Eustacia Meets Frida

Today Eustacia Vye (my Pashley Pricess) met up with her new friend Frida, the fetching Batavus Fryslan that belongs to Margonaute of ZOMGBicycles.

Margo and I tagged along and sat at an outdoor cafe while the bikes frolicked nearby.

The Batavus Fryslan is a very pretty and comfortable bike. It is a higher-end model than the Old Dutch I tested last summer. It was getting dark and impossible to take decent shots, but Margo has more pictures of this bicycle on her weblog. Especially nice are the shots from last weekend's Tweed Ride - Frida looked so elegant with her owner's stunning outfit!

Despite their differences in wheel size (28" on the Batavus Fryslan vs. 26" on the Pashley Princess), we were surprised to note how similar Frida and Eustacia looked, including their overall proportions. My handlebars are set quite a bit lower, but that was an intentional modification on my part. Margo prefers hers higher. The bicycles also have matching cream tires, matching Brooks B66S saddles, and matching Wald rear folding baskets. So cute to see them together like this!

One really cool thing about Frida is the DIY handlebar bag. It is a small leather purse, with the strap wrapped around the flat part of the bars.

Here you can see the handlebar attachment. A simple and elegant idea that shows you don't necessarily need to spend tons of money on bike-specific accessories.

At the end of the evening, Margo test-rode my bike while I carefully tried hers on for size (Frida is new and I was too worried about her well-being to ride her on the street).

Margo on my Pashley. She is slightly taller than I am, so ideally the saddle would be raised.

My own impression is that the fit of the two bikes is similar, but the Batavus has somewhat more relaxed angles. Weight-wise, the Batavus is a bit heavier. They are both nice bikes, with the main differences being the fork crowns, the wheel size, the lighting systems, and the shape of the handlebars. If you are choosing between a Pashley and a Batavus, I'd really suggest test-riding each.

Here is to lovely bicycles and to lovely bicycle friendships!

I Don't Want You, But I Need You... When Bike Love Turns Irrational

Once in a while, I see a bicycle that is completely unnecessary for my lifestyle, and perhaps even impossible to ride given my skill level... And yet, that bicycle fills me with desire. Here are three bad-boys that evoke these conflicted feelings. (For maximum enjoyment, I suggest playing "You Really Got a Hold on Me" as background music.)

[Rivendell Bombadil, fitted with cream Fat Frank tires. Image from Bearded Peter]
The Bombadil is a clear-coated, lugged steel mountain bike from Rivendell. It is completely rigid (no front or rear suspension), and comes with a double-top-tube frame. I see myself as a Warrior Princess seated high over the fearsome double top-tubes and hopping over roots and rocks with wild abandon - my hair fluttering in the wind like a fiery trail and my face streaked with dirt (attractively accentuating my cheekbones)... Of course, I really should learn to at least mount and dismount a bike properly before entertaining such fantasies...

[A.N.T. Basket Bike, lady's frame, in blue-gray. Image from antbike]

Here is my most recent forbidden love: the A.N.T. Basket Bike, lady's frame. I do not require a specialised basket bike. But every time I look at this photo, I want to cry. It is so beautiful, and I have never seen anything quite like it. (Yes, I know that the idea of a transport bike with a small front wheel is not new, but they did not usually come with such graceful frames.) I absolutely love the classic Porteur chaincase, and that slate gray is one of my favourite colours. The overall look is at once so vintage and so modern and so... poetically eccentric, that my very soul cries out for it. Yes, my soul. These are some heavy feelings I am sharing with you.

[Royal H. Cycles, track bike. Image from Royal H.]

And finally, the most bizarre crush I've had: This is a track bike by Royal H. Cycles. The enormous frame is painted cream, and the lugs are meticulously outlined in a rich orange. I can't explain why I have such a strong reaction to it. I can't ride fixed gear to save my life, and I don't like orange. But I look at it, and it just seems so... perfect. If I gaze at it for too long, I feel the need to learn how to ride fixed immediately. And also to stroke it and feed it caramels while whispering sweet nothings in its ear... Is that wrong?

