The Sorensens

For Father’s Day (and Christmas, Birthday, etc.), my lovely wife gave me a new bike. What is better than getting a new bike? Delightful in itself, but to make it more interesting, how about a new bike in a very old style? A growing community of people are riding single speed bikes, and an even smaller segment, fixed gear bikes. I’ve been interested in these bikes, and have now made the plunge. I am currently commuting to work on a Bianchi San Jose fixie.

What would possess me to lose 18 gears and only ride with one? Some will say that a fixed gear is very efficient. In some respects it is: a perfectly straight chainline, no shifters, no chainrings, no cassette, A fixed gear bike will be lighter than its counterpart, and the drive train will be more efficient. Also, maintenance is drastically less when you remove all these components from a bicycle. Finally, the unquantifiable feeling you get from riding such a bike is addictive. Somehow I feel like I am riding the quintissential bike when I am riding my fixie. Nothing to think about but pedalling. Total quiet. Everybody should be riding this way!

No! The obivous “but” is that you will not be as efficient if there are any hills where you ride. Though a single speed bike is very efficient on the flats, as soon as hills are introduced all bets are off. Some people ride single speeds as training practice. This is because a single gear forces you to go faster up hills (if you can). Your option is to become a stronger cyclist, or die! (Okay, death may not necessarily ensue).

Also the first time you ride a fixie is freaky! Hop on and it is a little bit tricky to get your feet in the pedals as you cannot pause during your spin to get your foot in. But then it all feels nice and smooth. Really smooth. The bike is quiet, chain is silent, nothing to think about but pedalling. The joy of cycling is there. You are sitting on a machine that magically makes you able to travel miles in 4 minutes rather than 20. Sheer poetry. Oh wait, red light up ahead, I must stop. Begin braking and coasting. WAH! The pedals won’t stop! I almost fell off! Rear wheel seems to be skidding a bit! Oh yeah, the pedals never stop while the bike is moving. Ok, don’t panic, slow down bit by bit. Phew, disaster averted. And don’t get me started on the first time you go down a steep hill. Suddenly what has previously been a delight has been transformed into a terror.

But it gets better! After two weeks I am feeling good. Stops are not a problem, mild downhills are doable, I cruise up most hills faster than I ever would have before. Steep downhills are still not the joy they used to be, but neither do they raise my heart rate. I figure the real test will occur when I try riding a “normal” bike again. Will I want to go back? Who can say.

~haakon

This past week I have been doing the most epic commute I have ever attempted. Each day I travel from our home in Rainier Valley to Poulsbo. This is about 30 miles in total, though I don’t bicycle across the water. Rather, I bicycle to the ferry, then bus from the ferry to Poulsbo, then ride the remainder of the trip to work. At a little over two hours one way, I am spending over twenty hours this week wearing spandex. Perhaps you would like to try it? You needn’t cycle, you could just wear spandex half of your day at work. Go on!

It is an interesting commute. Going across the water is beautiful. I particularly enjoy watching the ferry unload, and seeing all the bicyclists and motorcyclists come off first. It is a veritable horde of cyclists rampaging out of the gates. Such fury! Such power! And then the motorcycles which are of course a bit of a letdown after the bikes.

Would I want to do it for any extended period of time? No, it is far too much of my day spent traveling. But it is an interesting diversion for a short while.

~haakon

For the past month on so we have been delighted to ride around on our new bike, Morag. This past week I have really put the bike to the planned use and have been very pleased. On Tuesday, I transported among several other things, a microwave from Ballard to South Seattle. Woohoo!

The amazing thing is how much of a non-event the ride was. Yes, the bike was a bit heavier, but it handled everything just fine. The only rough bit was that Seattle pulled out the stops and dumped rain on me for about half the trip.

My next favorite haul has to be on my commute in to work. I stopped in to the local QFC to get a dozen donuts, but the bags on the bike were all full with my laptop, clothes, lunch, etc. I didn’t really want to put the box vertically in the bags as I was worried about them getting crushed. Fortunately, it had sprinkled lightly and so the wooden snap deck was a bit damp. I optimistically set the cardboard box just flat on top of the snap deck, and the moisture kept it from slipping at all! And so I cycled the remaining half mile into work with a box of donuts sitting casually on my back rack. The reward was sweet!

~haakon