As one of cycling’s preeminent retrogrouches, it is recumbent upon me to rail against…well, everything.
That is the AI’s take on “A pennyfarthing rider ranting about how safety bicycles are ruining cycling” and I’d say it really nailed the assignment, right down to the notch cut into the cardboard sign to provide adequate tire clearance. (Granted, I did imagine the scene taking place in the late 19th century, not today, but still.)
But there’s more to retrogrouchery than just rejecting stuff. There’s also embracing old stuff that you would have railed against when it was new. Then there’s the most important aspect of all, which is creating an entire identity around that old stuff.
What do I mean by that? Well, consider yesterday’s ride:
Which was downright bucolic, right down to this deer doing the whole Homer-Simpson-receding-into-the-background thing:
See?
And yes, I am making good on my non-promise to ride only this bike forevermore:
Or at least I’ve ridden it twice in a row.
Anyway, I’ve had the Roaduno for a little under two years now, having received it in September-ish of Two Thousand and Twenty-Four. I that time, I have ridden it more or less as it came out of the box–that is to say singlespeed, with Choco bars:
I have ridden it as a double:
Then a as a double with drop bars:
Then as a triple with drop bars:
And now I’ve batted around the order and turned it back into a singlespeed (though the drop bars are staying):
While the fact that the bike is so easy to tinker with virtually guarantees I’ll continue to do so, I really shouldn’t, because I’d say that as of now it’s as close to ideal as I could possibly get it, and the key to it all can be expressed in three words:
- Buy
- Oh
- Pace
I’m only three-quarters joking, too, because I’m now convinced that the Bee-oh-pa-chay chainring really does meaningfully improve the singlespeeding experience:
I’ll leave the technical justification to fellow Biopace apologist Sheldon Brown, but I think the ‘Pace is particularly well-suited to pushing too big of a gear, which you invariably find yourself doing on a road-oriented singlespeed bicycle anyplace that isn’t completely flat.
And yes, there was a time when I was ashamed of Biopace:
In fact, back in the 20th century, I quickly de-Biopaced my Trek 1200 (the original one I had backk then, not its Normcore Doppelgänger), not because I didn’t like the way it worked, but because it was clear to me it was completely uncool, and if I had a blog when Biopace was introduced I’m sure I would have roundly (well, not roundly, they’re not round, are they?) mocked it.
Even today Biopace remains uncool–even though the gravelistas are all over it:
“But today’s oval chainrings are totally different from Biopace!,” cry the Gravel Freds.
Yeah, keep telling yourself that. If your chainring is lumpy, it’s Biopace. I don’t care if the lumps are oriented differently or not. Saying these aren’t Biopace is like saying you’re not a carnivore because you only eat your hamburger for dessert.
All of this is to say that the so-called “alt” cyclists are constantly reclaiming old stuff (how alt can you be when you look just as alike as the Freds do?), leaving the rest of us with next to nothing–and so I’m planting my flag in Biopace, damn it!
Never mind, I’m too late, someone’s already selling stickers.
Okay, fine, then I’m planting my flag in bonded aluminum Treks:
[Wait, where’s the Biopace???]
And 23mm tires.
But yes, I do think the Biopace works well for a singlespeed. The only issues are aesthetic: the chainring itself looks wonky, and there’s a little extra slack in the chainring, though the chain stays on just fine and most people tension their chains way too much anyway. And speaking of singlespeeds, could there be better terrain for one than this?
I can even get up most of my usual paved climbs on the one-speed Roaduno just fine, though I do have to plan my route so that I’m going down this sort of thing and not up it:
And no, I did not drop my chain.
Finally, further to yesterday’s post, while the most dangerous thing about cycling may be the drivers, the second-most dangerous thing is losing your own mind:
Yes, every once in awhile a cyclist completely snaps:
Caught on camera blocking a stream of cars in Brighton, the helmeted cyclist could be heard yelling, “This lane’s closed, sorry. This lane’s closed,” per a video clip posted to social media by digital creator Paul Pasquarosa.
Asked why he was blocking traffic, the cyclist gestured angrily at the bike lane, where a truck appeared to be parked.
A wise person once wrote about this phenomenon, and his point is an important one, because you really don’t want to wind up like this:
If nothing else, the fact he’s standing safely in the middle of the street does undermine his message somewhat.