your daily bicycle log

no there are def large group rides in both prospect park and central park. could be anywhere from 15-20 people sometimes...

the most popular group ride outside of NYC is the george washington bridge->piermont->nyack trip up 9W

To Greenpoint and back on the heavy-as-shit 3-speed. I forgot that riding a slow bike really isn't a problem cos they're geared low, as long as you don't mind poking along and not going too quickly. Nice out tonight, not too chilly. I do love drunken night rides when your energy is good and the cool air perks you up and hardly anyone else is on the streets.

OH HAPPY DAY!

The tavistock place/torrington place bike lane is now cyclable end to end for the first time in years, I am sure they will be digging it up again by the end of next week.

look out for COMPLETE FUCKING MORAN pedestrians.

I had done of those on maple st at lunchtime and my only accident in recent years was caused by one on tavistock place.

yeah they are incredible. it's definitely the most well-marked, clearly separated "HELLO! BIKES COME DOWN HERE!" bikelane i regularly use, and also the one with the most fuckwit pedestrians walking into/along/over it.

Apparently there are no bikes allowed in the cemetery here; is that normal? I was so excited when I rolled in there, miles of crisscrossing empty roads, beautiful trees and mausoleums, I figured this would be my new favorite ride spot.

I did another 90 minuter this morning, but thanks to getting kicked out of the cemetery most of that was just Froggering in traffic; I'll probably ride to my buddy's house up past the JIF factory later if it isn't raining, where I will play drums and drink beer. That ride home is great; entirely downhill, ridiculously wide bike lanes, the great peanut butter smell of the factory.

Also me and the boy rode the whole perimeter of my grandparents' farm yesterday on a couple funky old Huffys, it took us about 2 hours, but we were stopping frequently to climb bails of hay, watch the neighbors run their horses, etc.

Lycra-clad dudes zooming around a cemetery doesn't really smack of proper decorum, so it seems fair enough.

Because dead people care.

cemeteries aren't for the dead though

No, you're right. Maybe some cops to enforce a speed limit and lycra-ban? Surely the nearest and dearest to teh deceased can't object to nice, staid, classy looking father-and-son bicycle outings on heavy old machines, it's practically an affirmation of everything the aged are supposed to stand for.

TOTALLY FUCKING EXHAUSTED

more after i eat all of the food in my house

Brrrrr. Although three layers actually too warm, could do with a thinner middle one. And a headband maybe.

Also, asshole in a Lexus doing some kind of idiot reversing in the main road manoeuvure, right into the path of traffic already backed up by temporary traffic lights.

what kind of layers are they?

http://www.kitchenlink.com/ch/2000/august/desserts1.jpg

thin wikking base/fairly thin mid/wind & waterproof.

kkck

I am gonna need something long-sleeved soon for when it does get cold and i don't wanna wear my waterproof all the time cos then it will get stinky

i was looking at long sleeved jerseys but i can't afford to buy like 6 of them or whatever

are they worth it?

maybe i should just go and get a bunch of long-sleeved ts from the charity shop...

There's always arm warmers as a stop gap measure. Or wear a warm base layer under your short sleeved jersey.

If you get the wicky cycling jersey,s emsk, you can rinse them out every night and they will be dry by morning. check eBay, there are normally loads of cheap ones there.

Tom I was fine in a regular long sleeve t-shirt yesterday. Waterproof? It wasn't even raining!

I kinda wish I'd cycled today - yesterday I just had so much energy (and my combined commute time was 56 mins - never done it below 57 before), and today the weather's nicer. But, I don't read scripts when I cycle and they're piling up (non WGA, I promise!!), so I took the train. However, I am wearing my Condor cycling jersey :)

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2345/1580010955_3360df0efc_m.jpg

(weird, I img-ed that okay I thought. Anyway, it's a pic of my sweater)

I can see it. Con D'or eh?

There's always arm warmers as a stop gap measure. Or wear a warm base layer under your short sleeved jersey.

-- NickB, Tuesday, November 6, 2007 12:18 PM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

arm warmers! what? i have never seen these! i think 2 layers will be too many for me, even in coldest january after 15 minutes i'm having to stop to pull my top layer off. i think it's cos i always use a backpack in winter so it keeps my back warm.

