The reappropriation of my Midlife Disaster Fixie Mark II turned out to be fairly well timed, as a result of subsequent to that publish it then rained for like two days straight. Bikes with out derailleurs and stuff make superb rain bikes, so it wound up being my major one for a number of days:

If it’s been awhile because you’ve ridden a motorcycle like this and then you definately all of the sudden experience one an entire lot it can additionally make you sore in muscle mass you didn’t even know you had, and so when the rain lastly stopped I indulged myself by using a motorcycle with a number of gear ratios and click-type shifting constructed proper into the handles:

I very hardly ever drive anyplace to experience as of late, however it’s good to place some new floor below your tires occasionally, and as soon as once more having to take my elder son someplace this previous weekend supplied up a helpful excuse to take action. We didn’t must journey fairly as far this time, so I couldn’t revisit Mohonk and Minnewaska State Park, however I did have a window of about three hours and varied street and mountain routes from which to decide on. Finally I opted for the previous, partially due to all of the rain we’d simply had, however principally as a result of I knew there could be a number of leaf motion occurring up the place have been going and {that a} street experience would afford me extra foliage porn per pedal stroke than selecting my method alongside rocky singletrack:

I knew instantly I’d chosen effectively, and it wasn’t lengthy earlier than I started to lose myself within the experience, however then I reached into my jersey for my telephone with the intention to take a photograph…

…and realized I’d left my pump within the automobile.

Moral concerns apart, the actual downside with driving to rides is that it’s too straightforward to overlook stuff. Everyone knows somebody who’s pushed 100 miles solely to comprehend they forgot one thing important, like their footwear or their entrance wheel, whereas should you start your experience proper out of your entrance door then forgetting one thing that primary is just about unattainable. In fact it’s nonetheless attainable to start your experience proper out of your entrance door and understand 10 miles later that you just forgot some secondary merchandise, akin to your pump, or your spare tube, or your water bottle, however driving to the experience creates two alternatives to overlook them–as soon as if you’re leaving residence, after which once more if you’re leaving the automobile, as I managed to do right here.

I knew I used to be unlikely to incur a flat on these comparatively quiet street, particularly for the reason that rains had in all probability washed them clear of particles, however I additionally knew that my exquisitely aged rear tire supplied a number of factors of ingress for any that may stay:

As such, the pump’s absence nagged at me for a lot of the experience, although ultimately I did start to calm down:

Till–DAMN!

Simply kidding:

I meant DAM!

Croton Dam, that’s:

It’s a shocking feat of engineering and a phenomenal image humankind’s profound relationship with nature:

Clearly I meant the bike, however the dam’s fairly cool too:

Finally although I opted as a substitute for the bike, and I continued on my method till I lastly reached the sixth borough:

Peekskill is nowhere near the town and has little or no in widespread with it, however should you have been to pee within the close by reservoirs then finally the residents of the opposite 5 boroughs would wind up ingesting it, so there’s that.

Simply as I’d chosen the bike over the barrel, I additionally eschewed the faucet water in favor of one thing that had undergone a extra stringent therapy course of:

Higher to be protected than sorry.