Meet Gary

_{Gary at Bikerowave, looking dapper with his new pedals. The pink bottle cages don't threaten Gary's manhood at all.}  

Gary, an early 80's Centurion Accordo, is my race bike and my partner in crime. I would feel totally comfortable robbing a bank with Gary.

 Yes, I know vessels are traditionally given a female name, but Gary's really more of a cranky old man. Stuff loosens up, tightens up and sometimes Gary can't keep things pointing up. If only they made a blue pill for bicycles.

I bought Gary at a garage sale - neglected, dusty, with flat gumwall tires, a rusty chain and horribly ugly 80's tape on the handlebars.  My first thought was "this was somebody's race rig back in the day and what a shame it's come to this."

I talked the seller down to half of his original price due to Gary's condition, and thanks to my local bike co-op, I rebuilt, de-rusted, and retaped Gary, and now, although he's no longer young, he's once again tearing up the roads and schooling whippersnappers.


_{Gary in the transition area for the Pasadena Triathlon dry run. Gary just wants all those damn kids to get the hell off his lawn.}   

Gary's a gas to ride - he's fast and his more flexible frame makes him less squirrelly than the newer carbon bikes. Also, Gary has some serious style. Every training ride or race Gary gets many shout outs from passers-by about how good he's looking.
Me? Not so much.

REI gives back - to me!

One of the things that  I love about REI is the annual dividend.

I take my little certificate in, pick something out and get it for either free or at a greatly reduced cost.
This year, I got this:


A Novara grocery bag pannier!

After they applied my dividend, I owed them a whopping 23 cents. Sweet.

I already have a pair of panniers, but they're heavy waterproof zip top compression dealies that are great on long trips (they stop load shift), but I wanted something that was a bit more short errand friendly.

This one has shoulder straps, and is about the size of a grocery bag (hence the name), so I can just throw it on the back rack and not have to do the squeeze and zip of the big panniers.

 I love you, REI!

It's a great bike except for the stuff breaking off.

My main commuter bike is a 2010 Cannondale Quick CX. As a commuter bike, it's great - it's not too heavy, not so expensive or trendy that it's a huge theft risk, fun to ride and reliable, except for the fact that bits keep falling off it.

The problem is plastic. They got the weight of the bike down by using plastic stuff where ever possible, which is fine, except that every so often I'll look down while I'm riding and discover some plastic thingy has vanished completely or is dangling.

Yesterday, with 10 miles to go to get home, it was my chainring guard. I was pedaling like crazy into a headwind (and going nowhere fast), when something just didn't sound right. Sure enough, I looked down and the guard was flapping around the pedal.

Dammit.

I managed to work the guard off and then rode the rest of the way home with it dangling off my handlebar.  Since the bike's still in warranty for another month, I'll take it to the shop and have them fix it.

I probably don't need the guard, but it is nice to have since the guardless chainring on my race bike has drawn blood more than once.  I have scars on my right calf from that thing stabbing me when I least expect it.