me to be now. :-)
Recumbents are great. Ride more recumbents please.
Huh? What?
Impressed by the no hands riding on the BWC video. For a bike which feels rock solid riding 42 mph down hill (what was I thinking?), I barely like taking one hand off the bars for signalling, let alone two - and yes, I'm quite comfortable riding no hands on my other bikes.
Oh, and what's the deal with all the matching green helmets & orange vests on your other blog?
David,a very beautiful sentiment and very nice obituary from the New York Times.My Dad passed twelve days later than your mom's,and I became wistful.thanks.
Snob,you can use bikesmugnyc,too.
Three crabon spokes! What poufters. I'm already at 2 and hope to transition to one RealSoonNow&tm;! And yes, I have a bit of a problem with scrotal punctures, but that's the price of FredDom&tm;.
When are you going to try a DH bike? Go to a bike park!
David - Thanks for sharing the beautiful obit. My sympathy for your loss - its never easy.
Anonymous 12:03,
I've been to a bike park.
--Wildcat Etc.
Nice suit. You clean up pretty well.
I don't need Grant Peterson to tell me to get on a recumbent. I managed to get low down myself this weekend with no problem.
In your Bike Forecast you posted a picture of a participant on a $8,000 SpeedVagen "Urban Racer" and DIDN'T make fun of it?! #MissedOpportunity
Should have eaten dog...
Fuck shal,
You're worse than that tiresome Canadian woman...
Our Independent Delhi Female Model Escorts has beautiful, young models and high class companions to satisfy you in every way you want. Most of the Girls in Delhi Escorts Agency meet only visiting business men, tourist and local experts. Not all our Independent Girls Escorts Agency wants to have their photos published as they want their confidentiality, but we would be satisfied to inform you about them winning your inquire for. For More http://www.mahi-arora.com/
Delhi high class Escorts
cheap Escorts in Delhi
Escorts Girls in Delhi
Girl Escorts in Delhi
Top Delhi Escorts
Elite Escorts in Delhi
Best Delhi Escorts
Escorts Girl Delhi
Delhi vip Escorts Service
Post a Comment