More on ANT Bicycles.

In researching more about Mike Flanigan and his company ANT Bicycles, I found this video. Parts of this video were used in the digital project which is part of the Bespoke exhibit at the Museum of Art & Design.

The stable

To a non-biker, having four bikes seems a bit excessive. But to me, I think it's completely within reason. I use these bikes equally and often. It's not that hard to understand, but I'll break it down for you anyway.

1. Fixed Gear: Used for grocery runs, spins downtown with the camera, bar crawling with friends and commuting to work.
2. Road bike: Used for long training rides out in NJ.
3. Single Speed Mt bike: Used primarily at Cunningham Park & Sprain Ridge when I need my back-to-basics nature fix.
4. Geared Mt bike: This is my woodland blaster, used for pure adrenaline on all trails.

Being a married cyclist, it's important that your spouse fully understand the necessity of several bikes. Especially when a new one may be joining the family. I got a reply from Mike Flanigan at ANT Bikes. Turns out that a Truss Frame Bike like the one I saw at the Museum of Art & Design will run me close to $4K. (yowza!) I'm going to see where I we can cut some corners on cost. He had some helpful ideas for shaving the cost down while still retaining the perfection that is, his work. Stay tuned...

26 miles on the fixed gear

I set off on the fixed gear this morning with the intention of popping down to MOD Squad Cycles and back. Nothing more than a 4 or 5 mile spin. I figured the fixed gear would save my stitched finger from shifting and braking. MOD Squad is a pretty cool little shop. They're located in South Harlem just north of Central Park. I got good vibes from the people working today and got a little nostalgic for the years I spent working as a mechanic in bike shops. As I was knee-deep into reminiscing about greasy days gone by there was a loud record skip... the culprit: a customer complaining about the shop not carrying a particular type of bike rack. It was then that I decided days gone by are sometimes best left ... gone by. I did pick up a snazzy new Knog cap before leaving and headed back home.

iPhone snap of the RFK Bridge from Queens.

Funny thing about headed back home: I couldn't do it. It was too nice out. Riding, after running the past few days felt so good on the legs, and so I just pointed the bike south and pedaled. I didn't really have a plan but did have an interest in checking out Randalls Island. So, off I went. I ducked into Central Park and took the bike path down to 59th street and shot across the Queensboro Bridge. Once I was in Queens I churned north up to the RFK Bridge. My ride turned out being 26 miles instead of the 4 or 5 I planned on.

iPhone snap, riding across the RFK Bridge into Randalls Island

Riding across the RFK Bridge was amazing. It's narrower than the George Washington and the view is pretty amazing. There are stairs you climb at each end of the bridge and they've built a little gutter at the side of the stairs for you to push your bike within. I planned on taking the RFK Bridge North, off of the island and into the Bronx but the walkway was closed and so I had to take the pedestrian bridge west into Manhattan. From there I pedaled west and hopped back into Central Park to complete the top loop of the bike path and exit at the same point I had entered the park an hour or so earlier. From there it was just a 70 or so block ride home.

iPhone snapshot of my Pista under the RFK Bridge in Queens.

As I sit on the couch drinking glass after glass of water I'm feeling great. I think a quick run ought to just about wipe me out for the day. Looking forward to a hearty supper!

Truss Frame Bike

ANT Bikes' Truss Frame Bike

After seeing ANT Bike's Truss Frame Bike bike at the Museum of Art & Design's hand made bicycle exhibit aptly titled Bespoke, I feel like I have a new bike crush (sorry honey). This is one of the most attractive bikes I have ever seen. What a classic looking, simple, fluid design; its why I love my Pista. The small diameter tubes, painted black lend themselves to the inherently simple form of the bike. The thin tubed springer uprights mounted to the fork give a little suspension to the ride although I've never seen a system like it. I suppose the suspension comes from the spring quality of the steel uprights, as I do not see an actual spring linkage involved. No brakes mounted to this frame further lean it out. In my opinion, fixed gear or coaster brake are the only ways to roll on one of these. The Brooks leather saddle and cork taped bars dovetail nicely with the black framework. And what about those sweeping bars and that stem? The cockpit looks so comfortable! The cranks on this bike are amazing as well. ANT's own design; with a club, heart, diamond and spade cut out of the chainring. Aesthetically pleasing and light weight. Upon close inspection / admiration at the show, I saw that Mike built the bike with Paul dropouts. These are some beautifully efficient dropouts.

