Went for a ride around the University tonight, most of my photos turned out poorly for some reason. Here is one of the good ones. This is the back of the Biotechnology building, the greenhouses look neat all lit up at night time.
I guess I never mentioned this before, but Saskatoon is home to the University of Saskatchewan, the campus covers a large portion of the east side of the river bank in Saskatoon. I decided to take a ride around the campus tonight as it isn't too far from my apartment and I was running pretty late to go for a ride tonight. I thought it would be really cold out tonight, but actually it was nicer then last night, about -5 Celcius. I tryed to take some photos on campus, but my camera was acting up (anyone want to buy me a new one? please, pretty please :) and most of my photos ended up looking very dark and blurry. The rest of the ride was good, I fixed my shifter cable, it had pulled out of the anchor screw about 1/4", so I tighted it up and luckily the shifter worked perfect. That is however something that I feel the need to rant about, what was so wrong with good old friction thumb shifters? I had a chance to ride a bike with them recently and was amazed at how accurate they were, and you can adjust your gears with just a simply touch of the shifter, how simple. I've been thinking of getting some bar cons and Paul Thumbies and making a set of my own. Gripshifters and trigger shifters need your cable adjustments to be right on, otherwise they just don't work, when they are adjusted properly they work wonderfully, but how often does that happen? I think that it is all just marketing, they keep coming up with new components that are supposed to be better then the one's they replace, everyone buys them because they are new, not because they work better, Shimano Dual Control levers/shifters are a perfect example of this. Which brings me to my next pet peeve, bike snobs, these are the people that think that you have to be riding the latest and greatest or your not a real biker. They are also the people that shun recumbents, through nothing but ignorance, not because they have actually tried one and hated it. The fact is (and I hate to preach) recumbents are so much more practical then a diamond frame bike, not to mention comfortable and efficient. My Burley weighs almost 40lbs, but it is as easy to scoot along on as a diamond frame bike weighing half as much. Also I can pack a ton of stuff on it and be really comfortable while doing it. I wonder what touring cyclist are thinking, for the price of a decent touring bike you can get a recumbent and tour in total comfort, the miles just melt away. Why would you want to spend hours each day with a tiny seat wedged up you butt? I know some people will bring up specialized parts, but my recumbent is made of 4130 Cromo, easily welded any where, it fits a standard rack, and as for components and tires, any Walmart in the country will have tires, brake pads, etc that will fit my bike, it is no more specialized then a regular touring bicycle. Okay, now I'm done, I'll get off the soapbox now, I hate to tell everyone to buy a recumbent, but if you are a serious cyclist and you spend alot of money on bikes, why not just try one out at least, keep your mind open to different things, that's all I ask. I will be posting from my parents house tomorrow as my girlfriend and I are going there for the weekend, so until next time, ride safe and have alot of fun along the way!
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