As I mentioned yesterday, over the weekend I made a short trip to the opposite coast, and if you’re wondering what I was doing out there here’s your answer:
All of that is accurate except the part about the ride having been “forced” on me, which a complete lie, because it was basically a one-day bicycle fantasy camp:
Alas, having only just returned home yesterday evening, I currently feel like a goldfish who’s just been dumped out of a plastic baggie and back into an aquarium, so if you’ll pardon me today I’m just going to share a few smartphone snapshots from the Marin Museum of Bicycling, which we visited right after the ride:
And yes, there was a bike sale happening out front:
As something of a beam bike connoisseur naturally this specimen drew my eye:
During my time with the Softride I too struggled with the “Where the hell do I put the saddlebag?” conundrum, and clearly this person just decided, “Fuck it, I’ll stick it in the bottle cage:”
Once inside, I was humbled to find my books among their library:
See?
Granted, I don’t think there’s a bike-related book ever published that wasn’t in their library, so making it in there is basically the literary equivalent of finishing a no-drop ride, but I found it satisfying nonetheless.
Of course, you haven’t really made it until one of your actual bikes is on display at the Marin Museum of Bicycling:
Though as the Old Crap Test Pilot for Classic Cycle I was pleased to see bikes quite similar to the ones I’ve tested over the years, such as this one:
And this one:
Then there are the bikes that you could easily just stare at for an hour:
The drivetrain alone is worth a good 30 minutes:
Grant also pointed out the integrated headset:
I wonder if this is the mountain bike equivalent of that Bianchi:
It’s of a much more recent vintage, obviously, but then mountain biking is a much newer discipline, and like that Bianchi it’s both edgy and yet still classically attractive…unlike, say, this:
Edgy yes, but attractive it is not.
Not that we should be dismissive of innovation, mind you. After all, it’s what brought us from this…
…to this:
Yes, by 1892 they’d pretty much nailed the bicycle. Not only that, but in those days your choice of frame materials included everything from wood…
…to aluminum:
Where have I seen that before?
Oh, right:
Uncanny, isn’t it?
But yes, one could argue that the bicycle had already attained something close to peak elegance and efficiency by like 1900, and that in some ways it’s all been downhill from there…literally:
I’m referring to the Cannondale, obviously.
Anyway, I highly recommend a visit.
