I have two bikes that I’ve been riding this year. I also have two more bikes in the garage. What to do with these? I would like to sell one, the Bianchi, but the other, an old Specialized Rockhopper, I want to recycle. Fix it up and give it to someone who may make use of it better.
I don’t who would do that, but these guys are close. If you have a few bikes you want to get rid of consider donating to this organization. Now if they only picked up door to door.
Here’s an interesting article from the Washington Post highlighting the new bicyling paradigm in the Capitol. It seems that more and more people are not riding their bicycles for sport or for exercise, but as a tansportation. It’s getting to be downright Copenhagenized.
People just get on their bikes and ride to the store. To the cinema. To the restaurant to meet some friends. To school. To work. To places cars had taken us.
The price of gas going up has made sensible people get out of the car and onto a bike. You don’t really need to drive to the corner store. Put your groceries in your bike’s basket. You don’t need to drive to work. Cruise in style on two wheels. Pretty soon we may find out this is good for us and the planet.
Now, to find the quickest route to work.
Let’s go biking. The Danes do it. Now the French are doing it.
Ride to work. Ride for exercise.
Just ride. For the fun of it. For the thrill of it. For the sport of it.
As you know, I’ve been riding my Kona PaddyWagon as my Gios is on the bike stand. I broke a spoke on my rear wheel. It was a Campagnolo Proton wheel so changing the spoke out is somewhat difficult because Campy uses some proprietary spokes when they build their own wheels. You can’t just go down to your bike store to get new spokes. You have to get a set of replacements. I got my from Brandford Bikes out in Seattle. Somewhat pricey, but the shop was charging me $20.00 for the service, before they had to go an order a the set.
You’ll also need a 5.5mm hex nut driver as it makes it easier to reach the nipple top. So to replace the spoke, remove the tire and the rim tape to expose the top of the nipple. The Protons have been discontinued but you can find the steps in the Neutron manual which are very similar wheels.
I broke the spoke on the cassette side. The spokes are straight pull at the hub that’s why you need specialized spokes. I also broke the spoke that use to reside closer to the center of the hub. The spokes cross over each other so I had to loosen the spoke that the broken spoke shared the slot in the hub. You then replace the spoke as normal. Put the other spoke back. And start tightening things up. True the wheel before you start putting the rim tape and tire back on.
That’s all you need to do. (I’m not done as I’m still trying to figure out how to true the wheel.
Good luck.
You know I bought a couple of new rides this year. I had to pick up the old one at my mom’s. Since my main bike is illin’ with a broken spoke, I had to go on a ride with the single speed PaddyWagon. One gear. And I think there were some slight hills from my home to my mom’s.
I thought about it yesterday and was slightly apprehensive. Can I climb the hills without my granny/low gear? The route is releatively flat, but the only one that would’ve been scary was the hill on Walnut. I think it’s about 0.2 miles but probably a good 6-8% grade.
So, I get on the road with the PaddyWagon, and it takes a while to warm up. It’s a slight uphill on Pleasant and I’m panting a little bit. Hmmm. Nothing bad for a bit. Once I get on Gwynnbrook, it’s a steady climb, but I keep a nice tempo and speed of about 13 mph. I get to the hill on Walnut, and grind up it, out of the saddle, and feeling it, but I make it through. Not bad without any lower gearing.
Maybe, I should ride my normal ride without the low gear safety net? I’ll see…
To experience a stage of Le Tour sounds fucking awesome. Lots of pain and suffering, but I can imagine the speed and the pace.
I wonder if I’ll ever ride in a group that large. Or up a mountain that big. Or feel the suffering that the professionals would.
I should be riding more. So should you.
Mason-Dixon Line
Originally uploaded by browsermetrics.
Copenhagenize the planet!
Looks as if we need to be thinking about cycling as an alternative to driving to work. It would do us all some good. First, it would save us on a gas. Second, it would get us fitter. Third, it would get us all on the roads together, talking, chatting and enjoying the world around us so much better than stuck in a car in traffic. Only if I lived closer to work…
Today’s link is to an article about making cycling a means of commuting. It mentions the Copenhagen Cycle Chic website of pretty girls on bikes in Denmark. That’s always awesome.
http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/wellbeing/story/0,,2287337,00.html
In a week’s time, the 2008 Tour de France will commence. Start reading your news about it here.
Breaking Away is on! And he’s chasing the Italians. That’s how it should be.
You. The bike. Closing the gap on the Italians. Rossinni’s Barber of Seville playing.
As long as those damn Italian bastards don’t fuck with you, it’s a great day to be on a bike.
Why aren’t you out there?
