Okay, I'm jealous

My friend Kirk, who has been conducting his own car-free experiment of late, got a new vehicle.

He'd been building up the suspense for several days, asking folks for their opinions on what sort of vehicle to get. Of course, many (to some degree, myself included, embarrassingly enough) thought he was talking about getting a car (in my defense, he did indulge in a bit of misdirection). My suggestion? Get a velomobile. I wasn't even thinking in terms of his purchase of yet another bike. However, the Pashley Roadster Sovereign he bought (and had already chosen, in all likelihood) is a marvelous machine. It's a purpose-built commuter, from a company that has been building such works of utility art since 1926. It has all the esoteric stuff--Brooks B33 saddle, Brooks stacked-leather grips, and smooth-riding 28" (635 ETRTO)Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires, er, TYRES, the fully enclosed drivetrain, and a proper Brooks saddle bag. I can already see some green on my own jealous brown Raleigh--another purpose-built commuter (albeit a less-sophisticated one). Did I mention that Kirk got an awesome bike?


In the course of Kirk's blog entry on his new bike, he inserted a link about Walk Score--a way to see how an address fares when it comes to stuff to do within walking distance. I tried it, even though I already knew the score for my home would be fairly good. My score? 78/100. There are LOTS of restaurants, pharmacies, shops, taverns, and other places to get what I might want within a mile or so, and many more within the two mile radius I've mentioned before as part of the Clif Two-Mile Challenge.

Still, I am in a better mood this morning, and not entirely jealous. I awoke to an ambient temperature of a balmy 20F outdoors, meaning I can do my errand-running by bike today! Yay!

I'd better get busy...