Back On the Bike | It Feels Good
So I finally got my ass in gear (no pun intended) and got back on my bike after about three weeks off. Needless to say, the 20 mile ride felt great, and although it was cold and windy I felt amazing afterwards. Cycling really is the best way to forget about the world for a couple of hours.
Also, the bike’s looking and going good, although needs its chain oiled. Thoughts on the turned down bullhorns? Yay or nay? Sound off in the comments!
The Glide Track Bike | Michael Shrewsbury
Michael Shrewsbury has created a rather sick-looking futuristic concept track bike, called The Glide. With hubless wheels and a fully internal crank, this is about as aero as you will be able to get in fifty years time.
Image credit - psipunk.com
All-Night Bike Ride
I decided to go on an all-night bike ride with some friends tonight. I had ridiculous amounts of energy to release and didn’t fancy getting drunk, so thought it would be good to explore Nottingham completely aimlessly on our bikes.
It all started with a McDonald’s at 1am to keep me going through the night:
We sneaked into an empty multi-storey car park and went right to the top, too:
I’ll probably do this more often. There are often times when I’m sat alone at midnight, everyone else is asleep, and I have a ton of energy; riding the bike is a brilliant way of releasing that energy. There’s no chance I’m getting to sleep any time soon, and my lungs are burning from the cold, but the experience was incredible.
Throughout (pretty much) the entire ride, I was over-tired, cold, and still coughing my lungs out, but it felt amazing. There’s nothing quite like hammering down a road during the early hours of the morning with not a car in sight; I think I’ve found a state of utter bliss. You forget about everything in the world around you, and all you want to do is pedal and pedal. On the way home I plugged in my earphones, and when Brian Eno’s “An Ending” came on as I was hurtling through an empty South West Nottingham at 4:45am, I couldn’t (and still can’t) think of anywhere else I’d rather be.
SUNDAY SPIN: PROSPECT PARK
(via cycleangelo):
Today was probably the best I’ve felt for the past week, so I randomly decided to put the spandex and SIDIs on and head to Prospect Park. After three laps, I headed back to Greenpoint, and managed to catch an amazing Sunday Sunset at the East River Park on the way home. Sometimes solo steez is the way to go.
Bike Update | New (old) Front Wheel
I decided to swap one of my DA22s onto my fixie, as my road bike has died (long story) and probably won’t be used until I sell it later this year. The bike now flies with that new wheel, and it’s much easier to steer/swerve at speed.
Sidebar: I apologise for the shitty quality of the photo; lighting was bad and my phone’s camera isn’t amazing, but it does the job.
This photo pretty much sums up why I love riding my bike.
(via CYCLEANGELO)
Project Fixie | New Bars, Different Saddle
I’ve not really done anything to my other bike for a while, as the UK winter this/last year was brutal and I hardly rode at all. Now that the weather is on the up though, I thought I’d start working on the project bike again.
I bought a set of Shimano SPD mountain bike/commuter pedals for the bike, which work real great with my Shimano shoes I got for Christmas. I trashed my road bike in a nasty accident in November last year, and I’m hunting for a new one for this summer; RIP to my faithful Giant. Seeing as it won’t be ridden ever again, I moved the (beat to shit) saddle onto this bike. It’s a Specialized Tritip which has been an excellent racing saddle for a couple of years. I also got bored of my drops, so decided to take a hax saw to them and create a nice set of bullhorns:
I think these look sick, and I’ve also moved my lovely ITM Racer stem across from my road bike.
New things to purchase for the project bike in the coming weeks:
- New bar tape (lime green Fizik, if possible)
- New front wheel (no idea which)
- SRAM front brake calliper
- FSA crankset
DIY fixie pedals, lol.
I’m the opposite to most people who ride fixie, I can’t stand the plastic/metal bit that wraps around one’s toes (clip) on clips & straps pedals. I prefer having no strap at all, thus leaving my foot free to move about, or just the fabric strap around my foot without the clip at the front. I had previously used just one strap toward the front of my old pedals, but this was way too uncomfortable on long rides as my toes were having the life squeezed out of them; they were also pretty dangerous as the rear portion of the pedal wasn’t secured to my foot, so my foot would slip out and back of the pedal on occasion. I decided to make some form of strap arrangement myself, having read this and having bought some decent plastic pedals. I basically threaded through two straps through the front and rear portions of each pedal, thus creating the arrangement as follows:
They seem to work much better than any previous setups I’ve had, and my feet now feel far more secure. Those pedals are pretty grippy even without clips and/or straps, so now I won’t have to worry about my feet slipping out again! They fit my size 9 (UK) pair of Lacoste Cerberus trainers pretty well:
Sidebar: In the meantime, I’ll try and see if there are a set of these floating around the UK.
