Friday, January 26, 2007

Like Riding a New Bike

The guys at Performance Northbrook did a great job tuning my bike (or perhaps it was in worse shape than I thought). Either way it was a pleasure to ride. The shifting was very quick and crisp and my braking is the best it has ever been. I guess I should have gotten it tuned up as soon as I got it (I bought it used). But it was in decent riding condition for the most part so I figured the heck with it.

This afternoon it was in the high 30s and I was dressed for the 20s. But this morning it was really cold so I assumed it wouldn't have warmed up dramatically. Oh well. So I cooked a little bit.

I'm enjoying the lengthening days. Even though it still gets dark early in my ride I see the light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak, where I wont have to bike in the dark.

At the Oak Street curve I passed a bunch of guys on their Freakbikes riding in the opposite direction. This was the second time I've seen these guys on the Lakefront Trail. I figured they must have been at Chicago's Critical Mass. My brother and sister ride at Critical Mass every once in a while and I've been tempted to join them. But by Friday afternoon I just want to go home. I'm also not really into bunching up in traffic and pissing off drivers. I should also not knock it until I've tried it. In the summer it is probably pretty fun.

At Addison a guy on a Giant road bike zipped by me like I was going in reverse. He had a super bright rear blinker. It was quite impressive but I didn't like its weird cadence; it blinked on and off a bit slow for my liking. He seemed to have slowed once he was through humiliating me so I picked up my pace to at least maintain the same distance. He had about a block on me and I could still see his blinding blinker. At Sheridan Road he was caught at the light and I just hung back behind him. I'd had enough of the consequences of pushing myself on other bikers so I figured I'd just give him his space. Once the light turned green he headed up Ardmore while I headed to Broadway. At the intersection of Broadway and Granville he was waiting to cross at the interminably long light while I zoomed a quick left turn. I poured it on all the way home hoping I wouldn't get passed again.

Distance Traveled: 24.3 miles
Distance to date: 1775.4 miles
Price of gas: $2.31

1 comment:

Steve said...

Core,
That is really wierd. There doesn't seem to be anything about wind, cities, or biking anywhere on the site. Well there might be something about cities being smited by winds but I must admit I didn't look too hard.

I've added the site as a link; maybe there is something that might save or enlighten someone.