Lazy, but biking... lazily!
Oct. 17th, 2006 12:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pphaneufWas supposed to do a bunch of things outside the apartment last weekend, ended up staying home the whole time. Oh well. I did manage to do some of the computer related cleaning up I was meaning to do, and finished watching Babylon 5.
I cut back on biking a good deal recently, for no particularly good reason beside "it rains often" (but not nearly "always"), and I didn't get to do any fast riding since I got myself a bike computer. So I went to go out for a ride yesterday, after dinner.
I stopped for some a bit of hacking in a café. This time, it was in Europe and I do have the hip Powerbook, but I wasn't dressed to kill, went inside rather than the terrasse (kind of chill in the evening), didn't have my own music (but the café's music was decent) and there was a bus station in front. Well, I'm getting there!
Then, I proceeded to get lost, after leaving from the café.
When I recovered my bearings, as I was crossing the Place du Capitole, I heard a solid Québec accent as I biked past some people. I just turned around and said "hey" to the two girls . Clearly out of character for me, I must be going nuts or something. They had landed the day before and are planning to bike across Europe, more or less, pretty cool. I even got invited out for drinks, which I found rather flattering, but had to turn down, being rather late with all of my being lost, work the next day and everything...
Seems like that bike is pretty damned awesome. I'd say that for a given effort, I can go about 20-25% faster than with my old bike, and I didn't even put in the clipless pedals yet! 25 kph is effortless, and I clocked in a hair under 50 kph on a flat straightline on my way to work (where I try not to sweat too much). It's pretty sweet. :-)
I cut back on biking a good deal recently, for no particularly good reason beside "it rains often" (but not nearly "always"), and I didn't get to do any fast riding since I got myself a bike computer. So I went to go out for a ride yesterday, after dinner.
I stopped for some a bit of hacking in a café. This time, it was in Europe and I do have the hip Powerbook, but I wasn't dressed to kill, went inside rather than the terrasse (kind of chill in the evening), didn't have my own music (but the café's music was decent) and there was a bus station in front. Well, I'm getting there!
Then, I proceeded to get lost, after leaving from the café.
When I recovered my bearings, as I was crossing the Place du Capitole, I heard a solid Québec accent as I biked past some people. I just turned around and said "hey" to the two girls . Clearly out of character for me, I must be going nuts or something. They had landed the day before and are planning to bike across Europe, more or less, pretty cool. I even got invited out for drinks, which I found rather flattering, but had to turn down, being rather late with all of my being lost, work the next day and everything...
Seems like that bike is pretty damned awesome. I'd say that for a given effort, I can go about 20-25% faster than with my old bike, and I didn't even put in the clipless pedals yet! 25 kph is effortless, and I clocked in a hair under 50 kph on a flat straightline on my way to work (where I try not to sweat too much). It's pretty sweet. :-)
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Date: 2006-10-17 02:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-17 02:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-17 02:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-17 03:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-17 03:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-17 04:41 pm (UTC)Really. Those spindly little wheels would just get eaten by a pothole. And I don't have the space to put it. Never mind that I'm very well aware of how much faster and easier they are to ride; even my crapbox old CCM road bike was tons faster than my current ride.
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Date: 2006-10-17 08:18 pm (UTC)And they would indeed get eaten by a pothole. Good thing there aren't potholes.
They don't handle as nimbly as converted mountain bikes like I had and you have, though. For crowded city riding, those are better rides, I'd say. But when I get in a straight line down the Allée Charles de Fitte, wowie zowie!