BikeSnobNYC's Blog, page 12

(Eroica) California Dreamin'

In yesterday's post, I described life (cycling and otherwise) in New York City, and how overall it's pretty good.  However, there are certainly other locales I find beguiling, and one of them is California.  In fact, that's where I was last week on my family vacation, and the sun must have done a number on me because I didn't go anywhere near a bike the whole time and I didn't even really mind.

Sadly, it's highly unlikely I'd ever relocate to California, unless of course I finally sell my screenplay for a Dimitry Fofonov biopic and attach Steve Carell to star:


(But fortunately it looks like I'll be headed back out there soon, and I'll also get to ride this time, because look what's coming up in April:


Yes, that's right, I'm riding Eroica California again, which makes me very happy indeed, because last year's ride was positively sublime:


Even though I did the vintage ride on a bike so old I needed to get a tetanus shot first:


And even though I'm so sickly white that I got a nasty sunburn due to misapplied sunscreen, which you can make out on my legs in this photo if you can stand to look at them:


(Photo courtesy of @ultraromance)
Speaking of "eeew":


(What SPF you running?)
Anyway, this year's ride is in Cambria, in the shadow of Hearst Castle, which is all right by me, and not just because the only physical difference between me and the seals that live there is a pair of sweaty bib shorts:


On Saturday I'll do the NOVA ride, which is for modern-day road and gravel-type bicycles:

Then on Sunday I'll do the Eroica Classic on an appropriate vintage machine.
Then, when I'm done, I'll give away both my bikes before I head home (details to follow in a future post), which means you now have one more reason (or I guess technically two more reasons) to do Eroica California this year: a free bike from a semi-professional bike blogger who can't be bothered to take his toys back home with him!
Best of all, I'm gonna rent another minivan!!!

(No, I won't give you a lift to the airport.)
I can't wait.

A Long Answer to a Stupid Question

Hello!  I'm back from my family vacation, and you'll be glad to know that Paris, France was absolutely formidable:


Yeah, I realize the Tour is usually in July, but this year they moved it up to February just for me.

Now that I'm back, I'd like to address a question someone posed in the comments section of my last post, and I'm doing so for two reasons:

1) It's a question that pops up semi-regularly;
B) I find it really annoying so I'd like to answer it definitively once and for all.

And now, here is that question:

Anonymous said...

I guess one question would be why someone so involved in cycling would live in such a gawd-foresaken-place when it comes to actually riding a bike in the first place? Is there a worse place on earth? Perhaps Sydney Australia? But the weather's better there so perhaps NYC is the worst?

February 22, 2019 at 8:31 AM

Then, after various insightful comments from other commenters:

Anonymous said...

Some guy from upstate: "Clearest advantage as transportation" I get that, but Snobby writes a lot about FUN rather than just slogging through congested streets using a bike as transportation. The challenge of finding a fun place to ride seems semi-impossible in a place like NYC, DC or (gawd) Florida so I don't think it's odd to wonder why someone so involved in the activity/lifestyle (rather than a simple schmuck who just uses a bike to get around) would choose to live in a cycling hell like NYC.

February 24, 2019 at 4:51 AM

Okay, before anything else, this comment was in response to my latest Outside column, which is specifically about the NYPD.  So sure, I'll move someplace else in America where there aren't issues with law enforcement, just as soon as you tell me where that is.  Go ahead, I'll wait.

I thought so.

All right, now that we've got that out of the way, let's address the cycling part, specifically:

I guess one question would be why someone so involved in cycling would live in such a gawd-foresaken-place when it comes to actually riding a bike in the first place?

Well, for one thing, I was born here.  For another, if you read my lengthy CV you know that once I grew up I realized I wanted to be in book publishing, an industry which pretty much only exists in a meaningful way in New York.  (And yes, my first three books were published by Chronicle Books, which is based in San Francisco, but nobody who already lives in New York moves to San Francisco to begin a career in book publishing, and no writer anywhere moves just to be close to their publisher.)

