Almost forgot again that I have a blog. I had drafted a post back in May, but I never finished it, so it won't see the light of day. Basically it was a reminder that May was National Bike Month, including Bike to Work Day. I hope you celebrated appropriately.
I bike commuted on Bike to Work Day. There were more people out on their bikes that morning, which is always a treat. I followed this guy for awhile and then we traded the lead a couple times before I turned off at my office.
It was my first commute on new Schwalbe (rhymes with Alba) Marathon tires I got for the San Diego Century ride, which was the very next day. It turned out to be my fastest commute to work, but I'm not sure it was the superior rolling resistance of the tires or the adrenalin of playing "I'm not really trying to race you, but I sorta am" with the fellow pictured above. I didn't even stop at any of the sponsored pit stops this year. I was running a few minutes behind and I just wanted to get to work.
In a wise decision not to tire myself out for the 66 mile ride the next day, I arranged to get a ride home with my in-laws. I want to devote an entire post to the San Diego Century ride, so I'll save that for another day (hopefully soon).
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I don't want to quit just yet, though...
I do want to mention that I took a test ride of a Globe Live 2.
Globe, for those unaware, is a spinoff brand of Specialized that "specializes" (see what I did there?) in urban bikes. It's like the Scion to Toyota except Specialized bikes are not as boring as Toyota cars are and the Globe bikes did not originate as funky cars sold in the Japanese market. Anyway, you get my drift.
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| photo credit: Globe Bikes |
The Live (I think it's pronounced like "give" - short i, not "hive" - long i) is a nice town bike with a sturdy integrated front cargo basket/rack.
The "2" is the mid-level trim and comes equipped with a Shimano Nexus 8-speed internal gear hub instead of a traditional derailleur gear mechanism. Shifting is provided by a twist-grip shifter. This is a nice drivetrain, especially for new cyclists. Simple, wide gear range, and you can even shift at a stop. It was with this ease-of-use in mind that I was looking at this bike. It has a nice upright position and cool extras, too, like color-matched fenders, a bell and a double-leg kickstand. I thought it would make a nice bike for my wife. So far, she's not really interested, but that has nothing to do with this specific bike.
The mixte frame is sweet looking, too. That's the one I wanted. For her.
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| photo credit: Flickr/shebicycles |
