End Pavement

Kent over at Kent’s Bike Blog recently posted on his find of a great ride on the cheap, in “Twenty Dollar Bike”.

Today, he continued the story as the bike evolves: “The $20 Bike Gets Coroplast Fenders and Baskets”.

I want to keep this project on a very low budget, and so far the main cost has been a couple of bucks worth of zip-ties. I scrounged the baskets and the coroplast campaign signs are free once the elections have passed. Adding the Princeton Tec EOS pretty much doubled the value of the bike but it’s such a damn nice little light and I do a lot of night riding.

Looking good, and I like the budget so far! :)

When you think of a “cyclist,” probably the first thing that pops into your head is a particular kind of outfit: skin-tight, space-age fabric, and color combinations not found in nature. And that’s not counting the professionals.

It’s probably safe to say that most people on a bike in the world aren’t wearing spandex and lycra.

To that end, a new Flickr group has debuted recently that has some inspirational fashion ideas for the cycling set: Vélocouture.

Smart, stylish, functional outfits worn by transportational bicyclists.

Celebrate the creative re-purposing of “normal” clothes for use as a transportational cyclist. Help popularize the innovative, functional and fashionable garments that are (finally!) being created by pedal-powered fashion-forward folks around the world.

Here are a few pics of the more visible effects from last Saturday’s accident. Click for larger. (The last three are from my cameraphone.)

Apart from the pain and wounded ego, the worst part at the moment is the sense of time lost with various walks, hikes, and bike rides not being done. Not to mention falling behind in work and home projects. Being limited to using only one hand to type is super annoying, since my work and much of my hobbies involve using a keyboard.

If I hadn’t been wearing my helmet, I probably wouldn’t be writing this at all.

On the bright side, the shoulder feels somewhat better, though still creepy as various bits move around in a thoroughly disturbing manner. I’m looking forward to attempting a walk around the block soon, and really looking forward to physical therapy (the therapist is awesome), and getting back on track with everything.

So, I’ll need a new helmet. And some blinking lights. ;)

Here’s what’s been carrying me for untold miles the last few years — my mid-late 90s Specialized HardRock. Note old-school platform pedals.

I mention the pedals due to the recent discussions about the various pedal types amongst bicycling bloggers, debating the pros and cons of each. Some examples:

• Cycle-Licious: “Primary benefit of clipless pedals”
• Kent’s Bike Blog: “Cycling With Platform Pedals and Ordinary Shoes”
• Up in Alaska: “Clipless-less”

Why did I choose platforms?

Well, they came on the bike. ;)

More seriously, I’ve never used any kind of attaching-my-feet devices. They give me the willies — not being able to automatically put my feet down on the ground at a light (or on a trail) would be Bad, with a capital Buh.

Will I ever try the foot bindings? Maybe someday. If I can find a nice soft surface to fall over onto.

Until then, I’ll give up the inarguable efficiency in exchange for the confidence in not flopping helplessly onto concrete over and over.

Thanks to the Blasphemous Bicycler for pointing to this BBC news story about an experiment to see if climbers back in 1924 could have made it up Everest clad only in the clothing of the time. I guess some folks have managed to convince themselves it was impossible because, God knows, people could barely walk upstairs before they invented artificial fabrics.

The findings are a step closer to proving the men could have reached the top, 29 years before Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary.

Over the past few weeks, climber Graham Hoyland has been putting the old-style clothing worn on the fateful Mallory expedition to the ultimate field test on the world’s highest mountain.

Wearing replica gear made from gabardine, wool, cotton and silk, he wanted to disprove the common myth that the 1920s climbers were ill-equipped to reach the summit.

Anyhow, the experiment was successful for protection purposes, but was actually better than the newer materials for comfort and (of course) style, the latter of which being of prime importance. If you’re going to be clambering around on freezing mountains unlike sane people, you might as well look good doing it. As the Blasphemous Bicycler says,

Surprise, Surprise, wool and silk work out just fine in outrageously cold conditions.

More importantly, a mountaineer decked out in stylish woollies, cuts quite the dashing figure, and is sure to be popular with any young ladies he encounters on his way up the mountain.

Nice goggles, too (also very important). I want that outfit now, or one like it, and I’m not the only one; according to Hoyland,

“All the other climbers thought the jacket was stylish and wanted to know where they could buy their own versions of the clothes!”

This story brought to mind another from a few days ago on the Commute By Bike blog, No sweat bike commute, in which Fritz writes about bicycle riding in clothing other than the latest high-tech fashions.

I spent 15 years of my life with a faster bike commute. Each year, I had a new personal best for the time trial home. I wore sport-specific gear — bike shoes, bike socks, bike shorts, bike jersey, bike gloves — to improve my performance and wick away the sweat and I carted my work clothes to and from the office every day.

A few years go I began a radical experiment: I wore my normal work clothes to the office. I discovered something that LeMond and Petersen didn’t know about: you can go slow on a bicycle! The secret to the no sweat bike commute is to take it easy.

Words to live by.