It's true, I can't think of any bike-related tech that's emerged during my lifetime that is even remotely as revolutionary as bike share.
Well, okay, maybe the CoolHead:
Hey, that's fine if he wants to sell the idea of pouring water in your helmet, but how the FUCK do you do something like this and not use the tagline "Cooler Heads Prevail"?!?
Sorry, for the strong language, but that's some fucking bullshit.
Speaking of my lifetime, I've spent 11 years of it curating this blog. Yep, that's right, yesterday was the 11th anniversary of this blog:
I'd planned to write a big post about this milestone full of all sorts of introspection and reflection, but since Outside had just published my Eroica story I instead dedicated yesterday's post to that trip. Here, by the way, are the Mead and the Marin side-by-side:
How far we have or haven't come.
So instead I decided to curate the reflectrospection post today, but as it happens I recently took delivery of a badass new test bike:
If it spent one more day in the box my eager test pilot was going to kill me, so I spent the morning getting it together. Islabikes sent both road and cyclocross tires and to start we went with the roadies. They also sent fenders, a spare tube, and a set of hex keys for assembly (the BSNYC-branded grease is mine):
And if that weren't enough they also threw in some tires for me to try:
Plus these totally pro name transfers:
I assume one was for me but he insisted on using both:
And who am I to say no?
I figure I've got a few more years at best before he refuses to be associated with me in any way so I might as well enjoy it.
Anyway, it's a shockingly nice kid's bike and I almost resent him for it, even though I did have some sweet Skyway Tuff Wheel II mags when I was his age. We've only done a brief shakedown ride so far, and I must say he's taken to the drop bars very quickly, which makes me concerned he may be a roadie:
And before you point out the obvious:
- Yes, he's not wearing a helmet to ride his new bike around the freaking block. Do you wear a helmet for short test rides? (Actually, if you're the kind of person who is inclined to point out such things you probably do.)
- Yes, I left the pie plate on. In this house you earn the right to lose your pie plate, goddamn it! And how do you earn it? Either by out-sprinting the old man or else by figuring out how to use a chain whip and doing it yourself. (Also I didn't feel like it, but maybe I'll take it off when we upgrade to a titanium cassette.)
Rest assured we'll report back after we've put in some proper saddle time.
In any case, the bike is now together, but alas the 11th anniversary blog post remains unwritten, and I suspect it always will. What is there to say really? When I started this blog I had a real job, a flip phone and no kids, and now here I am watching my progeny discover the joys of descending in the drops. If I could do it all over again I wouldn't do a single thing differently, except maybe for making fun of David Byrne less (hey, he didn't have to go out of his way to promote cycling, he could have just sat back and counted his "Psycho Killer" royalties). Also, I'd probably have skipped calling myself "Bike Snob NYC" and gone with "Wildcat Rock Machine" from the get-go. But if this blog and its original name hadn't netted me a trip to Gothenburg, Sweden I'd never have spotted the fabled Rock Machine in the first place so there you go:
In closing, let's all take a moment and reflect on my outsized contribution to the world of cycling. Oh sure, I may update this blog a bit less assiduously than I did in its heyday, but I've also created a vast media empire, including a weekly column for Outside, a daily blog for Transportation Alternatives, and, well, that's it really. But hey, I outlasted Michael Ball and Rock Racing, and isn't that what really counts?
You're goddamn right.
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