Oh sure, there are people who finish high school or college and decide, "Hey, Tucson seems like a cool place, I think I'll pack a rucksack and live there for awhile."  That's fantastic for them, but I'm simply not wired that way.  I was born clenched of sphincter, not free of spirit.  Furthermore, if I've got a lifetime of roots in a place that's not only interesting and full of opportunity but also happens to be the very best place in the country to pursue my professional ambitions then why the would I pull up stakes and leave?  And on top of that, it's not like I had any idea when I was 21 that I would wind up a semi-professional bike blogger.  Not only was there no such thing as a blog, but the fixie craze was still like a decade away--and even then, living in New York meant I was in the perfect place to make fun of it.

Oh, and one other small thing: my wife has a highly successful career in--you guessed it--book publishing, so if you think I'm going to say "We need to move to [x] because riding bikes is more fun there" then you don't really understand how life works on any level.

And what about the fun part, anyway?  Are there more fun places than New York City to ride a bike?  Undoubtedly.  In fact, as a semi-professional bike blogger I've visited a number of them.  However, that doesn't mean I'm going to drop everything, move to Gaioli in Chianti, and ride my own personal Eroica every day for the rest of my life--because again, that's not how life works.  (And also the tight sphincter part.)

Even so, what a lot of people don't realize is that New York City and the surrounding area is actually a fantastic place to ride a bike, especially when you consider what a massive metropolitan area this is.  Here are just a few reasons why:

You can race your road bike pretty much every week (and often multiple times a week) from March through September ;There's a outdoor velodrome in Queens and you can race there too;There's a cyclocross clinic on Randall's Island as well as an actual sanctioned cyclocross race in Queens;There is excellent road and mountain biking just outside the city, and if you don't like riding a lone there are about a zillion teams, clubs, group rides, shop rides, charity rides, fondos, etc.;You don't have to set foot in a car to do any of the above--but if you do get in a car now you can do all the regional road, mountain, and cyclocross races, too;Don't want to race?  Go bikepacking.  Go camp on a beach.  Go up into the mountains.  Go take a foliage tour of New England and ride though covered bridges and shit like that.  It's the Northeast for fuck's sake, there's great riding here!Even the weather here gets a bad rap.  However, riding conditions in spring and fall are generally superb.  Yes, summer is hot, but that's true in most places.  And while the winter may seem daunting, the fact is that brutally cold days are relatively few, and one advantage of living in a big city is that even when it snows the roads are rarely impassable by bike for more than a day or two, which means even if we get a fuckload of snow you'll probably be able to ride in Central Park within a couple of days.  For people like me who can't bring themselves to ride the trainer, that's a big deal.
But let's set aside ambitious recreational exploits and look at regular everyday knocking-around-town riding.  Do we have our fair share of homicidal motorists and knuckleheaded cops?  Of course.  This is America, after all.  Still, having ridden in many cities around the country, I'd say we're easily among the best places to ride a bike, and in certain respects we are very possibly the best place to ride a bike.  The reason for this is that the bicycle is--and has always been--very much a part of the fabric of this city.  A place like Portland may have a higher percentage of bike commuters, and it may be a less stressful place to ride simply due to the lower density, but I doubt there's any place in America that rivals the sheer diversity of people on bikes you get here in New York City.  Ride around here and you'll see people of every race, gender, age group, and income bracket using bicycles of every conceivable kind--including for work.  Ride around Portland and you'll see a bunch of interchangeable white people in Showers Pass jackets.  (I'm not trying to knock Portland.  I really like Portland.  But, you know, it's Portland.)  Sure, a place like Portland is ostensibly more of a bike city.  But there's nowhere else in America where riding a bike to get around is as boringly normal as it is here in New York.  In that regard, to beat us you've got to leave the country, that's the bottom line.
Now I'd certainly never try to convince someone they should move here, nor would I try to talk someone into loving New York City if they've spent real time here and discovered they hate it.  And who knows, maybe one day when the kids are grown I'll retire to some cycling paradise.  (There are definitely other places in this country I could imagine myself living one day, more on that tomorrow.)  In the meantime though, if you're looking for everything life has to offer--including top-notch cycling--this is a pretty good place to be.  There are eight million of us here after all, and while we may be crazy, we can't all be stupid, can we?  (Though if you're a New Yorker who's both crazy and stupid apparently you get to be president.)

