October 30, 2017

Three Speed October, Week Three

The third and final week of the Three Speed Challenge opened with beautifully sunny weather.  My first ride took me from home to work, for five miles.  One of my colleagues is roommates with the creator of the challenge, so it seemed perfect to include her in the photo for this ride.

My second ride took me the five miles from home to work for an eight hour layover, before continuing 3 ½ miles to Velocult.  It was sunny but chilly and the wind and slight hill made it quite a strenuous journey.  Luckily they have beer at Velocult, so I was able to recover before heading home.

My third and final ride of the challenge also doubled as my third ride of the Coffeeneuring challenge.  It may be against the rules for both challenges to combine rides, but I'll count on the double ride above as a safety net.  It was another gorgeous sunny day and I simply rode 1 ½ miles from home until I came across a cafe.  A quick sip of coffee, then home, with tailwinds all the way.

Until next time, I hope you have tailwinds too!






October 23, 2017

Three Speed October, Week Two

Tuesday's ride included a five mile jaunt, with a quick eight hour stopover at work, followed by a pleasant three mile ride with Sarah to a wine joint.  Sarah is the first friend I made when moving to Portland fourteen years ago.  We used to meet weekly for a twenty mile ride but have grown more moderate and now meet monthly to drink wine instead..

The evening was chilly and the streets were wet, but the clouds stayed closed for the evening.  After we had our fill of wine and olives, we parted ways.  My odometer read thirteen by the time I got home and put my beloved Ross in its window parking spot.

Ride two of week two was fifteen miles long in all, and pretty dang damp.  I started at home, as usual, and rode five miles to work.  From there, I rode to the Ride With GPS headquarters for the WTF bike industry happy hour.  WTF doesn't stand for what you think it does, it means Women-Trans-Femme.  It was early and there was just a small but rowdy bunch there.

I put my very wet rainsuit back on and headed out into the dark wet again, this time to meet with chess club.  I'm not very good at the game but I sure do like it.  After a few great games, I retired back to the streets for yet another pleasant ride.  It was dry by then but quite windy, as me and my three speed tooled through back alleys to find a new way home.  Once home, my odometer showed a whopping fifteen.
Ride three of week two of the challenge took me three very wet miles from home to a Ping Pong party at a friend's.  The host didn't want my dripping wet steed dribbling all over his nice carpet for a photo near the Ping Pong table, so instead I captured the garage parking spot, next to my friend's posse of sweet road bikes.  The ride home was also rainy, and featured heat lightening that turned the sky teal for just a few quick seconds. 



October 10, 2017

Three Speed October, Week One

It's October, and that means it's time for the Society of Three Speeds' annual challenge.  The requirement this year is to ride a three speed bicycle three miles three times per week for three weeks.  Yippee!

My first ride was a commute to work, which may sound like no biggie, but it's five miles each way.  My antique Ross, "the quality lightweight bicycle", is suited for just up to that distance, but not much more.  This is not due to the lack of speeds, but to the antique components that barely cling to the bike. 

Last year, I had a wheel laced around a brand new Sturmey Archer 3 speed internal hub.  I was sad to lose the built-in grip shifter emblazoned with the letters "H - N - L",  or high, neutral, low, from the old Shimano system.  The new thumb shifter is quite nifty though, and operated by a very slight flick of the rider's thumb.  I knew thumbs were good for more than hitch hiking.

The second ride was a shorty but a goody.  I tra-la-lad around the neighborhood, diligently checking my odometer for the correct mileage.  Then I headed over to the tennis courts in the park near my home to meet a mom and her daughter.  The daughter is 7 years old and had been having trouble learning to ride a bike.

It is an unparalleled joy to give the gift of bicycling to a child.  After all, once you learn, you always know.  At one point, after pedaling without help for several seconds, she hopped off and ran to her mom for a celebration hug.  My heartstrings came unstrung.  Before I left, we took a lap around the tennis court together.

The third ride was to my local fabric store, to procure materials for the upcoming Bike Craft show.  I'll be displaying at the Bicycle Kitty booth and selling butt pillows (somewhere dry to sit wherever your bike may take you), buddy flaps and embellished valve caps.  For a sneak peek of fabric choices, zoom in on the pink pannier in the photo above.