Old steed comes back out of the barn

The Guest Rider noticed immediately. I was doing a couple of laps around the cul de sac while waiting for her to emerge from the garage. She didn't even make it to the end of the driveway before she asked, "What happened to the blue tires?" The answer is that the OldLOOK palps orange.

Today I rode the old bicycle. You don't have to ask, because that bike and I have unfinished business is why.

So, a ride report.

That LOOK is a very, very lightweight bicycle. Yet, it is noticeably heavier than NewLOOK. NewLOOK is scary light.

The fit is pretty close to identical but I did notice that the angles are just very slightly different. Both the upper body reach and the leg reach on today's ride were different than what I have been doing. It ended up being good, I felt increased effort from my hamstrings. Any position that puts your larger muscles to work is a good position.

The saddle is a little different from what I rode for the last 2,002 miles but the seat on the OldLOOK and I obviously have a history. The saddle felt, as it should, like an old friend within a mile or two. That's the same saddle I have on the Crown Jewel and on my Michigan bicycle. That translates to more than 28,000 miles on that particular platform, a tried and true relationship. I had NO trouble getting comfortable.

NewLOOK features a rear brake cable running along the underside of the top tube. OldLOOK features a through the top tube placement of that cable. NewLOOK is a compact or sloping frame which means that with less room between the bottle cage and the top tube and with a cable running there as well that removal of the rear water bottle is not always smooth. No such problem exists with the cable tucked out of the way on OldLOOK.

OldLOOK shifts a little bit better. This could be vanity speaking as I assembled OldLOOK, NewLOOK arrived having been assembled by someone else. The way I did it works better, that's all I have to say. Particularly the upshift on the front derailer is better on OldLOOK.

NewLOOK's brakes are in better adjustment. At least they were before I got home from the ride and for I think the first time ever used the barrel adjusters on both brakes to take some of the play out of the brake levers. OldLOOK should be just fine now.

It is a great, great bicycle. It has a lot of miles on it, miles past the expected life of some of the parts. But nothing has actually worn out yet and until something does it and I have unfinished business. After today's ride I have 18,208 miles on that ride. I think we can all see where this is going.

We rode out to Vadnais. There are a few storks still around but in numbers very greatly reduced from our last trip out there.There were quite a few geese today. That set me to wondering exactly what the dynamic is there. Did the storks leave and then the geese returned. Or did the geese return and then the storks left. I don't know.

I rode past the softball field construction site. There was guy out there with a back hoe pushing down the largish remains of the former maple tree.As I prepare to post he has finished his work and the trunk is now flat on the ground.

EDIT: OK, this is kind of late in the day but I just found this on BikeSnobNYC and it seems worth posting and I don't want to wait until tomorrow.