New Outside Column!

Good morning!  I am deep in the throes of a family vacation but my latest column just popped up on the Outside site so here you go:

After re-reading that maybe I should just stay where I am and not come back.
Hey, I've been updating the Bike Forecast every day and nobody seems to have noticed I'm not in New York City.  If I were to leave permanently, I wonder how long I could pretend to live there before getting found out.  As long as I refrained from using Strava, I'm guessing I could get away with the ruse for at least a few years--assuming I could keep the happiness from creeping into my prose, of course.  And hey, my life is already a series of ruses and lies, so what's one more?
I may have to seriously consider this....

BSNYC Friday Fun Quiz!

Before we begin, two things:

1) If you popped in yesterday looking for me, you may have noticed I wasn't here.  This is because it's been a bit of a hectic week, owing to the fact my four year-old managed to bust his collar bone the other day--and before you ask, no, he wasn't wearing a helmet.  Then again, he also wasn't riding a bike either.  See, here in the Bronx we have lots of rocky outcroppings and other interesting geological features, which of course the kiddies love to climb.  Unfortunately, while climbing one such outcropping, he managed to take a rather impressive fall.  Anyway, it's a simple fracture, he's healing well, and he's taking it all in stride.  (Oddly I think he minds it less than the splinter he got last week, so go figure.)  And yes, obviously he should have been wearing a rock-climbing helmet, so I fully admit I'm an irresponsible parent;

B) Speaking of kids, next week schools are closed for winter recess, so you probably won't see me here very much during that time, though I may pop in now and again.  (And I'm also planning to update the Bike Forecast, so feel free to swing by.)  In any case, figure the week of the 25th I'll be more present, what with schools back open and bones knitting and so forth.

Hey, I'm an artisanal father, deal with it.

And now, I'm pleased to present you with a quiz.  As always, study the item, think, and click on your answer.  If you're right you're right, and if you're wrong you'll learn how to stop your fixie...for old time's sake.

Thanks very much for reading, ride safe, and refrain from taking the quiz while cycling.


--Tan Tenovo







1) According to a guy with a beard, this country is a cycling paradise:

--Bhutan
--Malaysia
--Australia
--Cleveland






2) Fill in the blank:

"Brakes are for _______."

--stopping
--slowing
--woosies
--kids





(Your's truley getting a ticket for wearing Rapha and having a corny tattoo.)
3) After a cyclist was killed by a hit-and-run driver in midtown Manhattan, the NYPD ticketed a rider for which perfectly legal act?

--Riding barefoot
--Using a Bluetooth handlebar speaker
--Cycling without a helmet
--Excessive saddle-to-bar drop




4) What's happening here?

--Tubeless tire mishap
--Rolled through construction site
--Encountered a new type of road salt
--Dough-kneading is the new gravel-grinding





(Photo by On The Route Bicycles, I think...using it regardless because I lack integrity.)
5) I am practically oozing with integrity.

--True
--False




(Photo: Ted Bongiovanni)

6) What am I doing?

--Asking questions about how Consumer Reports tests helmets
--Preparing to catch a helmet being tossed to me by a robot
--Holding the imaginary baby I plan to subject to impact testing
--Just generally trying not to touch anything because I'm a huge germaphobe






7) I should probably take better care of my bicycles.

--True
--True


***Special "Awww, Isn't That Nice?"--Themed Bonus Video***


Adorbs.

