Rain, aaaarrghhh!

I imagine that the local suicide hotlines have been busier than usual this month. The rain just a keeps on comin'! I shot this picture on Monday morning with my new Canon G10 camera. This is the traffic on Route 80 Eastbound at about 8:30. Not too bad actually; at least it was moving! Notice the lovely shade of gray that has greeted us pretty much every morning since Memorial day. We had such a nice holiday that I guess now we are paying in spades. The rain did not start until I just got to work. Tuesday was the same. Steel gray sky, rain spitting down here and there and then showers all day. The sun started to come out in the afternoon and I figured I had a nice ride home ahead of me. I took the long way home and I met up with Cathy on the way. It's nice to have companionship on a commute. Sure enough, about 3 miles from home, even though there was a lot of sunshine peeking through the clouds, the rain started dribbling out of the sky once again. Then about a mile from home it was as though someone took a 50 gallon trash can full of water and dumped it on our heads. It rained haaaaaard! Cathy predicted a nice rainbow and sure enough, we were pleased to see it as we cruised up the final hill to home, the rain having stopped completely and brilliant sunshine welcomed us to the front porch. I would have taken a picture but I wisely stowed the camera deep in my water proof pannier bag and I, dripping water, did not want to risk destroying my new toy. No riding today (Wednesday) but still, our now constant companion rain, showered on and off during the late afternoon. Driving home tonight I started to ponder the dramatic sun tinged cloud formations swirling about and realized that we have had rain on 19 or 20 of the past 24 days. I can't remember ever having such a weird June and I have to wonder if the climate is changing irretrievably to this depressing pattern. I will ride more and drive less and hope that we are not too late.

Fixies Jump The Shark!

It's official, single speed fixie culture has "jumped the shark". What started out as the subculture of bike messengers living on the fringe and became the iconic symbol of trustafarians and pretentious art school dropouts in lower Manhattan and Brooklyn, has now been co-opted by middle aged bike geeks in suburban New Jersey. The now famous bike culture blogger "Bike Snob NYC" has been chronicling the downfall of hipster "street cred" for two years now but I think I can claim the title as the driver of the final nail. Yes, Cathy and I now have our own color matched, single speed, recycled frame, bicycles complete with deep V rims and colored chains. We think they're cool and that's how I know that no self respecting hipster should be caught dead on one. But you know what? I don't care! These bikes are fun to ride. We don't dress up in bike clothes and ride these bikes for miles and miles. We ride them from home into town about 2 miles to get a cup of coffee. These bikes are just perfect for that. I really don't want to have to put on my super hero bike costume and special shoes to make this short of a trip and I feel guilty as hell getting into my car to get there but I am, after all, too lazy to walk. Simple and fun is what these bikes are all about. Maybe if people thought they too would not have to wear a superhero bike costume in order to enjoy riding a bike, they might want to ride more. Hmmm...Maybe I'm on to something. The bike industry has been trying to make this happen for the past few years but it seems like the only company making headway in this area is Electra, a company that focuses a lot of energy on making their bikes fun. But there is something fun about making your own statement with a bike that you cobbled together yourself from reclaimed parts. My town bike is made from an old Schwinn World Sport I found in the garbage pile behind our Long Valley store. A little paint and a few parts and this bike lives to ride another day. I will be honest in saying that I don't love the ride quality of the bike but it's only for a couple of miles so how good does it have to be? Cathy's bike on the other hand

was put together from an old Frejus racing bike. The frame is made from Reynolds 531 Cromoly tubing crafted in Italy

at the Frejus Legano factory in the '70s. It is an amazingly nice ride and Cathy couldn't stop raving about how great it was and was actually comparing it to her custom Serotta!

The down side of these bikes is that carrying the grocery load is not terribly practical, kind of like going furniture shopping at Ikea in this Austin Healy. So after breakfast and coffee we rode home and I got my Fargo with the panniers and headed back down the hill to the supermarket. After another completely craptastic week of weather, Sunday's blue sky and fluffy clouds were a welcome respite and I am happy to say we made it through another day without getting into a car. Oh yeah, did I mention that my pedals glow in the dark?

Back From The Store

Back From The Store
Originally uploaded by brendan61

Holy cow, what a week! I looked at my last entry date, last monday. Do you ever get the feeling that you must be blacking out for days at a time and you keep missing stuff? Time flies when you are overwhelmed. The picture above is Cathy and I on Sunday getting back from our breakfast and grocery ride. Sunday's weather was just about perfect and we enjoyed the day tremendously. Now it's Wednesday, June 10th already, and I don't feel like I am any closer to convincing anyone they should give up their cars every once in a while in favor of using a bike. I can understand why though. The weather during last week was soul crushing and this week is shaping up for more of the same. Still, I am committed to riding into work and last week I only rode in actual rain on one day and I actually enjoyed

the experience because I was clever enough to use rain gear. But weather can be pretty intimidating. Yesterday morning I drove in because of the copious amounts of lightning striking the ground. Had I been on my bike during those storms I would have to find shelter. Today I will ride a mountain bike to work instead of the Fargo and hook up with our Wednesday night mountain bike ride.

This past Sunday, instead of loading our bikes into the car, Cathy and I rode to the Tourne Park for some mountain biking, did our ride and then rode home. we didn't get into the car once all day! I set the bikes up to ride better on the street and then reset for trail riding. I think one of the lessons I am learning is that things we imagine to be more trouble than they are worth turn out to be completely the opposite. Getting over the inertia of laziness and just doing small, simple things, one at a time, add up to lots of things getting done in a seemingly effortless way. But the little tasks tend to keep piling up and so I must put my nose back to the grind stone and continue on. And remember, when it comes to using your bike more, or doing anything really, whether you think you can, or you think you cannot, you are usually right!

What A Difference A Day Makes

This was the scene outside of the Smartworld Coffee shop on Sunday Morning. 4 bikes belonging to people who used their bike instead of their cars. (Okay, 2 of them are ours) We had a nice chat with a couple of guys who were riding their mountain bikes back from a ride at the Tourne Park a few miles away. You could ask for a nicer day but you wouldn't get it! After breakfast and coffee we headed over to the supermarket to pick up some things we needed at home. I will admit to being glad the A&P is only a little over a mile from home because groceries are heavy. After a couple of chores we loaded up the toy wagon and headed over to Deer Pond Park for some mountain biking. The park is a great place to spend the afternoon riding on buff single track without too, too much climbing. (Just enough to keep you honest).

The foliage is lush and the woods are peaceful. I only get one day a week off during the season so when the weather is this great, the rides are extra sweet! After the ride we hung out for a nice picnic lunch that Cathy cleverly thought to prepare so that we would be spared the usual ravenous post ride drive back home.

That's why after a day like that it is such a shock to get back to the commute on Monday. This morning was a bit on the chilly side for the first of June but the brilliant sunshine and deep blue sky made my morning ride to work refreshing like a dip in a cold stream on a hot summer day. But one realization marred the perfection of the day just a little bit. My ride started a little earlier than usual today so there was definitely more traffic than when I leave home after 9:00 AM. I realized that people must be more pissed off about their jobs than I knew. Aggression. That's the word I can come up with to describe the vibe out on the road. People just drive with aggression. Naked, ugly, aggression. Cutting each other off, speeding, tail-gating, flat out intimidation. It's kind of scary when you see it from a point of view outside of a car. As a society, I am not sure I like where we are headed. I know I sound crazy but I really believe we would all be better off if more people rode a bike sometimes.