zacster

After years of using a converted mountain bike for commuting, I was all ready to go this morning and found it had a flat. As I was in cycling clothes and it was getting late I decided to just grab my road bike instead. This bike is totally unsuitable as a commuter, carbon frame, Campy group, super light wheels, no lights, bell, rack or fenders.

I slung my messenger bag/pannier over my shoulder and took off, and I immediately realized why I don't do this often. I hate carrying things on my back, and then when I hit the hill in the park I realized how much that weighed me down. When I got to Manhattan, I realized that the Look Keo pedals were totally inappropriate for the traffic, and basically I had to take it easy, as tempting as it was to just take off. On the non-traffic areas though I definitely had an advantage.

Ultimately it took the exact same time as usual. It isn't how fast you can go on any one stretch in NYC, it is how many red lights you need to stop at.