Adventures of the Northwest

Friday riding and last velodrome racing.... season ends.

Friday, Jane and I met early at Gasworks Park for a short bicycle ride. We went from Gasworks to Seward Park. We were definitely feeling our legs. My legs were full of pain and heaviness. I felt I was going in slow motion up hills and felt as if someone was pulling back on my saddle trying to keep me from going up and up. We got to Seward Park and checked out the course for the crits. We are thinking perhaps we will want to do crits next year – at least once or twice – just to experience it. Wow! It was hilly. It wasn’t hilly…. It was hilly…. My legs were heavy so it felt REALLY hilly. I know it isn’t as hilly as my legs made it feel. It would be a good thing for training. I think we need to use it for some training this winter if it isn’t too slick and/or we can be safe about it. We rode back to Gasworks. OY! My legs felt like lead balloons. It was difficult but we finished. It was weird to ride with Jane but not weird. It was comfy riding with her but weird to be off the track with her. We had a blast and we had fun sprinting through the Arboretum area! I was cruising 30+ mph for most of it but then my legs started giving way to the slow incline. We got back to Gasworks and we were hanging out talking. Lo and behold there was another Byrne rider riding by. He stopped to talk to us. I had my new bike, the winter fixie that I bought off Craigslist, on top of the car. Jane and I were going to stop at Wright Bros, which is Jill’s major bike shop hangout, to get the bike prepped. The Byrne rider, Dan, looked familiar to us as we met him before on the track. He was looking at my bike and said – hey! It’s the freak wagon! LOL! Jane loved it! She had such a hoot and thought that was the best name ever for this bike. That was before she was all jazzed up with all the things that make her unique and fun! I wonder what he will think of when he sees it in the future.

Jane and I went to Wright Bros. and saw what an awesome place this bike shop was. It was totally cool with tons of vintage type things. We could totally see why Jill loves to hang out there and what a great person Charles would be to hang out with. He hooked up my bike with taking some pieces off that were not needed for pulley type brakes, setup a brake that I needed, the tape I needed and sold me a fixed cog. The fixed cog will go on the bike when I get the pink chain and do all of it at one time. I got pink, white and black marble looking tape. It looks cool! Charles also informed me that my bike was a Windsor which was known based on a stamp on the bottom bracket that was used by Windsor. Very cool! He tried selling me on a pink campy hat and pink rims. Man! Do you know how hog wild I could have gone in that shop? I could have spent so much money that my bikes and I would be living on the street. I had to control myself. I loved the colored rims though and may do that in the future and/or on my titanium bike. We will see.

I got home on Friday and had my speedblend tires in the mail. I put them on and took my bike down to the velodrome for the last Friday night races. It was sooo cool. I got there and Jane was there and so was another friend. They totally loved the bike! They thought it was rockin’! Although my friend gently let me know how I was nescience about some items with the bike (i.e. the label of the tire going over the stem, on the drive side and so on). I harassed him about fixing the items as well as some other things discussed over the course of the evening. I told him that I saw his future full on Sunday with fixing my bike and those things that were a nuisance to him. Other than that, I hung out with some friends, and acquaintances, at the track and I was distracted by others totally in awe of my bike. When I first saw Jane she asked if I came up with a name yet. I told her I decided on Milly. My mom bought a book for my great niece and nephew to read about Milly and Molly riding their bicycles. I thought Milly was a good ol’ fashioned type name for a good ol’ fashioned type bike.  I then took my friend home Friday night since he needed a ride home, having rode his cross bike and not having lights, and we talked for quite a bit (I got home around 1 am). IT was very cool! I felt very well connected and quite at peace having fun.
:)

posted by Seattlebiker @ 10:53 AM