MINE.
my FunnyBike has arrived. i took it for a test ride yesterday before the snow, sleet and "unknown precipitation" dropped. if you look closely at the top tube you can probably see where my drippy dnose baptised it.
what it is:
- - light, for a time-trial bike
- - a lot smoother on the road than my road bike (difference between carbon and aluminum)
- - surprisingly comfortable, even when you're not aero
- - 10-speed, running off a 12-25 cassette. a 25!! (read: total grannie gear for someone used to a 21)
- - full Dura-Ace. none of this campy eurodog snobbery
- - fucking sweet, and a lot of bike for the money, especially when your team sponsorship gets you half MSRP.
- - an excuse.
i had some experience with this yesterday as i dragged my sorry ass up another chester county climb, falling off D's wheel halfway up, tormented by ouroboros loops of the "another train" song keith brand played during Sleepy Hollow:
there's another train
there always is
maybe the next one is yours
get up and climb aboard
[repeat eleventy billion times]
if you want to torment yourself likewise, you can click here, but i really don't advise it. i'll give you some better stuff in a minute.
anyway, i arrived at the top of the hill, bedraggled and broken but at least not crying like i've been known to do trying to stick to D's wheel and he says he says to me
- it's a good thing we didn't pass any other cyclists, me with my commuter bike with my fender and bento bag, dropping the world-class duathlete with the four-thousand dollar FunnyBike. you'd never live that down.
lots of retorts sprung to mind, like
- fuck you.
- fuck you, i ran 14 miles yesterday. on the road, which beats you up a lot more than trail.
- you're a DUDE. [i hate this excuse, but as FMC has observed it's depressingly accurate sometimes, unless we're talking about a marathon.]
- i fear i've got some stenosis issues in my left iliac now, but the idea of another bypass is a serious bummer.
- i'm 10lbs overweight and it's your fault for romancing me with pints of Ben & Jerry's Karamel Sutra.
- no wait just fuck you.
all this i thought but what i said was
- thank god for that 25.
it sucks to be overweight and mortal, and it sucks to get old.
but here's new nails (this Me one and this Twilight one), and this is some good stuff -- or MinimalTrent is finally growing on me.
7 comments:
Your bike is swish!
Meh fuckit on the weight thing. I reckon once you go past thirty you put on a few a pound or two for every year no matter what out do. And what you can do it keep yourself fit and not worry about it too much. Golly I'm looking forward to hiking around Glendalough, I'm even breaking in new Timberlands!
Hmmm the new music is a grower. I'm sitting here listening to Kate Bush-I'm working and so tired I'm actually cross-eyed. (it's 11:20 PM) Sometimes working for yourself sucks the big one.
There is something wonderful about the way technology is used in the production of the awesome constructions that we use for recreation. I love the feeling of dedication that folk have in following a vision of what is needed, and the application to work and work and work to get things right then better end better and better for their purpose.
Alongside that is my awe at the sheer love and enthusiasm that amateurs ("lovers") and professionals alike apply to the activity that wraps them up.
Just as there is an excitement in watching experts do their work so apparently easily, so there is something grand in the wholeheartedness with which real enthusiasts pursue that goal. I think in a way it is life-defining - the pursuit of something that you really want to do, get a buzz doing and hammer away at until you get a bit good at it (or not).
I am not writing or expressing myself well here - it is just so good to see such wonderful stuff as this fancy bike. Well done finn and go well on it. I am inspired and bet you are too.
Sweet gear(s). Ayup.
Busy day here (new PCs coming), but I will check out the new tracks later.
Ooooh, JUICY stuff. Good luck with the bike.
My 11-year-old maroon BSA still serves me faithfully when I go home ... I think it's time I switched to a gear bike, though. [sigh]
subh, single-speeds are the shiznit around here right now, proving once again that if you hold onto something long enough, it'll rotate back into cool again. i've got an entire attic banked on this philosophy, btw.
teho, tx for the reminder that you DO work sometimes.
adam, you remind me how sad i am that thorpey retired... until i consider he probably got to the point where he fell out of love with the sport.
FMC, swish yourself.
and, i can't wait. :)
oh, and downloaded the NINs. Thanks muchly!
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