Everybody knows the famous like from "Casablanca" that goes, "Just when I think I'm out, they pull me back in:" Wait, no, that wasn't from "Casablanca." I think it was from "Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult:" Either way, I always think of that line whenever I ride a road bike. Basically I'll spend... Continue Reading →

Wow, so this is it, mechanical road shifting is basically over: Shimano’s recent launch of its next-generation Dura-Ace Di2 R9200 and Ultegra Di2 R8100 electronic road groupsets was bundled with a rather unexpected and especially bitter pill: the news that the much-beloved Ultegra mechanical was being discontinued. This is a big, big deal! For years, we've all... Continue Reading →

This morning I headed out for a quick ride to the forbidding Trails Behind The Mall: I was clad head-to-toe in fancy clothing from Vulpine... ...right down to my socks: This sort of merino extravagance is the semi-professional bike blogger equivalent of attending the Met Gala in a dress bearing the phrase "Tax The Rich,"... Continue Reading →

We all know what happened 20 years ago last Saturday. However, not everybody knows that just two months later, Flight 587 crashed in the Rockaways, killing all 260 people on board. Here is the memorial, where I happened to find myself this past weekend: As fraught as things sometimes seem these days, for a time... Continue Reading →

By way of concluding my tedious post-mortem on my Jones-themed vacation, I feel it is recumbent upon me to address the controversial subject of disc brakes--or, as Craigslist sellers call them, "dick breaks:" Yeah, yeah, I realize that says "Disk breaks" but the seller obviously made a typo. While disc brakes have only recently become... Continue Reading →

Ah yes, it's good to be back... https://twitter.com/bikesnobnyc/status/1435338875669565443?s=20 I'm going to go ahead and assume the vehicle operator parked on the sidewalk because the charging port is on the driver's side, and I'm also going to posit three possible explanations for this: Years of gas station conditioning led him (or her, but we all know... Continue Reading →

While many people may be content to plow the same furrow day in and day out, there are those among us who simply refuse to be constrained, and who push relentlessly against any and all boundaries, whether they be physical, mental, or even geographical in nature. I, of course, am a member of the latter... Continue Reading →

*** UPDATE: Whaddya know, Outside just published my latest column: TLDR; this city is a hole. *** Well, the end summer is nigh, which means it's time for my vacation--since I work so damn hard and all: Therefore, you can expect to see very little of me in the next two weeks, though I wouldn't... Continue Reading →

In my capacity as a semi-professional bike blogger I recently received an invitation on behalf of [REDACTED] to a media event for their new [REDACTED], which I can't share with you yet because it's under embargo and I signed papers acknowledging that if I do so I'll be imprisoned or killed. However, I can say... Continue Reading →

We're now living through what will soon be remembered as "peak gravel." Don't believe me? Well, not only are they pushing suspension forks for gravel bikes, but Campagnolo of all companies is also offering gravel-specific socks: I miss when Campagnolo used to be good at naming stuff. Chorus, Record, Athena...those names exuded class. Now we've... Continue Reading →