Let it

Picture from the WEAU sky cam as of 11am.

See that? Know what that is? It's snow! Look, it's even sticking to the ground in some places. parts of me are super excited, and other parts are totally bummed. Snow kills bikers in Wisconsin. I know this isn't going to stay long, but it's an omen. Like I said earlier, come winter the bike racks empty out and the parking lots begin to fill up. Bike rides get cut short, it's impossible to stay dry, tires slip, tall bikes slide. Crash boom bang. At the same time I really like riding around all bundled up with a bandana over my face. Not only do you look really tough, but I just think it's really fun to cruise around in the cold with your body keeping you warm. Plus you can take old bikes and crash them into snows banks.

Snow also makes me think of al the fun sorts of things I want to do this winter. For instance, January ride in our underwear? Ice racing? Sled bikes? Not to mention the obvious snow ball fights, snow forts, hot coco, and hot cider. being kind of busted up I havn't had alot of ability to go riding, so I've spent alot of time just thinking about doing different stuff, and I keep getting more and more excited. If winters coming, bring it on. Just give me a day to build a new winter bike though ok?

The past couple days I havn't been able to do alot of biking, so I've actually spent alot of time hanging out at local bike shops, and even the mall, looking at bike stuff. I was pretty amazed to see one of the local shops selling a Hed 3 rim. In case you are not familiar look here
http://www.hedcycling.com/cart/wheels.php Pretty fast looking huh? This is where I generally start loosing friends. You see, I love bikes fast ones slow ones flashy ones crappy ones all kinds of them. I even ride some pretty nice ones, at least I like to think they are nice. But I can't come to terms with the idea of buying parts or components simply because their is an image or name you are pursuing. I know aerospokes, and hed 3s look cool, but do you need them to ride your bike around town? Pink anodized crank arms? $400 selle italia saddles? If I buy a seat for $370 it better have a built in flatscreen tv. Anyway my point is I think sometimes it's easy to get carried away looking at expensive parts. I'm certainly not impervious, but I am trying to deal with it. It's one thing to want a part because of its functionality, it's another to want it for it's name. When we start buying new bikes, and parts just so we can talk about what parts we have, rather than experiences we've had on our bikes. Places we've gone, things we've seen, etc, we lose touch of why se started riding bikes in the first place.

Not for me. Flatbars? Really?

This is not intended to make me sound holier than thou or anything, I think about how nice it would be to have this or that part all the time. I just think we could all look at why we ride a little bit. To pick up chicks? To show off? Or is it a choice made for some other reason.
Less shit talking, more bike riding.