If you get the wicky cycling jersey,s emsk, you can rinse them out every night and they will be dry by morning. check eBay, there are normally loads of cheap ones there.

-- Ed, Tuesday, November 6, 2007 12:20 PM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

cool thanks! sizing is all weird though..

Snood is definitely the way forward for me I think. Handy for snowboarding too.

Race-gimp arm warmers:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Images/Models/Full/18090.jpg

Those pictures spook me a bit, cos there is obviously an arm in there, but never any body or hand attached. Gah!

raining here in NYC. roller session while watching heroes and curb your enthusiasm.

Mens sizing is 1-5 and I am a 3 or a 4. I'm not sure about women's, go and try something on in evans and buy it somewhere cheap. Emsk, I wouldn't advise you trying to squeeze into a men's.

so i never wrote that log. oh well.

heading to work in fifteen. "high around 45F, 20% of precip, winds could gust to over 40mph"

yikes!

Maybe I need more layers than you hardy souls because I have zero body fat. Actually my flatmate has some of those fancy scales that measure/estimate/guess yr fat ratio etc. Apparently I have 5% body fat and my physique or health "age" is 12!

i've never quite understood how those things are supposed to work, but isn't the only truly accurate measure of body fat obtained if you do the submersion tank thing?

Out of the house at 6.30 for an hour or so of modest pottering around the country lanes north of the Downs before the abrupt hoik up to the top of mean old Ditchling Beacon. Would have preferred to go and get muddy offroad instead really, but some heavy-handed fettling with the big spanner bolloxed up the rear brake on the Voodoo, oops.

xpost they mostly make it up i reckon. supposedly they put a current through you and work out yr fat from yr conductance; but they have tables of body types built in, and you tell them your height, so it's not too hard for them to go "6 foot and 135 pounds? you'd be a bit skinny then".

first truly COLD morning. felt great. 90 mins.

So cold last night, too! I really really didn't want to leave the warm shop & get back on bike but by the time I got home I was toasty.

Dammit, I need a longer ride into work.

I wish there was a nice accessible stretch that I could use for riding to work, but between Manhattan traffic and the bridge workout I think I'd always arrive disheveled, sweaty, and late. Not a good outcome.

Dammit, I need a longer ride into work.

Do what I do and just start off in the wrong direction.

I should. The problem is I don't really want to do that on the Ralleigh and I don't want to lock the merckx outside.

lock the frame and bring the wheels in?

i go for a ride as soon as i wake up, then come home all sweaty and gross and then off to the shower to start my day. i don't have a shower at work unfortunately, it's one thing i wish we had.

I'd worry about component harvesting then. This area seems to be pretty bad for thieving, my boss had his motorbike nicked and there is always broken glass from car theft.

component harvesting! im glad i live in flyover country.

*leaves to go check the IR8*

Mad weather last night, with really cold raindrops being driven into my eyes like bullets by the wind. I hate it when you realise that drivers can also probably see just about bugger all too, makes you feel so vulnerable. Two minutes into my commute, already cold and soaked I went past a cottage with wood smoke coming out of the chimney. What an amazing smell that is in the when you're stuck outside in a storm.

My rear brakes collapsed on the way home last night and I did not have my multi tool only an spanner so wasn't able to do a good job fixing them. Rod pulls are really rubbish.

Pro of last night: I'm really liking rides in the "cold" so far. I know it's going to get much worse, but so far it's a blast -- I can get all the way home and barely have broken a sweat over 3-5 miles. Brilliant!

Con of last night: now that there's a protected bike lane on Bedford, everyone's using it to go THE WRONG WAY. Someone almost hit me last night (I was turning and didn't see him) and I passed another 5-6 people riding against traffic as well. It's not a poky back street, it's a MAJOR three- or four-lane artery through Brooklyn, GET THE FUCK OFF. Plus minivans EVERYWHERE parking in it oh god I was so cranky....

Still am.

i really love cycling in the cold!

they need to make a parallel bike lane on nostrand i think