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Day’s Verse:
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.
1 Chronicles 16:34
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More Artemis pictures ahead! What else did you expect? Don’t all new parents take too many pictures of their new baby?

Actually I thought it would be interesting to see my progression of bikes (for more pictures of bikes, including a horrifying derailleur picture, check out my photo set). So here’s me and Charlotte the first winter I rode:

Guilty Party

Notice the lack of fenders. If you look at the largest size of this picture, you can see my face splattered with mud and road filth. I have since become a firm believer in fenders. Interestingly, this last winter I was much wussier about riding in snowy conditions than I was the first year. Possibly I had a better idea of just how badly you can hurt yourself? I hope I can regain some of that confidence, anyway.

Here is me and Davey before doing the Manchester Metric Century this summer:

Manchester Bike Ride - Preride

I think I look a little better prepared for that 62-miler than I look in the one of me and Charlotte. Then again, everything looks rosier in the summer.

And here Artemis and I are ready this morning to go hunter-gather croissants from the Sudbury Farms down the road a ways:

Off We Go

The 13-mile round trip took us about 50 minutes. I didn’t kill myself either way, but it’s mostly downhill there. Route 20 has lots of trees changing colors, and the morning felt cool but not unpleasantly cold yet; the sun was still rising, and reflected the tree colors in the ponds we passed by. We took our leisurely time, getting to know one another a bit better. She responds briskly, almost leaping forward when I step on the pedals, especially coming out of a stop, which I really like. She has tight handling and wants to hug corners like they’re teddy bears. She smooths out cracks and bumps in the road, the cheapest road improvements the Town of Sudbury every received. She has more gears than I know what to do with at this point; I’ve stuck almost entirely to the middle chainring so far, but I have experimented enough to know that she shifts smoothly among all front chainrings and along the rear cassette. Having an unbent rear derailler takes some getting used to. Her less aggressive, more upright position — perfect for commuting, lousy for racing, and unfamiliar to me after Davey’s racing setup — gives my back a break and lets me look around without having to crane my neck too much. To make a long story short (I know, I know: “too late!”), Artemis rides beautifully, like she was built for me — presumably because she was. We’re going to be very good together. I can tell.

Artemis came into the store with me and nobody even gave us a second glance. She insisted on my buying her a muffin, when all she can ever really use is a little grease here and there, but because she’s new I humored her. Good thing she likes triple berry muffins.

We took the road by Wayside Inn back to get off Route 20, and it had that picturesque fall look. The copper roof on the chapel was being polished and shone brightly in the new sunlight. Photographers and wedding parties were already arriving at the Grist Mill as I passed by; they’ll have a gorgeous day for their festivities.

We were thinking about going for another longer ride today, but my legs feel fairly tired from the week. I had to push hard to get home at a specific time on Monday, and my legs felt leaden for the remainder of my commutes. Add in the new, higher saddle position with Artemis, and we get some rather sore legs. I’ll be riding to church tomorrow, though, so that should give us enough miles to work out any other kinks before the Tour de Landry’s on Monday.

That’s all for now, but expect lots more bike talk for the next few days. It’s not every day you get a new almost-$5,000 toy piece of precision machinery.

KF quality

One thought on “Bicycle Progression

  1. You make a beautiful pair; you in your cool jacket and helmet and her with all those features. Don’t spoil her too much now. First they want muffins and there’s no telling where it ends. 🙂

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