Tried and liked - 2009

Commuting

I didn't realize how much I missed commuting to work until I started again at the beginning of the year. My commute is often the highlight of my day. Anyone who bike commutes a lot must think the same thing I often ponder: "Why don't more people do this?"

Seriously, I see people all grumpy with their coffee and cell phones blasting around in their little bubbles of talk radio and climate controlled all-wheel-drive living rooms and I wonder what it would take to get these guys on a bike? Man, they're missing out.

Cycle Trucking

I'm pretty new to the cycle truck, but so far I'm amazed how well this bike handles, loaded or unloaded. This bike will live mainly at the Pedals2People shop so it can be put to good use and lots of people can ride it.

We'll be doing regular loads to Earthworks Recycling center with this bike.

Tandeming

Maddie and I or Maddie and Liza logged many an hour (if not many miles) on the Bike Friday tandem back in the day. But this year is the first time that Liza and I did some tandeming. We only did a couple rides, but they were good. And our overnighter was one of my favorite trips ever.

We're looking forward to doing more of these next year.

Shimano MT60 Shoe
I need to do a full-on review post on these shoes. They rule. Alex alerted me to these beauties: they're Gortex and they're relatively normal looking spd shoes. They're good in cold down to around 20 or so. They hold the water out. For daily drivers and commuting, they're hard to beat. I hope Shimano continues to make them. For some reason, the bike industry as a whole doesn't seem to appreciate simple good non-flashy products like these shoes.

A super well-made bike

Even though I got the 747 just over a year ago, I really didn't get to ride it until this year. Looking over the last year's posts, I don't really go on and on about this bike, which is kind of a shame. Mileage-wise, this bike sees way more miles than any other bike I own. I ride it to work frequently and it's the bike I grab when I want to go long or fast. I really try to keep it off the trails though.

This is a custom bike in that it was made as a one-off by one of the most respected frame builders in the business (Jeff Lyon). But it's not "custom" in that it was made for me. It was made for the Bike Quarterly double-blind planing tests. I was lucky to get my mitts on this frameset for a pretty good deal.

It really rides like no other bike I've ever owned. That's partially due to the fact that it has standard diameter tubing that is very thin (747 refers to the butted profile of the tubing: 7/10 mm tapered to 4/10 mm) and therefore flexy. It's also due to the steepish front end and mid-trail. And perhaps it's due to the fact that it was built by a master? I don't know.

I do know that I love riding this bike. I love climbing on it and I really love fast descents on it.

I keep breaking spokes on the ancient rear wheel. The bike has therefore been out of the line up for a couple weeks. I finally bought new spokes and I'll have time to re-build the wheel some time this week.