Yesterday I commuted to Brooklyn and again on the re-singlespeeded Roaduno:
After 18 years of pointless running a blog and lots of extra years of merely driving bikes I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t perceive bikes in any respect, as a result of I positively flew to the workplace quicker than I’ve on all my different earlier commuters, these being:
The Homer
The Eye Of The Tiger Bike
[Now under the stewardship of Jersey Cycles]
The Faggin
[Would it be faster now with the Super Record? Maybe. Or maybe not!]
So what’s it? To paraphrase the Haggadah, why is that this bike quicker than all different bikes? In trying to wrap my head round this I’ve thought of the next prospects:
Favorable Climate Circumstances
It wasn’t a very good day yesterday, however there wasn’t the brutal headwind you typically encounter on the Hudson River Greenway. Possibly I had a tailwind? I didn’t assume I had a tailwind, however then once more when you may have a tailwind you by no means assume you do, you simply assume you’re superior. That’s why you grin idiotically the entire time, and the riders going the other way right into a headwind need to smack that silly smile off your face.
Much less Resistance In Drivetrain
Theoretically a singlespeed has much less resistance because the chain doesn’t must wend its manner by way of all these pulleys, so perhaps that’s it. Additionally, perhaps I nailed the chainline so exactly that I’m experiencing ranges of smoothness I’ve by no means skilled earlier than, and I nailed the gearing so totally I’ve inadvertently created The Final Singlespeed, one that’s exponentially extra environment friendly than any of its geared counterparts.
“The Singlespeed Issue”
The entire resistance factor however, I imagine that the true benefit of the singlespeed is that it forces you to keep up a sure velocity, particularly on hills. With a geared bike you retain downshifting till you’re comfy, however with a singlespeed that you must keep on prime of the gear and sometimes climb quicker than you’d ordinarily. Then once more there usually are not too many hills on this route, so I’m unsure how a lot it applies right here.
Bodily Conditioning
Am I discovering spring health or one thing like that? I extremely doubt it. Nonetheless, I did endure a colonoscopy just lately, and I can’t rule out the chance that I’m merely lighter and quicker for having emptied myself out so profoundly in preparation for the process.
Biopace Energy!
You actually can see and really feel the Biopace chainring Bio-pacing if you’re driving a singlespeed, and perhaps these ’80s laptop nerds at Shimano managed to create some form of perpetual movement machine:
It may very well be any of the above, or it may very well be none of them. Nonetheless, I feel I’ll push the narrative that it’s the colonoscopy and the Biopace, as a result of I would love nothing extra for my Biopace chainrings to extend in worth exponentially, and for the ability meter set to begin obsessively flushing themselves out earlier than rides. Earlier than you realize it Stan’s will begin promoting bowel prep and Pas Regular Studios will supply enema kits:
Inform me they’re not 12 hours right into a cleanse.
In any case, all I do know is that I left my house, and subsequent factor I knew I used to be at Golf Tee Island:
The commute was additionally virtually solely free from annoyances, with one main exception. At one level at round the place the Fairway was once I slowed with a view to yield to a pedestrian, at which level I used to be chided by somebody behind me. I turned solely to discover a wildly clownlike lady attired in a riot of rainbow hues like some form of Sixties hippie by means of Raggedy Ann, standing on considered one of these goddamn issues:
She was sporting a motorbike helmet and ski goggles like all of them do, and she or he was vaping. I defined to her that I used to be stopping for a pedestrian, and couldn’t assist including that her alternative of conveyance was “fucking ridiculous.” This didn’t appear to section her, presumably as a result of she already new, and with that she sped off in a whirr of servos and a lingering scent of psychoactive vapor.
In any other case, my commute was beautiful:
There was a bit extra quantity round Hudson Road than there was however I’m unsure if that’s the visitors bouncing again regardless of congestion pricing or if there was some building happening, and in any other case the streets had been notably calm. (Within the congestion zone, that’s. Uptown it’s the standard shitshow.) So is congestion pricing nonetheless working? And in that case, is the income going in direction of large bicycle infrastructure upgrades like this?
This 16-square foot bike lane renovation is the very mannequin of presidency effectivity, because it’s taken a mere six years to date and in that point it’s solely gone over the contractor’s preliminary $300,000,000 estimate by 20%.
Clearly I’m kidding, and it’s already over three billion.
In any other case, some issues by no means change, like shoaling:
See how he places himself all the best way out into the intersection in order that turning automobiles can hardly get round him? Like a human visitors cone? That’s good shoaling.
However sure, from the time I headed out within the morning till I arrived house that evening I positively marveled on the Roaduno’s preternatural fleetness:
Thanks for studying, experience secure, and benefit from the weekend.
