You know when you go to overhaul a freehub and the pawls, springs, and bearings go flying all over the place, never to be seen again? Well that seems to be what’s happened to me with the week. However, I did manage to get out on the bike today, so it wasn’t a total loss–for me, that is:
Once again I rode down to Central Park, where you can always count on the roadway being clear après snow, and where as a bonus there are multiple bathrooms. (It can be hard to find a place to relieve yourself in Manhattan, at least if you’re the modest sort like I am. If you’re immodest you just go between the parked cars.)
For those of you who are local and are wondering about the conditions of the Hudson River Greenway, here’s how far I got before I was forced to turn around:
However, I should note that there was a snow-clearing crew actively working, so maybe you’ll be able to ride it this weekend. As for conditions on the portions of the path south of the George Washington Bridge, I have no idea, because I didn’t want to risk having to turn around again. So you’re on your own there.
In addition to the winter cycling oasis that is Central Park (in winter it’s a cycling oasis, but the rest of the year it’s a Fred-ridden hellhole), I was also grateful for my winter boots, even if they do look kind of funny with tights:
Then again everything looks funny with tights, because tights are inherently funny-looking. In fact, even though I’ve been wearing Lycra for decades without even thinking about it, now that I’ve become partial to the whole jorts ‘n jeans lifestyle I suddenly feel naked in it. (“Nude with boots,” if you will.) And yet plenty of well-to-do suburbanites feel perfectly comfortable driving around in their Range Rovers while wearing UGG boots and yoga pants, go figure.
Anyway, yeah, I may not cut a particularly dashing roadie profile while wearing them, but they’re way better than shoe covers.
I’d also be remiss if I didn’t praise my Kool Stop brake pads in the salmon colorway, an invaluable consumable a commenter also mentioned appreciatively after my last post:
They’ve greatly improved the wet-weather braking on my rain bike, which is important, because I am the Classic Cycle Old Crap Test Pilot after all:
Plus, I need to be able to stop on a dime just in case I have a run-in with Your Clit:
I mean, is there really any other way to read that?
Of course there isn’t.