I admit it: I like looking at pictures of bikes, I like talking about bikes, and I especially like riding bikes. Other than working, riding is the thing I do most. I don’t like working on my bikes, and when I do it, it is usually accompanied by paranoia that I’ve done something wrong and (for example) that I am going to die when my carbon fiber steerer cracks because I tightened the stem bolts without a torque wrench.

Anyway: you have to please your fellow bike obsessives, particularly those on the internet. The only way to do that is to post a picture of your bike with proper pro fit. Meaning stem slammed (or nearly so), at least 12 cm long, and plenty of drop.

Ladies and gentlemen, I bring you the semi-pro fit Lynskey. Semi-pro because my stem isn’t long enough, the sternum puncher is uncut, and I just realized that I may have the bars rotated too far up.

Seriously now: those of you who know me know that I suffered a serious neck injury in 2008. There were times since then where I couldn’t bend my neck back at all without my hands going numb.  It was bad enough that I rode a recumbent for over a year. A low racer. In downtown Manhattan. That’s bad.

The injury required an upright, inefficient position on conventional bikes. It was frustrating because I am otherwise flexible, but the mechanical problem with my neck prevented me from assuming a more conventional position for someone who is otherwise a fit, experienced cyclist.

Well, it seems that my neck has finally healed, so I’ve been playing with my fit. I started with the most extreme position, with the intention of working back from there. But you know what? It works great: No neck pain, and riding seems easier/more efficient in this position.

I suspected this would be the case because I’ve been riding mostly in the drops for the last six months. I have a longer stem in the mail (and a torque wrench!), and once I get stem length sorted out I’ll cut the steerer.

In other news, I rode the non-boring boring loop 5 days straight, so I rewarded myself with a casual ride to Subway for a sub. Yes, Subway. Jared was haunting my dreams…

…and sometimes you just have to do it, right? That’s 120 miles in the last 6 days—pretty bad compared with this time last year, but last year we were nearly in summer in late March.

This was my route:

Here are some pictures. Click on the first one for full size, it’s pretty cool. That cliff you see in the center of the first picture is called Gertrude’s Nose, and that’s the Shawangunk Ridge. According to my local fact checker, John S, this picture actually shows Sky Top (with the tower) and Eagle Cliff to the right. Gertrude’s Nose is 5 miles to the Southwest.

I also had my first cyclist sighting this year (aside from the people I ride with). He was headed north on 213, and took a left on 209. Anyone I know?

John

medicalwriter.net