Bike Envy

20 July 2010

July 11 was the day Tom led his ride to Schooley's Mountain, and the last day for his aging Miyata hill-climbing bike. On order was his new Cannondale Synapse, tricked out with a triple in the front and an 11-32 cassette in the back. "I would have gotten a 34 but they don't make it in a ten-speed," he explained.

Riding with Tom, Mike M, and Jeff (our official elevation recorder), I found myself in the back of the pack, pushing my steel Kermit up the hills. Halfway up Rockaway, Mike said that something was wrong with his shifter.

We stopped at the top, in Mountainville, to figure it out. A year ago I was taping Mike B's saddle together at this very corner. This time I was watching Mike and Tom wind what was left of the rear derailleur cable around a cable guide near the stem.

He was left with a three-speed, but Mighty Mike would not be stopped.

The way we come up with routes reminds me of the way we used to create jewelry when I worked in a bead store during the Lost Years. One of us would make something, someone else would expand on the idea, and so it went, and we all learned from each other. Up in Hunterdon County, I did a mashup of two Morris Area Freewheelers cue sheets. Tom took me route and tweaked it to get us to Schooley's Mountain. I jiggered my route some more. Tom nabbed some of those roads and took us up a different way.

This time we were taking Beavers Road from the bottom. I thought it ended at Frog Hollow, but it doesn't. I don't know which I saw first, the stop sign or the wall of asphalt on the other side. All I know is that, because I was last and no cars were coming, I had a good head of steam and sufficient warning to gear all the way down. I followed the guys to the top and we were rewarded with a view of how the other half live in Tewkesbury.



Jeff, Mike, and Tom catch their breaths and take in the view.

What little of Tom's bike is visible in this picture calls out, "Old School!"

We were on State Park Road near Hacklebarney when we saw this bifurcated tree. Power lines run through the middle of it. Technological topiary, I guess.


Another street name for the collection:

The view of Doolittle Lane from State Park Road:

Half a mile down the road gave me my obligatory hay bale snapshot.


So, anyway, Tom got his new bike that Wednesday. He emailed me that he'd be taking it out for a test run on Michael Heffler's Saturday ride out of Lambertville. If I wanted to see his new toy, he told me, I'd have to show up.

Because Heffler's rides are, well, vertical. I showed up anyway. And so did 28 other people. Michael figured he'd thin the herd by throwing a long hill in right away, so we went up Alexauken Creek and Sandy Ridge Road. That didn't work, so we snaked our way over to Raven Rock and climbed the top half of Federal Twist. That didn't work either. Michael gets a tough crowd.

I'd been keeping myself near the front of the pack during the flatter sections (it always seems safer in a big group), so I was in the lead group turning onto Federal Twist. I got a good view of the half dozen or so jackrabbits in front of me. Only Tom and I climbed the hill sitting down (I have 11-34 with my double).

By the time the road leveled off and I caught up to him I was full of questions. By the time we got to the corner I knew what I wanted for Christmas.

When we hit the rollers on 519, Tom said, "Okay. Let's see what this thing can do!" He stomped on the crank in the big ring and took off like a rocket.
This is where Kermit's steel frame and my own enormous weight come in handy; I almost caught up to him, laughing.

When I got home I told Jack right away that I have a serious case of Bike Envy. I've never had it this bad. I figured it would abate as the day wore on and I got busy with other things.

But, in the morning, as I drove up to Flemington for Larrys' Bloomsbury Boogie, the envy was still there. I don't want to get rid of Kermit. No way. He's the perfect bike for flat centuries, and he gets me up every hill I tackle, albeit slowly. But I'm tired of hauling steel when the rest of the world is floating on carbon. What if I got rid of Gonzo, my spare-part winter bike, and got a carbon frame instead?

I had plenty of time to think about it during the Boogie. I was in the back of the pack again, watching the featherweights and the jackrabbits fly up the hills. Now, one can argue that the frame is only part of the story. Lose body weight and you'll get up hills a lot easier. I know this; I've already lost, and kept off, a dozen or so pounds since the winter of 2008, and climbing has been a lot less work ever since. But I can tell that my body isn't going to give up a dozen more, and, face it, steel is heavy.

Then there's the money. Kermit was a $4K bike when I picked him up at the Trexlertown swap meet for $1500 in cash back in 2000. I've only improved upon him since. Kermit is one expensive machine, not even including the custom paint job. This Cannondale, by decent road bike standards, is affordable. Not cheap, not four grand, but affordable.

A view of the Musconetcong valley from the top of Staats Road outside of Bloomsbury:



That's real haze, not a dirty lens. It is also a good representation of how I've been seeing out of my left eye for the past week.

Next to the Homestead General Store in Upper Black Eddy, on the Delaware Canal:

Not as cool as the Flower House in North Creek, but Bob could try to paint it anyway.


On my way home I stopped at Hart's Cyclery to talk to Oscar. We went over the details of Gonzo's components and figured out that I'd only be able to keep about half of them if I got just a new frame, and even then I'd be stuck with a bike that's half old (some parts are from 1997, and others were hand-me-downs of unknown vintage). So we opened the Cannondale catalog and started looking. He suggested selling Gonzo and applying whatever I could get towards the new bike.

Today I brought Gonzo in for Oscar to see. He mulled it over. "This might be pushing it," he said, "but you might be able to get $400 for it." Ouch.

We talked about frames and brands a little more, and he pulled two Cannondales down for me to inspect. On Sunday I'll be back to test-ride two models. I'm fiercely loyal to Hart's Cyclery. Ross and Oscar have been great to work with for the nearly nine years I've been going there.

Anyway, there's one detail I should mention that let me know I was really going to go through with this, even if I wasn't sure when:

On Saturday I sat down and bought from Ebay two of a certain Muppet for the back of what would someday be a new bike. Joining Kermit, Gonzo, and Grover will be...

...Miss Piggy.

It's only fitting.

And it's cheaper than psychotherapy.