Up the Mountain

It was a beautiful, winding drive up the mountain to the Ridge that even included a tunnel. (Jan's head in the mirror.) There were wonderful vistas off in the distance each time we went around another bend in the road, that we would stop and look at. There were trees everywhere, sometimes obscuring the views. We even saw a mama deer and her fawn. The fawn is in this shot with a moutain behind it.

On the Run

Southwest Rock Art

Along the first leg of our journey back to Minnesota we made a couple of short side trips from I-70 to some rock art sites. The first of these was the "Head of Sinbad" rock art site. This is some of the best preserved rock art in the southwest. According to local literature these pictographs are at least 3,000 years old.



































































The second site we checked out was Sego Canyon. Unlike the Head of Sinbad panel, some of the Sego Canyon pictographs have experienced a lot of vandalism. There was one panel, however, that was high enough on the canyon wall that it was relatively untouched by vandals. According to the BLM, Sego Canyon contains 3 culturally distinct styles of rock art: Fremont, Ute and Barrier-style. After these quick stops we got back on the Interstate and continued our journey home.

Harris Hill in Elmira New York

Aric and I went with Nathan to help him work today, so I was able to see more of this area. It is just beautiful here. Here is a waterfall on the side of the road:

And Aric getting close to the action:

We drove all around the area, finishing up with stopping at a park. Nathan was looking for something on the GPS, so I got out to look around at the Rails to Trails bike path there. There was a gentlemen standing there looking at the lake. He seemed so sad, with the kind of heavy grief that is normally from losing a loved one. I told Nathan I wanted to go and just hug him and when I said that, he looked over and waved like he felt our love. It was so neat.



After that, we headed to Harris Hill, in Elmira. We had a client there, so we visited him first. Then we went up the hill to the Soaring Center Museum which was closed. There was an overlook there that was really wonderful. We sat in one of the swings there and watched the sunset.

Living the life in New York!

The Bike Aquatic

Our latest trip along the coast was of the epically off-road variety.



Behold the single speed aquatic tandem recumbent, a.k.a. pedal boat!Isn't she a beauty?When I was growing up, we used to pedal these things around small lakes, but I had no idea they could be taken out into the ocean. Turns out there is a whole culture out there of self-propelled ocean travel, including transatlantic voyages. The boats used for those are a tad more sophisticated, but this one is just fine for pedaling leisurely along the coast.



The local rental place assured us that these boats are marvelously stable and virtually impossible to flip over.We experimented, and are pleased to confirm this. Very safe and reliable, even in turbulent water.



Operating the pedal boat was much more effortful than we expected! Ocean water is rougher than lake water, and pedaling this thing felt like riding a single speed bicycle that is geared way too high.



Feeling as if we were treading through thick mud as we rode the waves and tried to stay on course, we soon longed for gears and foot retention. At least the adjustable seats allowed for full leg extension.



Despite our slow progress along the coast, the whole thing was ridiculously fun. It took me some time just to calm down from the excitement of being out in the ocean on a pedal boat.



We went as far out as we dared, pedaling among the sailboats and lobster boats and imagining what it would be like to cross the Atlantic on one of these things.



We pedaled into some of the tiny harbors and beaches that line this part of the coast and took photos from angles that would have been impossible from the shore. We docked outside a cafe and I jumped out to buy us some coffee - just for the fun of having done this. And for the first time in maybe 10 years I wore boat shoes on an actual boat.



We are both pretty comfortable in the water, and at some point we took turns swimming next to the boat. I wish I had the nerve to do this way out in the ocean - but after having seen sharks on Cape Cod for the past two summers I am cautious about that stuff, so this was fairly close to shore.



After three hours we returned the boat, utterly exhausted. Pedaling it felt very much like cycling - though so strenuous that you'd have to be in pretty good shape to do any serious touring along the coast. I cannot help now but wonder what the "serious" pedal boats feel like to operate - I imagine not very different from a recumbent bicycle, not that I have any experience with those either. I am happy to have found a way to combine my love of the ocean with cycling. Pedal boat, we will meet again!