Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Curse you, Mongoose!


During my teens and early 20's, I rode a bike-boom era road bike. I abandoned cycling (and my bike) in my mid-20's around the same time I started driving a car, and I was too occupied with Alfa Romeos, rock bands, and such to bother with bikes.

When I neared 30, I longed for a bike again. Mountain bikes were the main staple of sub-$500 bikes, and I entertained the notion that I would ride trails. Never mind that in suburban northern Virginia (Arlington, at that), there aren't too many opportunities for off-road. The marketing of mountain bikes hooked me.

So I hied myself down to my LBS,  Big Wheel Bikes in Old Town Alexandria. I tried out several brands, and settled on a dark green Mongoose Hilltopper. The store clerk fitted me to a smaller size than I was accustomed to, due to it being a mountain bike. Still, this particular bike felt like it rode better than the others I tried - at least, it did for rides around the block of the store. Looking back, I sure wish I've chosen a different brand.

I wound up riding the Mongoose pretty much the same way as I had ridden my Gitane - for commuting, and for road and paved trail rides. I believe I went off-road one time, not counting the C&O Canal path. Once I rode the W&OD path from Arlington to Dulles, and back. On the stock fat tires. That hurt, mostly my shoulders and neck. When I lived in DC, I rode the Rock Creek path and Beach Drive often. Again, any ride that was more than 15 miles became agony for my shoulders.

So I've tried several times to sell the bike, but Mongoose as a brand is now totally devalued due to their move into cheap department store bikes, and hideous ones at that.  The Hilltopper is actually a decent, though not great, bike, but Mongoose is such a dirty word in the bike community that its value is considerably less than an equivalent 1990's Trek, Giant, etc. Mongoose is now synonymous with Free Spirit, Ross, and Huffy. Maybe worse! Thanks a lot, Mongoose.




Thursday, July 10, 2008

Alice Swanson

It's been a few days since Alice Swanson died in Dupont Circle when she was hit by a garbage truck while riding her bike. There was a ghost bike memorial for her last night. Wish I could have gone, but I was with my daughter at her swim meet.

The way she was struck while going forward across a street when the truck turned right reminds me of a time I was jogging along Route 1 in Alexandria. A guy in a pickup turned from the main road onto a side street right as I left the sidewalk and stepped onto the pavement of that side road. I was going forward, he turned right without yielding to me, nearly clipping me. What's really incredible is that he was coming up behind me, so it's not as if I were in a blind spot. And then he stopped his truck and started yelling at me. He seriously thought I was in the wrong. Where do people get the idea that their car is allowed to go anywhere they point it, with no consideration for what may be in the way? "Get out of my way" is the credo here.

When the Washington Post published the initial story of the accident, there were many comments left by hateful and/or frustrated motorists who felt bikes have no place on roads. Of course there was the common complaint that cyclists are scofflaws, running red lights and such, similar to what Dave Moulton referred to in his post "Cyclists and POBs" (People on Bikes). Moulton believes that POBs are a problem, as they are not trained in proper bike handling and rules-following, therefore creating the animosity between drivers and cyclists. But a major bone of contention I hear from drivers is that cyclists make motorists slow down. And I'm not talking about the 2-abreast cyclists. Drivers get irritated when they approach a cyclist. There's not much a cyclist can do about this other than ride as safely and predictably as possible while observing the rules of the road. Even doing this, drivers are going to get mad at us. We're an inconvenience to them.

The other theme in the Post's comments was how dangerous cycling is, and how we should just give it up due to the dangers. I'll admit that when I went for a ride yesterday I was hyper-aware, even paranoid, due to the fatal accident in DC. But no one commenting on the Post's story picked up this line: "Traffic fatalities have claimed 20 lives this year in the District." Two of them were cyclists. It doesn't mention pedestrians, who likely are among those 20 lives lost, but the message to me is clear: don't think you're so safe in your car while you scoff at the "foolish" cyclist.

I'm really sorry Ms. Swanson died. I didn't know her, but I'll bet a lot of people are really going to miss her.

Sunday, July 06, 2008

Old Man Biking

I wish I'd had my camera. I was indoors and happened to look out the window and spotted an older gentleman in a suit, riding a sensible, regular bike, slowly. On the sidewalk, nonetheless. His bike was a newer cruiser-style model, with full fenders, a chain guard, and rear derailleur. He carried a briefcase on the rear rack. Given his attire and the hour, he probably was returning home from church. Now, he did also carry a backpack on his back, which is one thing I wish people would abandon. We are not hiking. Put it on the bike.

This may seem uneventful to the reader, but bear in mind that here in the DC suburbs of Virginia it is an unusual sight. Most adults on bikes in my vicinity are either spandex-clad on road bikes, or on mountain bikes with the requisite backpack. The Hispanic immigrants in the neighborhood often ride department store mountain bikes and hang their plastic grocery bags on either handlebar end. 

In Old Town Alexandria, I'll rarely see someone on an old Raleigh 3-speed, and sometimes I'll see some retro-grouch (I love this term, and count myself among them) on his touring bike complete with fenders, barcons, panniers, and reflective vest on his way to work. But the other day, I saw a guy on an all-chrome cruiser with apehangers! Then today, this gentleman in a suit on a regular bike. Looks like some people realize that bikes can be more than competition and fitness machines. Get around in style!

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

I'm not dead!

Hard to believe how time flies and certain hobbies get neglected when there's an old house, small kids, and the minutia of life to take care of.

Seems I've spent more time reading about and looking at bikes on the net than actually riding them... shame. I did get the Trek 700 all painted (Rustoleum black) and rideable, but it didn't take long to find out that the headset was shot. Today I finally ordered a Tange headset online. I was hoping, but not expecting, to find one locally. Big Wheel Bikes in Old Town didn't have them. When I called Spokes, the guy was nice and polite but must have been shocked anyone would be asking for a 1 inch threaded headset. Like he said, they hardly ever hear a request for one and only occasionally have one in a drawer somewhere.

Velo-Orange carries a nice alloy Tange Passage, but I opted to save money and found another seller with the steel version. This bike, after all, is my FreeCycle find and I'm trying to keep costs low. I also managed to find a Wald chainguard on eBay with a BIN that had been sitting for several days. After waffling a bit, I went ahead and clicked. I'd prefer to have a close-to-full chain case (bike has a rear derailleur), but I'm not going to wait around hoping one comes my way.  I wonder how hard it would be to make one?

I also signed up at the Slow Bicycle Movement.