The Favored Son

As my bicycle stable has, well, stabilized for the time-being, I'm finding that I do not love all my children just the same. I find myself drawn to the Huffeigh even for errands that might better belong to either the Columbia or the Schwinn.

Two nights ago, I ran to the market for beer, a half-gallon of milk, and one of those little watermelons. It ended up being quite a heavy little load of stuff. Instead of taking the Columbia or the Schwinn, which are better-equipped to take this kind of load, I couldn't resist the stately allure of the Huffeigh, with its new Brooks saddle and cork grips and bell and gleaming black paint. I was a little surprised to find that the whole disproportionately heavy load fit quite nicely into the little basket I've mounted on the rear rack, and I had no trouble at all.

The bikes have also fallen into clear roles: the Columbia is the work-horse, the grocery bike, the long-hauler. It sits me forward a bit more, the saddle is higher, and I feel like I pedal it more efficiently -- better for hard work. The Runwell, which has been idle for some time awaiting new tires, is always going to be the older gentleman who doesn't get out much, I'm afraid. And the Schwinn, well, the Schwinn is quite comfortable, but ungainly and heavy.

But the Huffeigh is just the right combination of all three: it can carry a load, it's sufficiently old, and it's very comfortable. I just like it, is all. So now we're about to go on a picnic, and although I probably should take one of the other bikes, I think it's going to be the Huffeigh again.

What? A Relief!

Putting the Wald rear rack/baskets on the Columbia marked the last major task associated with the bikes in my stable (for a while, knock wood), and I must say, I'm incredibly relieved. If you follow this blog, you know that I've been working on at least one project now since July 2015. First, the Runwell, then a short break, then the Huffeigh, then recently the Schwinn, with the Mundo thrown in there in the middle (the Mundo is still a project, but a very slow one, so I don't count that).

As much as I really do enjoy doing refurbishment or restoration work, I also get tired of never having things finished. I'm really looking forward now to actually riding all of my bikes, rather than fiddling with bearings, hubs, spokes, paint, etc.

On that note, I'm announcing a slight change in the direction of the blog. There are three words in the masthead of my blog: "Recycle, Refurbish, Ride!" I've focused a lot on the first two, and now I'd like to focus more on the third, which I think is just as signficant. It's easy when you're working on old bikes to get caught up in what I call the "fetishization" of all of the little bits, while forgetting the actual point of the whole endeavor, which is to RIDE THE BIKE!

I believe it is important to show that refurbished or restored old bikes can and should be ridden, not just polished up, tucked away in a garage, and trotted out for a ride down the block now and again. Old bikes should not just be toys for grownups to play with, they should be real working machines, as they were intended. My task now is going to be to show my old bikes in everyday use: grocery runs, commuting, a jaunt to the post office, a picnic in the park, whatever. I don't have a "modern" bike to ride (the youngest bike we own is my wife's Schwinn Suburban, which is a 1977) so everything I do by bike is done on an old bike.

The point is, you can live a bicycle lifestyle without spending a ton of cash and riding some carbon fiber monstrosity. I've never paid more than $100 for a bicycle (excluding parts), and don't intend to anytime soon. All it takes is a willingness to learn some new skills, the time to invest in the work, and a large dose of patience. What you're left with is not only the gratification of a finished product, but also a perfectly sound, functional bicycle (or five).

Bayshore Bikeway

I frequently encounter the perception that old bikes are only good for short runs to the grocery store or the park, and that they're too fragile or slow or clunky to take on longer rides. This couldn't be farther from the truth, and especially so with old 3-speeds, many of which were built to be touring bikes, not just city bikes or leisure bikes. I proved this point today (without really specifically intending to) by taking my 1971 Columbia Sports III on its longest ride yet, about 30 miles round trip.

My route was primarily the Bayshore Bikeway, which you can find detailed with a map here. I packed a picnic, the camera, and lots of water (I sweat a lot) into the rear baskets and set out. There is something so normal, and yet so special about making a trip like this by bicycle. In the car, it would be a chore, but on the bike, it's an adventure.

