Bicycling

Me, when I was younger and still thin, balancing on my bike in front of the old Student Union at Macalester College. The jersey advertises Cycle City, sponsor of the Kalamazoo Bicycle Club's racing team. Photo by Tim Haviland in the summer of 1981. (This is the bike I just restored .)

Joan took this shot of me as I was getting the Old New Bike out last Saturday. Except for a short spin the night I picked it up, this was my first outing since the rebuild (illness, snow, ballgames, and mandated gym trips have interfered more than I'd have preferred). Since Saturday I've taken the bike out a couple more times. It's everything I remembered, and everything I hoped. One of these days I'll have to write about that outfit....

Joan and I define "long ride" differently. This barn is at the far corner of a fourteen-mile loop from our house; she considers it a long ride, while I consider it a short one. So it's pretty common for me to follow a joint ride with a second, more stressful, jaunt. This is a potential problem, but we'll work something out. That pretty jersey's something I picked up on eBay; the design's from the eighties and the tag inside says its size is XL. Tag's wrong; the jersey fits Joan a lot better than it fits me. Looks good on her, so I'm satisfied, but I'd really prefer that it fit me. Oh, well. Apologies for the sloppy work in PhotoShop Elements; I'm still experimenting and may repost.....

Me and m' bike , early in 1978 when I was still skinny, and the bike was still fairly new. Note the stylish red shorts, the equally stylish red knicker sox, the blue arm warmers, and the style-resistant MSR bicycle helmet. The jersey advertised BikeCentennial--now Adventure Cycling. Oh, yeah: My hair was longer, back then. And my beard hadn't gone grey. The bike was blue in 1978. It will soon be blue again. Mom and Dad's house is in the background, before they replaced the porch with a deck and before they paved the drive. Dad took the photo; no idea what the camera was.

Michigan State Police Troopers patrolling the parade at the St. Ignace car show; June 2005.

What remains of the grain elevator, my shadow, and town's best lawn: Downtown Mulliken, last Monday, shortly before sunset. The lighting was glorious. Taken from my bicycle at the corner of Main and Railroad. Just as I pressed the shutter, a piece of debris pretty much destroyed my rear tire, which made things momentarily exciting. Fortunately I was nearly home, so the walk was short. (The farm off the end of Main is one of the Spitzley places .)

Near where I parked on the outskirts of the K-College campus, I found this bicycle anchored to a tree. ========== This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . 366 Snaps project discussion and stats for September 4 .

Always wanted a pair of Diadoras. Got 'em! =========== When I bought my first cycling shoes, the cleats were a separate purchase. The recommended installation advice was: * Ride the bike with the new shoes for 50 miles or so. * Check-see where the pedal marked the shoe. * The cleat needed to line up with those markings. * Best to find a cobbler to do the actual installation. Sidi claims to have been the first shoe maker with a mounting plate for a cleat, round 'bout 1973. I won't dispute that; it seems about right and may actually correspond with my memory. Regardless, the change greatly improved the installation practice; by the late 70s everyone was selling either some sort of mounting system or an integrated cleat. Then Time & Look changed everything again, and the MTB folks added their spin. Sometimes it seems like everything I know about bicycling's gone obsolete....

An unintended photograph from yesterday morning's bike ride.

Artistry in steel.... Don't think I've mentioned my other Assenmacher . This one's also old, but a lot newer than my original ; I took delivery of this frame the same week I moved into our house. The bikes are quite different. The old bike is your classic "club racer"--a bike with criterium geometry but also with fender clearances and the usual tiddly bits. It has a super-stiff frame and its handling is quick enough that most folks would call it "twitchy"--it's definitely not a bike for everyone. I've put lots of miles on the bike, so it probably fits my needs. So what's your next bike, Joel? That was easy, actually; I wanted a similarly quick-handling bike, but with a slightly smaller frame, somewhat softer ride, and real camping capabilties. Matt came up with this frame. It's an excellent bike, but lifestyle changes have pretty much made my original plan for the design irrelevant. I like the original better.

Love my platforms. Phil Wood pedal, MKS toe clip, Cinelli (Alfredo Binda) toe strap. New Old Stock from eBay. They went on the green bike , and now have perhaps 150 miles on them....

Explored! #299 [October 16, 2007] Thanks! Dismantled the bike over the weekend and took it to Assenmacher 's for a repaint last night. In another month it's gonna look new. I'm sure I'll post more pix at that time. Meantime, a few details: The frame was custom built by Matt Assenmacher in 1975 and has about 85,000 miles on it, 70K of them by 1986 when I finally bought a car. The Phil bottom bracket's been there since 1978. The crankset's a Stronglight 99; most of its parts date from 1975 but the left crank arm and small chainring are replacements. The bike was rebuilt with what eBay sellers call "New Old Stock" last spring, but I put the repaint off until winter because I wanted to get it on the road. Weather permitting, I'll still hit the road this fall, and maybe even winter. Just on a different bike.

Another view of my old bicycle's frame, after 85,000 miles. It's in builder Matt Assenmacher's shop to be repainted, and realigned.... 85,000 isn't as unattainable as it probably seems. At 15 miles per hour: 100 miles takes less than 7 hours 1000 miles takes less than 70 hours 10000 miles takes less than 700 hours I ride faster than that. I've owned this bike for 30 years. For the first eleven of those years, I didn't own a car.

Joan, and our shadows. Mount Hope Highway, a few miles from home.

This is, of course, my other road bike .

Cyclists gather at Kalamazoo Valley Community College before the opening event of the 1978 National Convention of the League of American Wheelmen ( LoA Bicyclists , now), hosted by the Kalamazoo Bicycle Club. We called the convention Escape '78, and this ride was The Great Escape-In . That's me holding the bike (wearing a KBC jersey), and my brother Richard is in the foreground (wearing the convention "jersey.") Photo by Roger Dinda