steel is still real, baby

Pretty much all of last year's bicycle commuting was done on my BMC SLT01. It's a carbon tubed, aluminum lugged performance bike. It's as rigid as Charlton Heston's corpse and fast like the wind; all in all a great ride if your aim is to make time. It's certainly the most expensive bike I've ever owned but as of this Spring I'd no longer say it's necessarily the nicest bike I've ever owned.

Last month I assembled a modest assortment of parts onto a Salsa Casserole. Nothing fancy, mostly inexpensive bits with down-tube shifters and Planet Bike full-wrap fenders. I'll probably make a handful of minor changes to it in the short term, but it's more or less going to stay the same for the foreseeable future. I've taken this bike on a dozen good-sized rides and the Casserole has been a pleasant surprise. I'd forgotten how comfortable a steel frame is compared with current high-zut, composite concoctions (like my BMC). Having arrived home from my commute last night, I felt a bit of remorse that I didn't have further to ride; I wanted to keep going for no other reason than simply keep riding. No need for speed, no place in particular to go.

That compulsion reminds of my first foray into serious cycling while in Madison, WI. What I can only in good conscience recall to have been an obsession started with nights spent at Helen C. White library reading through issue after issue of Bicycling Magazine while my friend Majken did enough studying for the two of us. Despite the fact that I've come to regard this rag as fluf for non- and wannabe-cyclists, I am obliged to admit that this is where I got my start.

Soon enough, reading no longer satisfied me and I needed to "feel it to believe it." This is when I took a position selling bikes at Budget Bicycle Center on Regent St. and soon thereafter bought my first "real" bike: a red mid-80's Bianchi Primo with 14 downtube-shifter-actuated gears. Even in '99, this bike was outdated -- we're talking 126mm rear spacing, a 1" threaded fork and heft that would qualify it for a spot on "The Biggest Looser". I "upgraded" it with a brand new red Selle Italia Flite saddle but the rest of it remained unchanged; by any -- save my own -- account the bike was a pile. Still, I loved that bike and rode the ever-loving shit out of it.

Many folks have written about experiences or events that were akin to his or her first ride or first bike. I suppose it's just my turn. I have a new bike in my life and even though it's neither light nor particularly fast, in just 4 weeks it has made itself a nice place in my heart.