Never Trust Anyone With A Clean Bike

Further to yesterday's post, while the Ironic Orange Julius Bike is the clear leader in my own personal cruddy drivetrain competition, thanks to yesterday's snowfall the Milwaukee is quickly closing in:


It may not look that bad from afar (poor rear fender line notwithstanding), but get a load of this:


I did lube it and wipe it down after riding so hopefully I can keep it working at least until the spring, at which point I'll lavish the bike with some new parts--which it deserves, because it's been a faithful and reliable companion during this warm and wet winter.  And of course I'll put some new tape on the bars while I'm at it:


I often think of bikes as jeans, and currently the Milwaukee is like that pair you wear every day because they're so broken in and comfortable, but you also know that some of those worn spots are bound to give way at any moment and it's only a matter of time before you look down and realize you're inadvertently exposing your "pants yabbies" on the subway.  Indeed, the brake pads are going from saltine thin to credit card thin and I'm probably just a couple more wet rides away from metal-on-metal contact.
But hey, brakes are for "woosies," right?
Of course they are.
Anyway, there's lots of dignity under all the grime:


In fact you could say the grime only makes it more dignified.

Unfortunately, none of this is true of its owner.

Bhutan Tenovo?

Like most Americans I live in a state of ignorance, and as such I had no idea Bhutan is apparently a cycling paradise:



Dragon Kings who ride bikes?  Epic Himalayan trails?  Sideburns???

A fervent bicycle culture has seen rapid development in Bhutan. Its northern border with Tibet runs along a treacherous seam of the Eastern Himalayan mountain range, which has historically protected the Switzerland-size country from outside influence and fortified it as one of the only nations in the world to never be colonized. This geographic and political isolation has long delayed Bhutan’s modernization. The cycling culture has grown thanks to the bike-crazy former Druk Gyalpo, or Dragon King, who spends his days cruising trail networks throughout the mountains. Bhutanese citizens idolize the royal family, often wearing lapel pins with the current king’s handsome sideburned portrait.

Suck on that, Portland.

Also, when was the last time anyone--adult or child--shouted something positive at you while you were riding your bike?

The road banked into a left turn, and I slowly coasted through, gazing down at the pavement. Just then, I was hit with an eruption of cheers coming from 100 schoolchildren posted on the side of the road. Spectators across the entire country had lined the course to cheer for the riders while handing us bananas and chocolate. It was the largest crowd of “cheering team” volunteers I’d yet to encounter, and their energy was colossal. In a sea of white khata scarves, the fanatic children chanted “Do your best! Do your best!” while running alongside me, clapping and screaming as if I were locked in a dead sprint.

Generally when I'm riding, kids latch on to some aspect of my appearance and use it as inspiration for ridicule.

Then on top of it all they have a "Gross National Happiness" index?!?

The term Gross National Happiness was coined in 1972 during an interview by a British journalist for the Financial Times at Bombay airport when the then king of Bhutan, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, said "Gross National Happiness is more important than Gross National Product."

Meanwhile, here in Canada's Underpants we have yet to discover the inverse relationship between cars and guns and staying alive.

Granted, in my old age I may be getting soft and wistful, but I admit to finding everything about the above article beguiling--apart from one glaring omission:

WHAT PRESSURE WAS HE RUNNING?!?!?
Also...altitude?  Believe it or not I did visit the Himalayas many years ago (I went here), and while it was stunningly beautiful I also felt dizzy and headachy the whole time due to the elevation.  (Probably because I flew there instead of getting acclimatized by riding there on a yak or something.)   I certainly didn't do any bicycle-cycling, but I did see people arriving by bike, which made me feel like a total "woosie:"

(Those were the days...)
That note of course came from my 2009 review of the Scattante Empire State Courier, about which two things are noteworthy:

1) False modesty aside it is arguably the greatest bike review ever written;
2) It may have taken 10 years, but now that Performance has gone bankrupt I'm getting that much closer to a perfect record of putting bike companies out of business.

