New Bike Day was 2 weeks ago..

The title says it all-- I got my new bike! I will post a better picture once the weather gets a bit nicer and I find a convenient spot to snap a shot of my new baby. Due to the loss of my digital camera last year on Cal-Train, I take all of my pictures using the Photo Booth feature on my MacBook.

Here's the breakdown:
Stem, clamp-on brake and seatpost are temporary.

Wheelset= Phil Wood hubs (back is flip-flop), laced to Deep V machined rims with Gatorskin tires
Drive train= Phil Wood BB, White Industries freewheel, Wipperman chain, Paul Royal Flush Cranks with complimentary Sugino Alloy Dust Cups, White Industries pedals attached to Christophe Special toeclips and Pake straps.
Brakes= Dia-compe clamp-on rear brake and a Campagnolo Centaur front brake. Brake levers are Paul canti levers.
Seat= Selle Italia vegan Turbo
Seatpost= Compliments of Box Dog Bikes
Headset= Chris King
Frame= De Bernardi 51 cm thron
Stem= Dimension 90 mm
Handlebars= Nemesis Project Lil Weezy's
Grips= Oury Grips

So far the bike rides really smoothly, predictably, and quickly. I am going to try setting the seat a little further back and raising it slightly so I can get a better pedal revolution. I am gradually getting better at riding with getting both feet into my toe clips right away. I already had my first fall out of my toe clips, as I got to the front of my house and realized I had to put my foot down. I ended up falling into a minivan, and it was quite funny. Luckily the street was dead and I was fine.

Intentions

I took a few days off of work to enjoy my upcoming new bike days. I'm just waiting on Campognolo brakes for my new ride since the Paul Racer Mediums are apparently too long-reaching. Hopefully new bike day will be tomorrow, or at least no later than Saturday. I'm so excited to have a lighter, faster, and sexier bike.

I thought that as a follow-up to my initial posting, this would be a good time to clarify my intentions of this blog.

Obviously, this was started because I want to share my evolving love for bicycling with others, but I also started this because if I ever had an urge to start up my own cycling-centered company, I wanted to already have a foundation. I will post important news here (such as policies, stolen bike listings, injured/killed cyclists, and whatever else I find worthy of my time).

I also want to post my ideas here that will make our streets safer. Of course, cars are an issue and I think that there needs to be more measures taken to create safer automobiles not only for the driver, but for those being affected around it. I feel like there needs to be some sort of sensor installed in a part of the automobile that causes the automobile to freeze (think emergency stop) when it comes too close to a bicycle. Now I know that most of us come extremely close to cars while riding, but I'm thinking that this sensor should only work if the cyclist is within a certain number of inches of the vehicle. It would be selfish and really stupid if the sensor system caused the vehicle to stop while driving everywhere it encountered a bicycle close to it. I know the ideal situation is to get people out of their vehicles and onto bikes, but people aren't transitioning anytime soon.

That's enough for now.

First post is gonna be a long one!

One day a thought entered my head and I asked myself: "Why isn't there a bicycle merchandise company or even a cycling-centered blog named One Track Mind?!" Well today I decided to start up the blog as a new chapter of my life is about to open up.

I got my very first bicycle at the age of five, which was called "Sweet Misty". I learned to actually ride my bike without training wheels around the age of 8 at the park across the street from the house I grew up in and I recall crashing into a tree, crying, and vowing to never ride a bike ever again. Fast forward 9 years and I find myself in the process of getting my driver's license. Just like a lot of other 16-year olds, I was excited and impatient about learning how to drive. I thought I would be a great driver and I didn't expect to lack so much discipline and patience in the process. I had hit three different cars in the first month of having my driver's permit. I felt self-centered, anxious, and trapped every time I got behind the wheel. I thought I would love driving and as it turned out, I fucking hated every second of it. I'm not a very competitive person by nature, but every time I would get inside the '98 Ford Taurus, something inside me turned on that was better left turned off. After failing the driving portion of my license test, I laid in bed one night and was thinking about how expensive it was to drive (with gas, car insurance, the prospective price of getting my own car), and how I wanted a way to exercise without going to the gym. It didn't take long for the epiphany to find it's way into my head-- a bicycle!!! I had already been vegan for a year and I thought how counterproductive it would be for such a conscientious person like myself to drive a car, and to go what, 2 miles to school every day?
During my next driving lesson, I brought up my idea to my driving instructor who was very skeptical, and laughed and asked how I would be able to ride a bike when I couldn't even walk in a straight line. I'm the type of person who loves to do what I'm told I won't be able to accomplish, so having my driving instructor tell this to me made me even more determined to go out and get a bicycle. Shortly after that I canceled my driving lessons, and canceled the car insurance (but not without being heckled by the insurance rep), and told my parents that I wanted a bike. About $450 later I walked out of Livermore Cyclery with my first real bike, a Trek 7300 Hybrid that I fell in love with. I became known as the girl who rode her bike to school and was quite proud of it. At first I rode on the sidewalk because I was too scared to ride in the bike lane, but a family friend who races got me into the road and helped me to increase my confidence on the road. In a town where most people only lived within 3 miles of the high school, I found it absurd that I was one of the few kids old enough to have a license that chose to ride instead of drive.

The amount of joy riding my bike has brought me is insurmountable. In about a week's time I am going to have my first single speed, soon to be fixed gear bicycle. This will be the most expensive thing I will have ever owned, costing me about $3,200 because I'm choosing nearly all American-made parts, and what isn't made in America is made in Europe (minus about 2 small parts). I'm a big fan of fair labor and paying the true cost of what it takes to produce a quality item. I'm not selling the Trek, as it will be my back-up bike for days that I feel too tired to ride fixed or simply need to lock up for a long period of time (I've been riding in the city for 3 years and I've never had anything stolen off the Trek).


Well I know this is a long first post, so I'm gonna wrap it up. Posts will be mostly bicycle-related, and from time to time will be about food, music, or whatever-else-I-find-rad.