riding a bike forever video

I'm sitting home in the rain today looking at stupid internet, and this came up in my feed:

Or go watch it on Youtube.

I do some of 'em, and have no interest in others. But while we can't guarantee any future, it's a reminder that we can maximize our chances of outcomes we like better, by making choices now.

One of the things I agree with is the "experiences over equipment" thing. If you've seen my Yellow Maserati, the titanium bike, you won't be surprised at that.

One of the things I'm not ready to do is the indoor trainer. I'll stick to the floor exercises, the weights, and the rower.

As for goals... what do you think?

it's not the poem i hoped to write.

 The mechanical shifters
the brake levers
the exposed cables
of my out-of-fashion bicycle
hold a poem
that, with all my vocabulary
all my reading
all my experience
I do not have the materials
or power
to write.

sourland spectacular

 

TEW, and her team, Scott and Joann, departing to do the 27-mile ride.

The Excellent Wife (TEW) points out that I love big gatherings of bikes and cyclists, and because of that, I don't know why I don't do more of these big charity rides. She and her team did a 27-mile route; I did a 40-plus mile route with a few Free Wheelers; other Free Wheelers did the 60-plus mile metric century (not for me, thanks; I'm theoretically leading another ride tomorrow). 

My pace was nothing to brag about (see the ride page, and keep in mind that RideWithGPS is generous when assigning average speed), but I love seeing all the folks, and all the bikes, and riding with people I don't normally and might never see again. 

We saw a number of club members.

And a huge number of other riders.

And BIKES! Oh, my stars and garters, so many bikes. So many kinds of bikes. 

(That's our bikes, on the back of the Ramblin' Wrench Prius, when we went to park.)

There's no reason I can't do a ride like this on my own, and, I frequently do with the club, but it's just not the same as a supported ride. They provide stops:

And food:

And you could even get a beer.

A few of us made a team to do the ride.

My thanks to the volunteers. 

I try to make a point of thanking the volunteers, and I wish it were a more common practice among the cyclists on these supported rides. Admittedly, we've usually paid for the privilege, but we're out there riding and generally having fun. These folks are donating their time (for a cause they believe in, usually, but they're almost certainly not getting paid) to support us, and they're almost always doing it with cheer on their face, and encouragement in their voices. I'm grateful for their presence, and I think we all should be, and should let them know about it.

Rant off, I guess.

I wasn't gonna do this one, and TEW talked me into it. I'm glad she did.

seems to fill a need ride

 So for close to 40 years, the Princeton Free Wheelers have had ride categories based on pace. A month ago, I had the idea to run a "no-pace" ride, so that people who have bikes they love, but which may not be comfortable for club ride paces, could bring those bikes out. (Some time ago, in my old blog, I wrote a post about riding the bike you love.)

Well, those bikes came out... but then it turned out that folks really like the no-pace concept, whether they had the fancy bikes or not. So I decided to do it again, except this time, you could bring your fancy bike, or your favorite jersey, or your goofiest socks. 

I got some fancy bikes: Jeff P's Look, with the Mektronic shifting:

... and AT's neat old Bianchi:

And Chris C's venerable 3x5 Cannondale, with friction/Index selectable downtube shifters, and a long-out-of-spec rear-wheel spacing:

And I got a couple of interesting jerseys: Mark H's "Ride to Eat, Eat to Ride":

... and The Excellent Wife's (TEW's) Susan B Anthony jersey:

...but there were also a number of folks for whom a 25-mile ride, at no particular pace, just sounded like a good idea.

So I think I'm gonna keep running these every so often. Yes, you can bring out your over- or under-geared bikes, or your fancy jerseys, or what-have-you. But feel free to come along, just because a no-pressure, no-pace, chatty ride sounds like a good idea.

(One rider says that the elevation reported is way off, but I don't measure it in any way other than what RideWithGPS reports on the ride page.)