Anyway, I'm totally gonna ride my fixie to Ladakh one day for some Himalayan hillbombing.

In the meantime however my rides are anything but adventurous.  For example, this past weekend I rode the Ironic Orange Julius Bike all the way from Queens to Brooklyn...and back again!


Yes, the Ironic Orange Julius Bike has worn many caps over the years.  When I had an actual job, it was my commuting bike.  When I went to Portland it was the bike I used to infiltrate the "bike culture."  And of course I've even cyclocrossed on it:


Incredibly I still managed to reproduce after that.

As for its current incarnation, the IOJB is now my velo-à-terre and lives in the bike room of my mother's building in Queens, because of course I must have unfettered access to a bicycle anyplace I regularly spend more than an hour at a time.  Plus, over the years, gentrification has unfurled such that my mother's abode is now just off the Great Hipster Silk Route.  So every so often when I'm there I like to hop on a bike and reconnect with the gentriverse, which is what I did the other day.  Here is the IOJB as it is now:


I'm not sure what happened last time I rode it, but this is was the state of the drivetrain when I headed out:


I'm relatively certain I've never changed the chain since building the bike up from a bare frame well over a decade ago.

Another quirk is that the rear brake arm is now sticking (I seem to have a problem with that, despite always liberally applying grease when installing stuff), which means every so often I've got to reach back and kind of flick it free.  Also, whenever I last changed the brake levers I forgot to put those little rubber donuts on the cable:


The upshot of this is that when the brake arm sticks there's tons of slack in it and it jingles against the top tube like a line on a flagpole in the wind.

Fortunately as you travel the Great Hipster Silk Route there's now a bike shop roughly every nine feet, and so I stopped in one for some lube which I applied liberally to the bicycle in various places.  But at this point I should probably just ditch the brakes altogether, since they are for "woosies" after all.  I certainly see no issue trusting my life to that rusty chain.

Hey, it's lasted this long.

Read My New Outside Column Then Get On Your Bike And Don't Stop Riding Until Monday!

You know what I love about America?  Completely unqualified people get to give parenting advice in mainstream media outlets:


And yes, I do realize that telling people not to bother with fancy bikes for their kids when my own kid rides an Islabikes is wantonly hypocritical, at least on the surface of it:


However, keep in mind I never said you shouldn't give them a fancy bike if it falls into your lap, so there you go.

Hey, I can't help it that the universe sees fit to bestow these lavish cycling gifts upon me.  And don't worry, I pay in other ways.  For while I may have some pretty sweet bikes at my disposal, I spend all my non-cycling time in sackcloth and ashes performing acts of self-flagellation:


(What, no helmets?)
It's true, just check my Strava.

Finally, before I go, I'm going to nudge you over to the Bike Forecast, only because it's important that you understand what we're dealing with at the moment.  Basically, a hit-and-run driver killed a guy on a bike in Midtown, and so after ticketing people on bikes for stuff that's not illegal now the NYPD is just outright tackling them.  Anyway, it's all in the post.

Love,


--Tan Tenovo

The Only Thing We Have To Fear Is Fear Itself, Which Is Why We're So Obsessed With Helmets

If I might redirect you briefly to the Bike Forecast, I feel compared to share with you the current state of affairs here in New York City.  Basically, in response to the death of a cyclist killed by a hit-and-run driver, the NYPD is ticketing people on bikes...for stuff that isn't even illegal:

For those of you not from NYC, the NYPD is apparently giving tickets for riding without a helmet--which is perfectly legal--because a cyclist was killed by a hit-and-run driver on Monday: https://t.co/SPPRIMW3Pn— Bike Snob NYC (@bikesnobnyc) February 6, 2019

This is far from the first time the NYPD has targeted cyclists for made-up infractions:

...by the way, there have been multiple instances of the NYPD ticketing for the non-offense of not wearing a helmet, including this notorious one, which is the origin of my penchant for spelling helmet as "helment:"https://t.co/iMCKzHGyOB— Bike Snob NYC (@bikesnobnyc) February 6, 2019

Yet oddly, as far as I know, no motorists have been summonsed for driving without wearing a flame-retardant suit or any other improvisational non-violations.

