Cycling Partners and Sketchy Rides

When describing my lone bicycle rides over the past two years, I was often told that, all romance of "the lone cyclist" aside,  I won't improve if I don't ride with others. With all my might I resisted this idea. But, big surprise: It's true. Having finally gathered enough courage to start cycling with others, I notice that I tend to ride further, put in more effort, and generally push my limits more when I am egged on accompanied by other cyclists - particularly those who are better than I am. Luckily, finding stronger cyclists to ride with is easy, since by roadie standards I am terrible. But finding stronger cyclists to ride with whom I feel comfortable with and who won't outright laugh at my ineptitude? Not so easy at all.

That's why I was grateful when Jim A. (the owner of this bike) invited me to join him on a ride. Given that Jim is a bicycle mechanic and a life-long cyclist, I knew that I would embarrass myself on this ride despite his description of it as easy-going. But Jim is such a nice guy, that I was okay with that.

I was also looking forward to seeing his Sketchy bicycle.

A-ha!

Sketchy bikes are made by Mike Salvatore, a framebuilder at Seven Cycles. I only had my point-and-shoot camera with me, so no good photos this time. But Susan of Twelfth Bike has lots of beautiful pictures of her pink one here. Jim's bike is brown.

So my loaner Seven and Jim's Sketchy are essentially related and possibly built by the same person. They even have a family resemblance, including the curved stays.

However, the Sketchy is steel, not titanium. Next time I'd love to try this bike.

Despite a minor injury a few days ago, I felt good and was ready for our easy-going ride... which, by the time I got home, ended up being 50 miles. That is the longest single ride I've taken on the Seven so far, and it's safe to say that any remaining anxieties I had about its handling have been alleviated. Apparently, a racing bike with 23mm tires can be comfortable for 50 miles: I have no hand, neck, back, or any other pain what so ever. And apparently it can do 30mph downhill on a criminally pothole-ridden road without anything terrible happening to the fork or wheels. Good to know!

I am also generally more confident on the bike. Last time I was at the Ride Studio Cafe we lowered the handlebars so that they are now a couple of cm below the saddle. Since the frame is too big for me, this was accomplished by placing all the spacers above the stem and flipping the stem over so that it points down. The tall stack of spacers looks funny, but I am glad to have the handlebars in this position.

So, how terrible am I compared to Jim? Unfortunately, it's hard to say! He is so polite that I have no way of knowing to what extent he was taking it easy for my sake. The ride ended up being longer than we planned and more strenuous than I anticipated - which is good! I am starting to understand that I need other people to motivate me, push me, and help me improve as a roadcyclist.