Resolving to Bicycle

Many of my New Years Resolutions have been geared toward bicycling. I've had that as a significant part of my resolution for the past 6 years. Seriously. 6 years. And the number of times I've gone out biking in that time span? Probably 12. Twice each year. Averaged. Yeah! I'm a biker now! ~rolls eyes~

I don't know what changed, but this year I'm actually doing something about it.

I started out on my fixed gear for a couple of rides. My fixed gear makes a great bike trail bike. For those of you unaware of what a fixed gear bike, or "fixie" is (besides conjuring images of hipsters and PBR), it's a bike, with no derailers, usually missing a brake or two, and can't freewheel. There's a direct connection from the rear wheel to my pedals; if the rear wheel is spinning, my feet are pedaling. If my feet stop (which is difficult to do on a moving bike), the rear wheel stops. I start skidding... purposely. Because there is no way your feet will just stop pedaling on a fixed gear.














Here's a video of an English guy teaching you how to skid stop:

And just because I spent 30 minutes checking out Youtube videos to find that one video, here's another of a guy doing a track stand (the other awesome thing about fixies!):

I'm better at the track stand than the skid stop, but I can do them! I'll show you sometime if you want to see.

The problem with a fixie is: HILLS! You can't change gears to make ascent easier, and you can't coast down the other side! My legs are definitely not strong enough for significant hill climbs on the fixie. Two trips and approximately 25 miles on the fixed gear with some hills and I needed a change.

So I bought a bike. A 2007 Cervelo R3. All carbon fiber. Really nice components Lighter than my work-issued laptop. It has gears! And it can coast! It's a really nice bike... "Really" is really an understatement. "Nice" is too.

I've gathered some friends for a weekly Sunday morning ride around the Nashua/Merrimack area. Some days it's successful (there were 4 of us last week). Some days it's not... And some days I go out on my own. Today was one of the days I 'm on my own, but I don't always. Motivation is one of those things I usually lack, which is why I started the weekly ride. But I like that the habit of biking on Sunday is starting to stick.

Today was a just-shy-of 25 mile ride on the Nashua River Rail Trail. I stopped a few times for water (and powerade) and to catch my breath. And text. I'm not going to read and send texts from my bicycle! I feel pretty good about an average speed of 14 mph, though, and a moving speed at something faster than that.

So 25 miles on the fixie, and now I'm up to about 100 miles on the Cervelo. It's time for spandex... Or lycra... Or whatever the material is... I ran down to my local bike shop and picked up some black bib shorts (because my sides aren't quite fit enough for bike shorts without the built-in suspenders...) and a white jersey. They're... tight... And I show a lot of leg... And... Hey look! Here's another picture of my bike!

ANYWAY!!! I think I'm more comfortable saying I'm a biker now. And I'm biking Sunday mornings at 9:30 usually. Anyone care to join?

Creation

I need to write more. Both my writing skills and speaking skills have been noticeably declining since I left Norwich. Architecture school forces you in front of the class often, defending your work. Engineering school had me do that twice...

The last straw happened about a week ago when I wrote "I think I way about 155lbs"... That made me angry! I think I typed "WEIGH WEIGH WEIGH WEIGH" after that.

So here's a new blog! I'll cross-post to Facebook and Google+ if I remember to. Hope you enjoy it. And I hope I keep at it!