Preview of Coming Attractions

March 7, 2010
Total mileage:  121

This week’s post was supposed to address Music to Bicycle By and my progress at creating a 2010 playlist, but then Natalie sent some “tantalizing photos” (her words) of my new Sweetpea. She definitely is right. They are tantalizing.

All the parts are finished, and the bike is being assembled by the mechanic on Wednesday.    This close-up of the frame shows the logo on the down tube.  According to Natalie, this image is closest to the true color.

And this is the completed frame in all its glory. The blue appears a bit too green in this shot because the bright sun has affected the camera’s reading of the color.  So Portland is where the sun went this winter!  Anyway, the color’s name is Memphis Blue.

The fenders are bamboo, and the rack also will be bamboo.  The fenders are both functional (keeping mud off my back) and beautiful.  We have some bamboo furniture in our house, and I love the stuff.  It’s pretty cool to be able to incorporate the material into the bike.

And finally, these are the wheels.  Only bike geeks would care about these, but aren’t they beautiful?  I especially love the newer wheel designs because there are fewer spokes.  It looks more elegant somehow.  Let’s hope it’s not sacrificing safety, though.

The sun also shone here in Kansas this weekend, finally!  I took a couple of shorter rides, just to get in some miles.  They were shorter because, even with the Specialized, I’m putting up with discomfort and even pain.  The upcoming week sounds pretty lousy in terms of weather–very wet and cold–so it was great to get in a few miles.

Next week’s post will return to the planned schedule, i.e., Music to Bicycle By.