The Kids Are (not) Alright

When I ride past my local High School in the morning, I'm amazed how many kids drive to school. And I'm sure most of these kids are within walking, biking and skating distance.

We need to make it cool for kids to arrive at school without a car.

We need to educate the student body so as adults they would be more open to bike to work, and not drive.

Turn the (bike) pedals and don't push the (gas) pedal.

Greater Than One (or less than zero)

"Won't you be my number 2." - Joe Jackson

For the 1st 30 years of my life, I only owned 1 bike at a time.

During the last 15 years or so, I have added a total of 4 bikes to my shed. I try to spend equal amounts of time with each bike, sort of like one of those guys who lives in UT with multiple wives.

It's fun to spread the love around, but the closeness is missing.

When you just own 1 bike, you're on it almost everyday and as a result, you develop a special bond with that bike. It's a nice feeling for sure.

Lately, I have been longing to own just 1 bike again to regain that 1-bike love that's missing from my life.

Flip Flops

Note to self: don't race a guy on a tricked out Eddy Merckx bike while wearing flip flops.

Last week I was enjoying the sun & surf in Newport, RI (nice place). I brought my old road single speed bike up with me. This bike is outfitted with some big old BMX platform pedals for everyday "need to run to the store" riding.

On my last day, I was cruising around the southern tip of the island, pedaling with my flip flops on. Then I saw Mr. Eddy Merckx bike dude.

We started to race. Surprisingly, I was going pretty fast with the flip flops. I held him off for about 15 min, but then I lost the battle. That was OK - I mean - how can a flip flop cyclist compete with a bike like that.

Now picture this: I was trying to bridge the gap and out of nowhere, both feet came off the pedals in the forward direction, all 10 toes were dragged hard against the rough pavement, both pedals dug into the backside of my calves & caused some nice punctured wounds and finally, my manhood slammed into the top tube (sort of like what Lance did into 2003 TdF).

Once again- don't race wearing flip flops.

The Joy of Single Speed

About a week or so ago, I had a single speed moment that makes the suffering all worthwhile.

I came screaming down a short, steep hill. Coasting at maximum speed, sort of like dropping in on a half-pipe with a skateboard.

I hit the flat section and spun out at 32 mph, which was more than enough speed to propel myself up the opposite hill with minimum effort.

The whole experience probably lasted about 1 full minute, but what a minute it was. It was the simple joy of single speeding at its best.

The Constant

Throughout my life, I've been obsessed with skateboarding, rock climbing, snowboarding, long-distance trail running and so on. But since the age of 5 or so, cycling has always been there for me (except for the moped years - we won't talk about that for now).

The simple act of riding bikes has and hopefully will continue to provide me with transportation, fitness, fun and competition until my body fails me.

Even though I've been at it for about 40 years now, I still look forward to my early morning rides and any excuse to run an errand by bike.

Yes I have lost speed over the years, but I still can go the distance when push comes to shove.

Growing old with the bike is a nice way to age.