First, I had to get downtown, which is where the route begins. The best way from my 'hood is to take Park Boulevard down to Broadway. It's mostly downhill and fairly wide. I turned west on Broadway and followed it all the way to the Broadway pier, where the trail starts beside Harbor Drive in a lovely bayfront park. Except for a few taxis whose turn signals apparently didn't work (grrrr), it was an uneventful ride through downtown.

Most of the route down Harbor Drive has a bike lane, if you could call it that. I might as well have been off-road. Just terrible. The photo below shows one of the better stretches.

Anyway, you take Harbor all the way down to National City, then you get on the Sweetwater Bike Path, a separated path with some pretty cool bike infrastructure running under I-5. I wish I'd taken a photo. From there, it's pretty much all seperated bike path down through Chula Vista and Imperial Beach and around the southern tip of San Diego Bay. The highlight for me was the desalination plant with evaporating ponds and giant mounds of salt.

Then, up the Silver Strand on another seperated bike path all the way into the city of Coronado. The path along here is separated from the beach by the roadway and a fence, but in the Silver Strand State Park, there are several tunnels that will take you under to the ocean/beach side.

In the city of Coronado itself, wonder of wonders, is a bike boulevard, with a fully separated, landscaped, and perfectly maintained two-way bikeway. There were so many cyclists on it that I couldn't stop to take a photo (and my panda skills are zilch). I was almost able to imagine what it must be like in Amsterdam or Copenhagen. I wish I had reason to ride this way more often, because it's really wonderful.

Finally, I caught the ferry from Coronado back to the Broadway pier, fought my way east on Broadway (it wasn't that bad, really, but traffic was pretty heavy), then back up Park, which was way less fun going up than down. Total cost for the five and half-hour outing: $3.25 for the ferry, and no worries about filling up the tank, finding parking, finding the right exit off the freeway, etc.

I got passed by a lot of spandex-clad speedsters on very expensive bikes, but it was very clear that they were on a different sort of outing than I was. They were on a "bike ride," while I was just using my bike to get to a new place I hadn't been yet. I saw a few like me, but not many, so while it was cool to see such amazing bicycle infrastructure being well-used, it was a little disheartening to see that the bikeway as transportation idea still has a long way to go around here. Probably it had a lot to do with when I went, and I bet I'd see some commuters if I was there on a weekday morning. All in all, a very excellent day.

Bad Blogging, Grocery Shopping

Urg, I've been (and will continue to be) busy lately, so the blogging is slowing down, even as the riding is picking up. That, and I'm trying to spend less time in front of the computer. I wanted to check in, though, and post about the first real grocery run on the Columbia. I packed a picnic into the rear baskets a couple of weeks ago, but this was the first genuine trip to the grocery store. Smooth as silk, no worries at all.

My typical grocery day involves two stores, and the car. This is a weekly trip. Today, I did the first store in the car, which is kind of necessary (okay, well, at least very convenient), and the second on the bike. Even though it's not much, it feels great to have eliminated at least part of the driving. And now you know what brand of toilet paper we buy. Too much information? Nah.

Another Sunday Ride

I didn't make it on the weekly Down Townies Ride today, but my wife and I took a slow afternoon jaunt to the park. One of the many treats of our neighborhood is that the alleys have all kinds of lovely blooming things overhanging people's back fences. A slow amble down several blocks worth of such alleys and we're at Balboa Park, which is itself a city treasure. We sat in the sun for a couple of hours, I did some reading, my wife did some embroidery, and then we headed back home. Here's a few photos. Even though my wife's eyes are closed in the last one, we both still like it. Lady looks good on a bike!

Super Sunday

Rather than ignore the Super Bowl at home, we decided to ignore it at the park with a game of Novelty Flying Disk and enjoyed the extraordinarily nice SoCal February weather. I won't say how warm it was, but I busted out the cycling knickers and shoes without socks.