Of course, even the most staunch helmet apologists recognize that the police can't just go around ticketing you for stuff that's perfectly legal...well, most of them anyway:

Really astonishing to read the long line of replies to the police daring to issue tickets. Nobody cares to say: “Hey, just wear that damn helmet. It may save your life. “! #rememberjason https://t.co/x3t50G7qN8— IsraelCyclingAcademy (@yallaACADEMY) February 7, 2019

More wisdom from the professional peloton.

Speaking of helmets, recently I shared my profoundly insightful Outside column about why that recent scooter study is fucking stupid:


And now Consumer Reports has released its own...report:

As you know, I visited Consumer Reports not too long ago.  Not only was I grateful for their hospitality, but after touring their headquarters I'd trust the fuck out of them when it comes to which washing machine will clean my underpants more thoroughly or which phone is least likely to shatter when dropped.  Also, they've got a fantastic salad bar:


By the way, sorry for the non-sequitor, but my four year-old just typed this while I was in the bathroom:

dddddddddddddddddddddddddddffffff       bgtrdfghjuytrfdfggggggg                 ggtf45tyhbgfde34567'

One day my entire publishing empire will be his.

So right, Consumer Reports.  What I was saying is that, while they definitely know from TVs and stuff, I'm not sure they should be weighing in on transit.  Here are just a few troubling portions of their study--which of course opens with an anecdote:

As he set out, Grasso noticed construction ahead and steered from the side of the street up onto the sidewalk. As he maneuvered, the scooter hit a bump, and he crashed head-first into the ground. “The whole unit just flipped forward and smashed my face into the cement walkway,” he said. 

Yeah, I realize this is going to sound victim-blamey, and I apologize, but YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO RIDE THE SCOOTER ON THE SIDEWALK. 

Grasso’s story is far from isolated. He’s one of an estimated 1,500 people across the country injured in an e-scooter-related crash since late 2017, according to a Consumer Reports spot tally from major hospitals and other public agencies, such as police departments, we contacted in recent weeks.

Sucky for sure, but is that even a lot?  Consider:

According to the American Association for Justice (AAJ), "for every accident that happens on an elevator, there will be 18 accidents suffered on escalators."

The AAJ also states that "escalator-related injuries and deaths in the U.S. have been steadily rising every year." In 1990, there were just under 5,000 escalator injuries and deaths. By 2000, that number had doubled, with over 10,100 people hurt or killed on escalators. In 2013, there were 12,260 reported escalator injuries and deaths in the United States.

Of course none of this means much without knowing the total number of scooter trips--which of course they don't:

CR’s analysis is limited, to be sure. Without average trip lengths in each city, for example, it’s impossible to calculate the rate of incidents. A recent study from Portland’s Bureau of Transportation found the city’s injury rate to be 2.2 per 10,000 miles traveled and 2.5 per 10,000 e-scooter trips taken. The study noted that figure “may not be related to rental e-­scooters, so the actual rate is likely lower.”

So in the absence of anything truly alarming let's just worry about helmets...

Experts told CR they’re concerned about the availability of helmets, especially when considering the nature of the ride-share business model, which allows anyone with a smartphone to rent a scooter from wherever the last rider leaves it, often from the side of the road.

And helmets...

“Who’s carrying a helmet with them?” says Oscar Guillamondegui, M.D., medical director of Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s trauma ICU. Guillamondegui estimates treating about 20 patients for scooter injuries. “I have only seen one person wearing a helmet. And that was my son, because I demanded it.”

