YakShaving

When I was at Veggie Bite on Milwaukee the other night (I love that place now, in case you haven’t noticed)… I saw this guy with a rickshaw charging a small fare for carting people around in this little contraption.

It reminded me of India of course, when I saw it, but then I thought quickly that this was quite possibly in our near future with gas possibly approaching >$5/gallon this summer.

In any event, I’m doing my part. Since I sold my car when I moved to Chicago, I’ve been so happy to just use a bicycle to get around. I was just telling Kevin this morning how funny it is to see people sitting in cars, looking like little prisoners in their wheeled boxes sitting in traffic, moving slower than molasses at rush hour while I jet past.

Today, I bought a new bike (I realized finally that I was too big for the bike I had used until now). It’s a beaaauuutiful vintage road bike - turquoise Trek, with a Reynolds 531 lugged frame that’s pretty light. It has very few scratches on it right now.

The only mods I’m thinking about right now: Getting a brooks saddle (I might wait until the end of the month to do this), a rack for panniers, and a set of interrupter brakes that I just learned about this week. Pure sweetness!

At first, I wasn’t thrilled about the electric blue-ish color but I’m getting used to it pretty fast, so I don’t think I’ll have it painted like I originally thought. I’d have to get it powder coated anyways and who knows how much that would set me back!

Thanks to Jonathon for finding me the sweet ride. You should definitely email him if you are ever looking for a bike in Chicago!