This morning marked the debut of an old rack I threw on the Pug. It's a nice Blackburn that I took off of the Fuji I rebuilt for my son a while back, and it went on pretty good, although the braze-ons on the bike were not threaded like they were on the Fuji, so I had to use a nut and bolt instead. It seemed to work out fine.
I've been thinking a lot lately about a recent post on Lovely Bicycle; the discussion revolved around how short a bike ride can be while still being enjoyable. The comments were interesting--you can tell a lot about what kind of bike riders people are without them coming out and saying it, but it made me think about what kind of bike rider I am.
When I got back on a bike about a year and a half ago, the big goal I had in mind was fitness. Walking simply wasn't enough of a workout, and I had never been able to make running work for me. Fitness was not a singular goal; I had always loved riding as a youth, and I was excited to feel those sensations again. As I kept riding, I wondered if the motivations and inspirations were changing. I don't think they were changing as much as they were fluctuating. What does it matter, anyway? If I'm out on my bike, that's the point. I think every time I go out for a ride I look forward to checking off the fitness box, but I also just look forward to riding my bike.
The other night, for example, I had been jonesing all day to get out for a ride. I finally got out and rode through Kelley Square, up Vernon Street, and down Vernon Street. I felt great; God knows how many calories got burned, but those 7.5 miles made my mind and my body feel better.
A few weeks ago, I tagged along with Worcester Loops, a sort of underground riding group (they tend to drink in parks after they finish), for a 13.7 mile loop around the city. It was thrilling, challenging, and invigorating. It was a beautiful, warm evening, and it was lovely to see parts of the city on a bike I had only ever driven through.
I wasn't thinking about how many watts I was pushing out; I was having such great fun leaning into the Washington Square rotary like I was a MotoGP rider.
One of the comments on the Lovely Bicycle blog post went something like "If it's not worth starting up Strava, it's just transportation cycling..." I've never done Strava, but when I read that I thought, hey, I resemble that remark! Most of my rides average about 5-8 miles. I'm probably putting in 40 miles a week. I simply don't have the long stretch of time that a longer ride requires. That commenter probably does as many miles in a week that I do in a day. But is he getting what he wants out of how much he rides? Am I getting as much as I want out of my rides? Hey, maybe the answer to both is yes. I think I have some longer riding in me, but right now, I don't know any better. I rode a few miles to the library with my cool new (to me) rack, dropped off a book, and rode home. It was immensely satisfying. I don't know what a 25-mile ride feels like, but at this point, it's all relative.
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