Feel the love

Just moved abroad, took my bikes with me, totally unable to sell anything before I left, despite wifely insistence. Got a mountain bike for play time, all is good. Shopper bike with dog basket for dog-transporting, check.

Today, bit of spare time on my hands, so I started to fettle. Got my fixed-wheel bike back out of storage, took the gaffer tape off the frame. It had done its job, the frame was scratch free. Bright orange was still pretty bright. Fettled the front brake, bodged a re-truing of the front wheel (pretty damn well, if I say so myself), and went to meet my wife from work. It's a 25 minute ride on the shopper, and I did it in less than 14.

I'd forgotten just how fast it was. Wow. Overtaking cars, getting a sweat on. Dodging lemming peds, leaving muppets in their sardine tins far behind, I'd also forgotten how much fun it could be. Coming back with the wife (her on shopper, me dawdling), it was a nice evening, and we cycled back down Rue du Commerce, which is a nicely surfaced, one-way shopping street. Traffic was light and moving slowly, and I was loving it. I started weaving from side to side, whistling a jaunty tune. Couldn't help myself.

It was a really nice ride, relaxed and smooth, and the weather was so mild it felt like spring. Roll on the real thing. It felt good. I am keeping the bike, and I am going to ride it more often. Feel the love, man. Feel free to share your 'I <3 my bike' moments, too.

Nice story! Where (in France) have you moved to?

Love the French road surfaces .......

Not unlike Central London (before and) after the snow hit.

Thanks, Buddha Fingaz. Moved to Paris, riding here is brilliant. Big massive boulevards, clear lines of sight to traffic lights, lots of forwards planning and you're flying. Bike boxes and bike lanes everywhere, and the bike lanes run across side roads, and people are generally very good about not turning right across them without checking -- makes a change. There's a lot of shouting and beeping, but it's pretty good-natured compared to London. No cabbies spitting on you just for being a cyclist, for example!

Pastasauce -- road surfaces are highly variable in Paris. Cobbles are a nightmare! They use a really liquid tarmac that goes super smooth, but it's soft as shite. It melts in mild sunlight, people park scooters on overcast days and the stand will sink an inch into the pavement, just nuts.

That said, I did laps of the racecourse at Longchamps today, there's a road that runs right round the edge, and it's roadie heaven. Undulating road, impeccable surface, most of it is closed road, about twenty or thirty feet wide. You have to share with cars on one bit, but the one way bike track is bigger than the two way road :D

Another big chunk is about twenty feet wide and has a single lane for cars coming up, and twice as much space for bikes going the other way. They've got their priorities straight here, I can tell you.