Bike Blog

I got a new rear wheel for my commuter bike, and boy am I glad to be back on that instead of a mountain bike. The one thing that I forgot about the commuter bike is how light and fast it is. The mountain bike is light and fun, and I can pop wheelies on it like crazy (something my commuter bike doesn’t do very well because of the geometry of the frame), but on the commuter bike I can fly.

So it’s almost time for my annual special long bike ride. I usually go from my house to Niagara Falls (specifically to Goat Island–which is where I took self-portrait picture to the left of this post) and back, which is about 50 miles. Last year I started out in the rain and ended up riding home as the October Surprise storm hit. With the temperature outside in the 80’s today, it’s hard to imagine how we could experience the same weather as we did last year at this time.

But before I head out on my 50-mile ride, I need to do some routine maintenance. When I was washing the bike the other day after a particularly muddy trail ride my boys took me on, I saw that my derailleurs are being real cranky, and my brakes just don’t want to move smoothly. I really don’t want to dump a bunch of cash at the bike shop, but I think I need some new parts.

And this year I may take my annual special day ride with someone, instead of going solo. In typical Buffalo-six-degrees fashion, my friend’s friend’s boyfriend is a bike nerd like me and may go with me. Hopefully this weekend we can meet up for coffee and make some plans.

Buffalo bicyclists, anyone else want to go for a fun ride? Scenic route to Niagara Falls and back, nothing too challenging, mostly bike paths. The part I enjoy the least is actually the bridges to/from Grand Island, but maybe this year I could go the long way. Or the Canadian way, who knows.