Test run

This evening I finished putting the “fancy” bike together and took it on a short test ride. Being that I built this thing up from a bag of parts and scavenged some components from the Mighty Panasonic, I was nervous that it would fall apart somewhere on the Hammond Trail.

But it didn’t. Everything worked great. It shifts like butter – nice and smooth. The brakes are decent. The bike is nice and light – at least in comparison to what I’m used to. So far I have about $50 invested in this project.

Eventually I’ll outfit it with a triple crank so I’ll have a granny gear for hill climbing, but the current configuration will meet my needs for the time being.

The next step is to outfit it with a few accessories and make some adjustments.

After that, I’m going to try a bicycle training experiment, which I’ll write about here once I refine the idea and start the new regimen.


***

Six years ago today I awoke to terrible news. Even though I wasn't as much of a bike nut back then, one of the first things I did was to pump up the tires on a bike and use it for the day's business.

I did so partly out of a sense of paranoia. I had to visit the local airport and Coast Guard Station to take photos. I knew that there would be armed guards and I was worried that they might be trigger happy given the immensity of what happened. But I knew they wouldn't feel threatened by a funny looking fellow wearing a helmet and riding a bright-red bicycle.

I continued to ride my bike on and off in the days and weeks after 9-11. Later, I was motivated by the desire to give as little of my money as possible to the Saudis.

And now, rather than bore you with a long political rant about how Bush fucked everything up, I'll sign off....