A fall commute

Not as cold this morning as it was on Friday (6 degrees C rather than 2) which was a good thing, as I discovered that I’d only brought home one of my leg warmers. My tights have completely disappeared and I couldn’t find my Bicycle Fixation knickers this morning. Confusion reigns. I did find proper fleece gloves, which was nice. My hands were frozen by the time I got to work on Friday.

Saw a nice Surly LHT locked outside the RA Centre when we came out tonight. SON hub, shellaced bars, Brooks saddle, etc.

Bikespotting

I was working downtown for two days this week, which greatly enriched my bikespotting. I do see some bikes on the way to and from Bell’s Corners, but not a lot and not a variety. I usually see the same people in the mornings. For example, if I’m later than usual I pass a chap on a recumbent going the other way. On the way home things aren’t quite as predictable but I still don’t see a big variety of bikes. There just isn’t a lot of bicycle density. But downtown there are loads of bikes, both in motion and at rest. That’s the other big difference; you can see a big variety of locked up bikes. A couple of things from Tuesday: a nice old Peugeot folder, with fenders and front and back racks, a lugged Specialized Allez, set up with a single cog on the cassette, rear derailleur (it had vertical dropouts), low spoke count wheels, flat bars and no rear brake (eek!) There are a couple of nice older Marinoni’s parked in the basement of the building I’m working in, one of them a cyclocross bike set up as a fixed gear, the other from the era of neon paint jobs (at first glance I wasn’t sure if the splotches of neon green and pink had been added via spray can or were part of the original paint job.)

Thursday afternoon's spotting on a quick walk round a couple of blocks:

Two Jorg & Olif Dutch style bikes

A Raleigh Super Course with fluted metal fenders

A Bridgestone XO-5

A Redline 925

A Steelwool Tweed

Several nice old Miyatas