winter grit

I like the dual meaning of the word grit, both to have tenacity and the small abrasive dirt that seems to get in everything this time of year. One leads to the other with winter riding. I lacked one and didn't get any of the second meaning yesterday, but intend to remedy that this weekend where rain is in the forecast for the next three days. I came off a six day road trip to Texas yesterday. The purpose was to deliver Heidi and her car to the Keystone pipeline protest just outside Dallas. I arrived home sleep deprived and spent from a week in a car seat instead of on a bicycle saddle. I had the best intentions of spending the afternoon on the bike, but it started raining so I punked out and rode the chaise instead. Today I am determined to at least ride the fixie to the gym and get some sort of workout. Saturday I'll try to get more of a real ride in. Lots of bike and motorcycle chores to do of course. So some major share of the weekend will be devoted to grit.

Fixie as cafe racer

As I've been wasting countless hours recently looking at images of motorcycle cafe racers and as many more daydreaming about exactly what I will modify next on my aging '79 BMW I have also been thinking about the connection between fixed gear bicycles and cafe racers. In both cases they are usually modified street bikes, though less often in the case of both they are race bikes modified for street use. Both prize style and performance over practicality. Comfort is not high on the list for either. Also, mostly they are failures aesthetically allowing you to admire the few that are successes all the more. More often than not, both are used for short haul around town type riding. They are designed to get you to the cafe, and look good tethered there. Both tend to be stripped down and elemental. Both speak to the DIY ethos. Both embody coolness of a certain urban type and likely always will.

the long ride

Yesterday I went out and rode three hours plus in hot dry windy conditions. The last hour was pretty much misery. It wasn't that hard a course, but it has been two months since I've done any kind of endurance riding so it was very difficult. I knew that there was just one can of Heineken in the refrigerator and it was all I could think about for the last mile or two. I was pretty much wiped out the rest of the day. For the six to eight months of the year when I'm in decent shape this would not have been a very difficult day. We rode slowly and chatted, but the weeks immediately after harvest are tough as I try to convince my body one more time that it's worth the effort to reclaim fitness. There are so many less painful things to do with the day such as playing music or reading a book.