And of course helmets:

Part of the reason for the low helmet use, some medical experts suggest, is that riding a scooter is a decision made in a flash, whereas riding a bike is more deliberative. A study published last December on Seattle’s bikeshare program found 90 percent of cyclists wore helmets when riding their personal bikes; only 20 percent of bike share riders did the same.

So basically, Americans are making somewhere between one and a gazillion scooter trips a year, some of them are getting hurt, so in conclusion everyone should wear a helmet.

I'm fine with that just as long as we extend the same warning to people who ride escalators.

Otherwise, I'm automatically discarding any study that includes repeated use of the words "concern" and "helmet."

Begrudging the Sludge

As I mentioned recently, last week the icy perineum of the Polar Vortex descended upon the New York City area.  By the weekend however it was beginning to relent, and on Sunday I headed out for a ride:


While I've joked about using the Renovo as a rain bike (by the way, the creaking is still there despite my recent cassette swap), the truth it that it's my trusty Milwaukee that sees me through the sloppier end of the weather spectrum, and for this reason it spends most of the winter be-fendered and skinny-tired.

Even after weeks spent alternating between a crabon bike and an artisanal wooden bike (and despite being due for some new shifty bits in the not-too-distant future due to the aforementioned sloppy conditions to which it is frequently subjected) the Milwaukee was a delight to ride.  I also congratulated myself for my choice with each pedal stroke, for between the melting ice and snow and the liberal application of road salt the roads were a real mess.  Indeed, I daresay I felt a bit smug.

See, my ride took me on perhaps the most heavily-trafficked Fred corridor in the entire Western Hemisphere, that being Route 9W.  And because the weather had finally broken, thousands of Zwift-addled Freds and Fredericas were out savoring their first outdoor rides in quite some time.  The thing was, 9W was even more heavily salted than it was heavily Fredded, and as group after group streamed by I marveled at the fact that not a single rider was astride a bicycle with fenders.  "How is it," I wondered, "that not one of these riders has a winter bike?"  It seemed to me that for the price of the crabon wheelsets all these riders were subjecting to such foul conditions in February for some reason they could have instead purchased themselves fully-equipped winter bikes and kept their Fred chariots in pristine condition for the spring.

Then I realized that this is New York and maybe all those fancy crabon bikes were their winter bikes, which was kind of sobering.  (And after realizing that I also realized that for many years I too only had one bicycle on which to do all my racing and "training" and regular riding, and that plenty of old fusspots probably thought the same thing about me as I churned through the salt and slush to Nyack on my fenderless bike all winter.)

Anyway, not only was 9W more heavily salted than I'd ever seen it, but the consistency of that salt was also different from any I'd ever encountered in decades of riding there.  Not only did it stick to my bottom bracket shell like confectioner's sugar:


But when mixed with water it turned into something with the consistence of Pillsbury cookie dough:


In fact, as route 9W is in New Jersey, I wondered if mandating the use of edible road salt might have been one of Chris Christie's final acts as governor:


Fortunately, the George Washington Bridge bike path itself was rather wet, which meant that the road spray went a long way towards rinsing the sludge off the bike on my return trip to New York.

As for the Renovo, I took a spin on it yesterday in the gloriously freakish springlike weather we're currently having:


The creaking, as I mentioned, is still there.  The only thing I can think of is that I left out a cassette spacer or something.  (It's hard to keep track of which type of cassette requires which type of spacer, these days but I'm fairly certain that an 11-speed cassette on an 11-speed freehub requires no spacers, especially since both wheel and cassette in this case are from Shimano.)

I guess I could always stuff my ears full of road sludge.

New Outside Column!

Ostensibly this is a bike blog, so here's a column about scooters!


It's sort of fascinating how, whenever a new non-car transit mode presents itself, the most pressing issue for policy makers and researchers is: "How do we make people wear little foam hats while they use it?"
Well, that and preserving car parking.
If we could travel back in time to 1925 and pass a nationwide motorist helmet law we'd be infinitely better off because nobody would drive.
It's the "killing baby Hitler" of bike advocacy.