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Today I indulged in not one one but two (2) bicycle cycling rides, including a spin on the Cunningham Park mountain bike trails since I hadda be in Queens anyway:
I’d probably said it before, but it bears reiterating that probably the most fun you can have on a bike within the New York City limits is knocking around Cunningham Park on a singlespeed…apart from the inevitable poison ivy rash, of course.
There’s a tired expression about aging dogs and how it’s impossible to teach them to do new things (I forget the exact wording), but despite my age and deeply ingrained habits I have managed to embrace flat pedals more or less completely at this late stage–though I suppose I’m not learning new tricks (right, that’s the wording) so much as reverting to a childlike state, since of course that’s how I rode bikes until I “learned better.” Because, as we all know, it’s silly to wear the same shoes for everything when you can change into a pair of gravel-specific ones every time you want to ride your bike:
I mean, they look like nice shoes, but if you watch the eternally looping video on the website you’ll notice he’s not even riding on gravel at all; it’s what back in my day we used to call “dirt.” Apparently we’ve officially reached the point where the word gravel in regard to terrain means absolutely nothing, and only refers to any ride in which you use a handlebar bag:
Gravel is also the most politically correct of all the cycling disciplines, which is why gravel shoes have to be made out of recycled materials:
Here’s another way to reduce waste: use flat pedals and the sneakers you already have. (And yes, I realize I have absolutely no right to be smug, I’ve only been using flat pedals since like last Tuesday.)
Finally, I got the Five Boro Bike Tour bike from Classic Cycle together, though I haven’t had time for a test ride yet:
Only Campagnolo could have designed a brake that looks like a woman in a skirt.
I generally find people who fawn over Campagnolo componentry annoying, until I’m in the presence of Campagnolo componentry and realize they’re absolutely right:
Few companies in or outside of cycling have swung as dramatically from beautiful to ugly as Campagnolo has:
And before you start, yes, of course, this is pro level racing equipment, not jewelry, and the new Campagnolo equipment will dramatically out-perform the old stuff in every way. But that doesn’t mean we can’t marvel how their shifters went from this:
To this:
Sometimes you have to ask yourself what’s important in life: going fast and stopping, or looking good?
I think we all know the answer to that one:
That’s not to say everything Campagnolo produced in the 20th century was lovely to behold. Consider, for example, this aero bottle, which looks more like medical equipment than racing equipment:
My doctor once made me fill up something exactly like that with urine.
As for the bike, all will be revealed in due time (sorry for the passive voice), but for now let’s just say the bike isn’t steel:
Nor is it Eye-talian:
Frankly if it were I don’t know if I’d be able to handle the passione.
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