Bicycling

I really enjoyed this article in Men’s Journal about a ride by Erick Cedeño to retrace a route ridden by 20 Black soldiers in 1897. I didn’t know that the U.S. Army had ever experimented with a bicycle troop, but apparently they did and assigned a very tough task to some soldiers stationed at Fort Missoula, MT. Mr. Cedeño’s ride sounds very difficult but nothing compared to what those soldiers must have experienced.

It’s really nice living about a mile away from the bike trails at O-hill. I can easily get on Ruby and go for a nice 45 minute mountain bike ride that covers about 7 miles and 800 feet of climbing. I’ve been trying to get out at least a couple times a week while the weather is nice. Since the trails up there dry really well (with a few exceptions), I should be able to keep it going in the winter.

Wired has an article about how some ski resorts are giving up on skiing and moving towards other uses of the mountain - most notably mountain biking. On this, I’m ahead of the curve. I used to ski a decent amount every season about 20-30 years ago. It wasn’t terribly expensive and a day at the slopes was great fun. Then it trickled down to maybe a time or two a season as it got much more expensive and it seemed dicey weather wise (purely anecdotal - I have no idea if it actually snows less than it used to in the mountains).

I rode the 50 mile WTF yesterday in Nelson County. It’s a great ride. Beautiful scenery. Some big climbs and descents. Light traffic. My experience was a bit star-crossed yesterday. I hit the deck in the first three miles because I wasn’t paying enough attention to the road and went into a turn way too hot. Luckily, I was able to just ditch it on the grassy shoulder and escaped with some scrapes and road rash but didn’t tear my shorts or anything.

I rode up to the Pond Mountain Game Lands on Saturday. It was a brutal ride with the last couple of miles involving a bit of hike-a-bike due to the steep road and very loose gravel. I’d get some momentum off a switchback and then hit loose gravel and spin out. I might have been able to do it on a mountain bike with the wider tires but the 12 mile ride out there from Lansing would have been tough.

One of the best things I’ve added to my bike gear collection (in addition to some great bikes) is a Garmin Varia radar. I’ve never been that successful riding with mirrors. When I’ve tried to use them on my bar ends, they just seem to vibrate too much for me to see approaching traffic clearly. If I watch the mirror intently, I’m not looking ahead at the road, which is a recipe for disaster car or no.

I found some loose change under a couch cushion and decided to get myself a new mountain bike. After a lot of deliberation, I went with a Trek Top Fuel 8. Although I got it on sale, it was still quite a lot of change but the reviews were very solid and I loved the red color when I saw it in person at Blue Ridge Cyclery. I took it for a test ride and pretty much knew I was going home with it.

Since we moved to Charlottesville, I’ve been riding with the Charlottesville Bicycle Club. It’s very motivational to have a group to ride with and they schedule rides for different lengths and speeds on Saturday and Sunday. I’m certainly more inclined to do a longer ride with other people than I’ll do by myself. I get out with the club every weekend I can. The best thing about the club is the people involved.

Earlier this year, I bought a new gravel bike. YT was having a very good sale and I was really coveting a new bike. I ended up buying a Szepter Core 3. Although I was a little on the fence about suspension on a gravel bike, I was very curious about SRAM eTap AXS and the reviews of the bike were solid so I went for it. I ordered it in mid February and it took about ten days to arrive at my door.

I love to ride my bike. If I could, I would ride everyday and everywhere. It seems this is no longer that strange especially among the young. The Economist has an article on how young people are turning away from driving. The reasons seem to be economic (cars are expensive), climate related and cultural. I don’t expect the US to become The Netherlands anytime soon, but even just a slight tilt away to providing safer and better places to ride would be great.