Entry tags:

bicycle

Let's Go!
My brother sent me a very short email about a month and a half ago. The message was simpy "Dear brother of mine; Our time is short. Let's go" and attached was this very inspirational picture:

The day I got this email, I glued my 8-year old, never-used, ORANGE sew up tires (Vittoria Competition Formula Uno - pressurized to 130 psi) onto the rims of my old bike.



(Campagnolo hubs and derailleur, Fiamme Ergal rims, Regina Oro freewheel cluster (no granny gear here (sigh!))

Two days later (when the glue had finally set), I descummed and put the whole bike together and took it out for a 5-mile shakedown cruise. I barely got out of the driveway when I noticed, from the clunking sounds and jumps in pedalling effort, that the chain had developed several "kinks" from sitting for about 15 years or more. Once I had pedalled about a mile or so, the kinks were getting worked out and, even though I couldn't hold a straight line on the road, I had a grin about a mile wide (why, why, why had I let so much time go by not doing this thing that I so love?).

Below is a picture of me on that first day (notice that my old bike jersey looks like the casing over a very large Knackwurst - one of my goals is to make that jersey luff in the wind as I win the Tour de France).



Anyhow, despite one crash (in my own driveway ... fell over a couple of folding chairs into my trash cans; back in the '70's and '80's, my coworkers called me "Crash Wray"), I've been riding about twice a week (with a couple of inexcusable weeks where I let other Life events keep me off the bike).

My longest rides were two 17 mile rides (one each on two consecutive days). Up till today, I've been doing 10 miles a ride (with two rides of 12 miles) at a speed of around 15 mph. Two days ago, my speed was 15.6 mph, so today I plan to start regularly going 12 miles, with a new goal of 16 mph (not bad for this almost 63-year old codger).

I'm still a long way from pedalling across America (or even across Connecticut), but I'm on my way and having fun!

Still, if I ever get a flat, I'll have to buy a new bike (to fix tubular tires, you have to take the tire off the rim, try to find the general area of the leak, pull back the rim tape, unsew the casing, pull out the inner tube and patch it, put tube back in, resew the casing, replace the rim tape and then glue the tire back on the rim ... I'm too old (patience-wise) for that kind of crap and I have a feeling that the technology of bikes has advanced somewhat since I got this bike back about 30 years ago).

Anyhow, bro (if you ever read this), thanks for that email and I love ya!