Wednesday, May 22, 2019

I Went For a Ride Today And You Didn't (Or Maybe You Did For All I Know)

After a long stretch of cold and rain the sun has finally returned and brung some warmth with it.  This meant that it was time to end my lengthy titanium Fredding streak and pivot back to the dirt.  And so this morning I donned my best jorts and headed out into the wilds of suburbia.

First I rode to Sprain Ridge Park, a.k.a "The Trails Behind The Mall," where I saw something that looked like an Instagram post, only it existed in three dimensions and was hanging on the gate:


Amazing how social media keeps evolving.  What will these tech companies think of next?

While my Jones SWB has become my default mixed-terrain rambler, today I felt like riding something lighter, and so I opted for my cherished artisanal singlespeed from Engin:


Like footwear, bikes are seasonal, and I tend to move back to the singlespeed around the time I start wearing flip-flops again.  And yes, you're goddamn right I wear flip-flops.  I mean, I wouldn't wear them to an office building in Midtown, but as a semi-professional bike blogger who's either at or in the vicinity of his home or else fucking off for a bike ride of some kind you're goddamn right I wear them whenever I can get away with it--and there's no more sublime pleasure than riding a bicycle in flip-flops.  (Unless you're using metal toe clips, of course.  Though I'm sure during Peak Fixie somebody got on their NJS special in flip-flops, attempted a skid, and learned the hard way to go back to their indoor soccer shoes.)

Anyway, my ride reminded me once again how fond I am of this particular bicycle, and how smart I was to move to my current neighborhood, from which I can access landscapes like this in a relatively short amount of time:


Frankly, there's no other place within the city limits from which you can attain such a favorable dirt-to-pavement ratio in the course of a 30-mile ride, and I sometimes lament the fact that I wasted some of the best cycling years of my life languishing in Brooklyn for so long.  (Though then again if I hadn't I'd have missed Peak Fixie and all those concomitant skidding mishaps, so I suppose it was all worth it.)

By the way, if you want to know #whatgearingyourunning, the answer is, "I have no idea."


It's been an eternity since I've bothered to change the cog, but I did service the rear hub a few years ago and it's probably a 32x20 or maybe even a 32x21.

As for #whatpressureyourunning, I'm at exactly three (3) stone per cubit.

Oh, and I DIDN'T WEAR A HELMET:


That was a fun visit.

21 comments:

tobeistobex said...

Your tire pressure looks more like 6 Units. What are you hiding?

streepo said...

Podio

1904 Cadardi said...

Wow, you called it, I didn't go for a ride but I do have good excuses: it's cold, yesterday's snowfall left the streets wet, and I'm a woosie. But also and most importantly it's yoga day and these hips won't stretch themselves. Quite the opposite actually.

But riding vicariously through your blogulation has become comfortably familiar.

huskerdont said...

Commutes count (especially the ones heading homeward).

Anonymous said...

gearing is more than concomitant to weal size and tire daimetre

Serial Retrogrouch said...

...I was going to say I don't remember that visit, but then I checked, and there I am, third place on the podium!

...You may be a sandals-wearing, world-famous, part-time blogger... but can you claim to have been on as many podios as I? I think not... unless... do we consider sitting on the toilet as podioing?

Just noodling around said...

Who took that photo of your cap?

Oh, I forgot, you have flexible arms and shoulders.

Impressive!

Seattle lone wolf said...

Stone per cubit is not a unit of pressure. It would have to be something like stone per square cubit. But 3 stone per square cubit would be around 0.13 psi, so that can't be right.

pbateman knows a thing or two about flippies said...

nothing wrong with flippies.

i wear them mostly year round and generally have no issues on my little spd platform-y style peduuals.

i would warn against using them with the more roundy and slippy LOOK-ing style petals unless you want to LOOK at your bloody stubs of toes once you slip off at speed and your unprotected toes drag across asphalt making you LOOK like an ass.

its also very ouchy.

to be sure Snob, I do hope you are wearing actual flippies with those jorts, and not sandals. there is a fine line (or strap) between awesome and dork.

John Wares said...

Hell yeah on all of that

BikeSnobNYC said...

Seattle Lone Wolf,

That's a Sumerian cubit, not an Aramaic cubit.

--Tan Tenovo

Seattle lone wolf said...

I see what you did there.

You have to know these things when you are a professional bike blogger, you know.

Steve Barner said...

I rode 133,422 Nippur cubits on my extended commute. It was most pleasant.

hellbelly said...

Do you actually have flip flops with Time cleats or did you just balance ever so gingerly on them?

leroy said...

Dear Mr. BSNYC -

My dog asked me to pass along his message.

Rick said...

The English word "cubit" comes from the Latin noun cubitus "elbow", from the verb cubo, cubare, cubui, cubitum "to lie down",[2] from which also comes the adjective "recumbent".

Thus proving that cubit directly relates to both cycling AND sandals

It Hurts When JLRB Pees said...

PSA: UCI might be a pain in the ass for you racer types

But UTI is seriously no fun, so get out of those sweaty chamois and don't let the ecoli fester

Anonymous said...

I distinctly prefer my tire pressure, measured via my artisanal bespoke squeezing-hand, at somewhere between "not going to mess up my rim when I hit the rocks/curbs" and "not counting every little bump with my teeth".

Die free said...

Wow, things look green and lush down your way. Up here brown is still the predominant color, though green is a very close second. A few more sunny warm days and we'll catch up.

Some guy from upstate said...

JLRB,

Hell yeah. The ensuing cystoscopy is especially fun ...

Chazu said...

I did ride early Wednesday morning, and I managed to startle some cows dozing at the side of the road as I fred-ed past them with my bikey lights blazing.

"Select all images with a car"