it looked cold, but by the top of Bellevue Hill I was sweating so badly that I had to take off my balaclava and shirt – left the baselayer and jacket on.

stuffed them both in my basket and continued on. when I arrived at my destination in Allston, I couldn’t find either of them. they must have bounced out during a big bump – maybe the crummy pavement on Washington St.

I knew I should’ve gotten a bag instead of a basket. argggh.

in happier news, a BMW pulled over next to me and asked how I liked the Trek Soho – said he was thinking of one.

stopped by Foxboro Bike for no particular reason, found that they had Shimano mountain bike shoes for half off. was in a real hurry so I grabbed a pair in what I thought was my size.

got home and realized that they were a bit big. oops–or so I thought. but then I remembered that my toes are always cold, even when I put on the booties. so I tried two layers of wool socks, and they fit in these shoes just fine.

so now I’m hoping I can *finally* keep my piggies warm.

picked up some SPD clips for $15 and some shoes for another $15. forgot to pick up a 15mm wrench though, so I can’t install them. 9/16 is too small and 5/8 is too big. can’t find my adjustable. grr…….

I have probably been a bit more vocal than necessary about my two-wheeled commuting exploits. but they did pay a divided other than vanity this past week.

the parents of my son’s best friend are, unbeknownst to me, are or have been active cyclists. and the dad works barely a mile away from MIT, just across the Longfellow bridge in Boston.

this morning was our first caravan! it was great. I feel much safer with two of us following each other. I think cars (and even trucks/buses) are more cognizant as we are harder to miss. we’ll do it again soon.

wasn’t sure I’d ever try it, but I left the house on two wheels when it was below 20… 17 degrees, to be exact (-8C)

to my amazement, I was hot not cold! turns out the l.l. bean fleece + the columbia ski shell is too much. maybe I would be OK at 10 degrees then. next time I will go back to the stock columbia liner.

ok, well, the piggies were a bit cold even though I had felt liners, wool socks, and booties. maybe I need to get the warm packs. fingers were fine though.

every time I leave the house for the 13.5 mile ride it seems a bit crazy, but what a feeling to roll into the office! now if I could just find a path with more straightaways…

picked up a Trek Soho over the weekend. cool story actually:

I had called around to see who had the bike. one store said “it’s in our warehouse, we’ll call you when it’s in.” I didn’t hear from them for a couple of days, so I went to another LBS on a lark one afternoon. there I found the Soho for more than $400 less than the store that didn’t call me back…only they *did* call me back, in fact that same afternoon. but I had left my phone at home that day — which I never ever do — so I missed their call. otherwise I wouldn’t’ve had a reason to go to the second store with the cheaper price. how about that?

so the first day’s ride was pretty good. the internally geared hub was great for getting going again at stoplights. what a lifesaver.  brakes were more than adequate, though you do have to squeeze pretty hard. not having a chain was certainly different but cool too – nice to know it needs no maintenance. also, the bike rides a lot faster than my old “comfort” bike and really gets up to speed more quickly. the only thing that really annoys me is that I have to push the shifter really hard with my thumb.

we’ll see how it wears with distance. 20m today.

I’ve hereby promoted myself to non-newbie status, 300 miles and 2 bikes later. from now on this blog will be known as “Westwood Biker.”

OK, so after the not-so-fun ride on the not-so-plowed Dudley / Charles River path, I thought i would hang it up for the season. plus, the comfort bike i bought last summer to ride to the train station just isn’t the best for urban commuting. told my friends I’d see them in the spring.

then I bought a bike today. just can’t keep away I guess. ended up with the Trek Soho, which was $400 off at an LBS. hard to pass up!

it’s a good bike for my 13-15 mile commute from Westwood to East Cambridge. a lot lighter than the Giant Cypress I’ve been riding, with internal gearing and brakes and a carbon belt. this solves three of my biggest problems, in order of priority: 1) downshifting at frequent lights 2) hard to stop in the rain 3) no messy chains to maintain. I also love the reflective stripe on the tires for safety. not crazy about the puke-blue color but maybe that’ll make it less of a theft target…

I tried to do my homework before making the leap. the Giant Transend EX was in the same price range and had the newer Alfine hub + disc brakes and better grips, but frankly it’s an ugly bike and I wanted to try something else besides Giant (yes, I know most bikes including Trek are manufactured by Giant). I had been enchanted by the Giant Seek 0 but took and ride and didn’t think it worth $1100. in fact, I probably wouldn’t’ve gone for the Soho at that price.  I am a bit worried about the roller brakes given everything I’ve read online…we’ll see.

the other bike I was thinking about was the Xootr Swift folder, but to get it with internal gearing would’ve been $1200 and that would still have rim brakes. I would sure love the folding aspect, but I really want to ride before I buy and there’s no dealer in Boston (NYC is the closest). They have a money-back guarantee but not if you put an internal hub on it. I may think about it again in the future, lots of positives to a folder. I could always sell this if I end up getting one of those.

I plan to harvest my lights, rear rack / basket, and cyclocomputer from the old bike. I’m tempted to grab my old fenders too, even though the Soho comes with fenders (my planet bike fenders look cooloer).  Will check if I can use my old seaet or at least seat stem, which has a shock absorber. I hear the aluminum frame will be a roug(er) ride.

now that I know the Southwest Corridor path is plowed, I think I’ll have to give this a try on Monday!

well, I thought I would give it a go today, despite the snow and low temps. but it was a bad idea. roads were clear enough, but the bike paths were a mess in enough spots that I had to stop and walk several times. almost fell over once too, and there were a bunch of icy/slippery spots as well.

on the bright side, the new wheel performed as expected. but I think I’ll have to hang this up until the snow melts…could be awhile…

well, I’ve been going back and forth on a new bike & so decided to get the old one going again.

went to Landry’s for a new wheel. they said that I have a ‘freewheel’ instead of a ‘cassette’ and so I could only get another single-walled (read:cheap) wheel. oh boy. let’s hope this one doesn’t blow too.

also picked up a new set of back brakes. the LBS had told me the brakes were fine, but I knew better and indeed they were torched when I pulled off the old pads.

took the Trek Soho for another spin. loooooove the internal gear hub (though could go for a dial shifter). drum brakes seemed fine too. chain belt is silent.  looks like a winner.

I still keep thinking about the Xootr Swift though. sounds like I can get it with an internal hub, but they won’t do disc brakes. sure would be nice to fold it up and throw it in the trunk though instead of having to drag a bike rack all over the place.

and of course there was the Seek…mmmm…Seek.

let’s hope I can make it to/from Boston tomorrow