So, I started looking at bicycles. Ever since I was a kid I have been into bikes, and throughout high school and college rode a lot both on road and off. Originally I was looking for a mountain bike here, but the only decent one I found sold and I realized that riding mountain here would be nearly impossible (trails here consist of very steep ascents filled with loose rocks, dirt, and roots. In addition, the soil seems to be something resembling clay, so riding up those trails looks to be more of a pain in the ass than is worth it. So, I started looking at road bikes...I've been wanting a roadie since my last one was totalled when I got hit by a truck...after a few weeks of looking (I wanted a non-Korean bike, which are fairly rare around here), I found it...a Specialized Allez A1 24. It's a few years old (2002 or 2005, I'm not too sure). The components aren't top-shelf, but they're not bargain basement either (for you bike geeks: Shimano Sora and Tiagra shifters/brake levers and derailleurs, Ritchey Logic Aheadset, Ritchey handlebar, Ritchey hubs front and rear, Sugino cranks)...it's decent and fairly light (putting it on a scale with me revealed it to be roughly 22 lbs...much nicer than my 30 lb mountain monster at home).
Dawni and I went to Seoul to pick it up last weekend and though the guy was shady as hell (he was bragging about making $250,000 a year as a colonel in the US army, but felt the need to try to rip me off on a $400 bike), the bike was in beautiful condition...it still has the original tires and brake pads on it that have barely any wear on them. The biggest problem with it was that it wasn't shifting right which I found out was caused by lack of use...the grease in the shifter hardened! (A quick spray with WD-40 solved the issue).
I've been meaning to take better pictures of it, but it's such a pain having to carry a backpack just for my camera that I have been lazy...sooo here are some picture of it in my apartment (yes, it lives inside haha)...in the sun it looks amazing...it's metallic blue with pearl white...two of my favourite colours...and everything else (handle bar, stem, seatpost, wheels, etc) is semigloss black:
With the fix...all I have to say is WOW...the thing is ridiculously quick. Leaving an intersection, I'm usually around 30km/h by the time I reach the other side...cruising on slight uphills at 30km/h is no big deal...in fact, even this felt pretty effortless (not the fastest I've gone on a bike...on my old Peugeot roadie I clocked 78 km/h, but his is a start)
I've been riding the hell out of the bike...in the week I've had it, I've clocked a little over 258 km on it. Most days I ride 40-45 km after school...but on Sunday I put a little over 50 km on it. Surprisingly enough, doing it day after day is not tiring me out...I'm hoping to work myself up to 100+ km days. I used to do that back in Canada, but I haven't really ridden bikes seriously since I left Victoria in 2005.
It's amazing riding, though...I can finally be out exploring more than the few kilometres around my house and not have to rely on stupid buses. I'm growing more and more hateful of the six-wheeled sardine cans and the people who inhabit them. I've been out exploring Masan and Changwon (when you rely on buses it's easy to have no idea how the city is laid out and where exactly things are in relation to each other...I'm finding that riding is helping with that a lot) and I have been heading out to the countryside as well.
Surprisingly enough, it feels much safer to ride in traffic than it does to even walk on the sidewalk around here. I think it's because there are soooo few riders on the road (I literally bump into another one every 50-100 km) that people are not sure what to do with us and they err on the side of caution. As insane as Korean traffic is, I don't feel any less safe commuting in it than I did back in Canada...was definitely a positive shock haha.
Okay, this is it for now, I just wanted to show off the bike and give you guys the initial impressions...I'll try to have some more pics of it out and about ASAP.
Have a great Labour Day weekend, guys...wish I was at home for it!!
T
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