Legends of the Fall

Brian and I went for a slightly longer ride today. It looked like this:

I also did something I haven’t done in three years of riding with clipless pedals: I fell over. 

The new bike has much tighter clamps on the pedals. I thought I’d loosened them enough, but apparently not. I’m fine. The bike’s fine (though I did have to straighten the cockpit a bit). I actually thought it was funny. AND I CAN PROVE IT! I never record rides – my bike and phone mount are too damn shaky – but I decided to try it. Most of the ride is too shaky to watch, but this part looks good:

Luke has as many as three bikes, depending on how you count

I love my Long Haul Trucker but it has skinny tires and a short stem, which makes riding on anything other that straight, smooth roads a little spooky. My Fuji Touring is a little better, but still not really up to any kind of dirt or gravel road. 

Solution: NEW BIKE! Look at this lovely thing:

A Salsa Journeyman!

But three bikes in an apartment is crazy – especially when I hardly ride the Touring these days.

Solution: “Loan” my brother the Touring!

I couldn’t just let it go – it’s the bike I rode to Santa Barbara, for corn’s sake – but I hated seeing it sit unridden. So it’s on indefinite loan to my brother, who will ride it a bunch.  

I got the Salsa three days ago, but the smoke from the wildfires was too thick to go for a ride. Today I took it for a short shakedown.

…and I plugged some holes!

It’s about what I thought. A little slower, a lot more stable. A fun ride. I’m still adjusting it, but I can tell it’s going to be a nice ride.