Mike Flanigan of ANT Bikes has created the timeless, pure, vintage-modern bicycle. Yesterday I emailed him for a quote and we'll see what one of these bikes is going to set me back. I'll have to start making room in the stable...

Bespoke

Busy day today. Did a million things. This calls for a bullet point recap:

• Kicked the day off with a 2.5 mi run around Washington Heights this morning.
• My girlfriend and I hopped a train down to Morningside Heights and had a french style breakfast at Le Monde.
• Enjoyed the Bespoke Exhibit at the Museum of Art & Design. (I now want one of A.N.T.'s Truss Frame bicycles)
• Browsed the Farmer's Market at Union Square and came very close to buying some free roaming, hormone & antibiotic free, beef
• Grabbed some food items at the Trader Joe's in Union Square

Time to clean up the house, fix a nice dinner and then satiate my need to know more about Alternative Needs Transportation...

Running

I started running this week. I picked up some running shoes, shorts, socks and began reading about running on a few websites and forums. I'm feeling pretty energized from the runs; I sense a change in my attitude during the day and especially right after a run. (I guess its true what they say about activity enduced endorphins) I'm not running far yet. In fact, on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday I only ran 1.39mi, 1.68mi and 2.12mi respectively. My goal is to be able to run 4 miles comfortably.

One thing that's been a lot of help to me is the Runmeter App for the iPhone. It uses global positioning to track my mileage, pace, elevation et cetera. I can then email a Google map of my route to myself and friends and there is even an option to update my Face Book status with my run or even Tweet it. The app also provides an overview of your running history so that you can view your runs on a calender to compare daily activity. Moreover you can even export all of your data in excel format! This is good stuff!

3 year anniversary

Today was our three year anniversary. My wife and I celebrated by sitting our tired butts on the couch and eating pizza while watching The Machinist. My wife picked up our favorite cake from Carrot Top Bakery, which she had personalized with my new nick name, just for our low key festivity. I did get a quick two mile run in tonight, which makes three for this week, so I don't feel too bad about pizza and cake tonight.

I am looking forward to this weekend even though I wont be biking or climbing. The stitches in my finger are a real Debbie Downer.

In stitches

Last night, after returning from a short run, with plans of making a deliciously fattening quatro fromagio pizza; disaster struck. While washing a small juice glass I heard a "pop" and lost my grip on the glass. looking down I noticed a huge flap of skin hanging from my right pointer finger. Oh, and there was blood. A lot of blood. Then my mind switched into what I call Boy Scout mode: Apply pressure and elevate the wound! I grabbed the dish towel and wrapped my finger. In less than 60 seconds I had grabbed my wallet, keys, phone and was out the door. I got a lot of concerned looks as I walked to the train station at 190th Street, on the train, and while walking from 207th street to the Emergency Room at 219th street. I wondered what everyone thought and what I could say if someone asked me what had happened... "knife fight"... "fought some thugs in the park"... something good; something better than "I was washing a juice glass...".

Once I got to the Emergency Room I had to wait about 45 minutes. During that time they called me into a triage room and replaced my dish towel with a proper temporary bandage. When I was called in to be sewn up I was pleased to see the same doctor who had handled my broken elbows a little less than a year ago. We had a short laugh and then she got to work, pumping my finger full of lidocaine and probing around inside for loose pieces of glass and damaged tendons. I was all set to be stitched and so she began. I've posted the "disgusting video" below for you all to enjoy. I wound up with 6 stitches which I'll take out in about five days.

Ladies & gentlemen

For no apparent reason... I give you... William Shatner:

Transboro ride

iPhone snapshot of one of the pylons for the Roosevelt Island Tram. Taken from the Queensboro Bridge.

I met my friend, Dave, down in Murray Hill this morning on my road bike. We had planned getting the mountain bikes out today, and heading up to Sprain Ridge but due to threatening weather, decided to keep it local and take out the skinny-tired bikes instead.
Here's a quick recap of my ride today:

• Penn Station to to Murray Hill (quick stop at Sid's Bike Shop to look for new knobby tires)
• Murray Hill up to 60th & across the Queensboro Bridge
• North to 36th Ave and across the Roosevelt Island Bridge to (you guessed it) Roosevelt Island
• Dogfish Head 60 minute IPA (for 30 minutes)
• F train one stop to Lexington & 63rd
  
• West to Broadway and chugged north all the way home listening to old school hip hop on the iPod

iPhone snap of the 1,2,3 Line at 125th Street. I love this section of track.