Where There’s A Quill There’s A Way – Bike Snob NYC

Greetings from down here in New York State’s perineum:

Where we’ve recently emerged from the rather piratey-sounding weather phenomenon known as a “nor’easter:”

I asked the AI to create an image for “A pirate spotting a nor’easter approaching towards the starboard bow” and instead I got Max Cavalera of Brazilian thrash metal sensations Sepultura taking a selfie of himself in a dinghy.

In any case, prior to the storm’s arrival I made sure to go for a ride beneath trees tinged with autumnal hues and skies slowly swelling with portent:

Like spring, fall is a glorious time to ride, though also like spring it’s hard to fully enjoy the emergent beauty because you know very soon it will peak and then it will be gone:

But enjoy it I did, and while it’s been over three-quarters of a year now I keep finding more to love about the Roadini, which is now experiencing its very first autumn:

Not only am I enjoying its recent double-ization:

But on a whim I complemented it by lowering the bars by about a centimeter:

In so doing, I’ve deviated from the Rivendell playbook even further; however, the new bar position teases out just a bit more of the bike’s sporting nature, and even with the bars slightly below the saddle it’s not like I’m exactly stretching the limits of my flexibility here:

And of course the best thing about a quill stem is you can raise or lower your bars on a whim, even mid-ride, and it takes about five seconds:

No doubt by January I’ll have added a centimeter to my midsection, at which point I can simply raise the bars again to compensate.

However, I should note that when I first lowered the stem I accessed the multitool I was keeping in this bag, which I obtained early this year:

I like tool rolls because it’s much easier to get at stuff, but I don’t like how they can sometimes eject themselves depending on the saddle they’re strapped to, and this seemed to have all the benefits of a saddle bag while at the same time being very secure. In fact, I liked it enough that I bought a second one for a different bicycle. However, this time when I removed the bag to lower the stem the Velcro (or its generic hook-and-loop fastener equivalent, I don’t know if it’s actual brand name Velcro) peeled right off the strap:

This meant I couldn’t attach the bag to my saddle again and had to carry it in my jersey pocket for the remainder of the ride:

I’m sure I can glue it back on, or maybe they’ll replace it, but it’s still disappointing given how seldom I access the bag.

And speaking of jerseys, back in March of 2023 Wabi Woolens sent me this one:

I love merino wool for autumn cycling, and this particular jersey has become one of my favorites. Also, for reasons I don’t quite understand, it’s pretty much the only wool garment I own that doesn’t have at least some evidence of moth nibblings. (It should not surprise you that someone as lazy as I am takes no precautions whatsoever against moths.) Of course YMMV (that stands for Your Mothage May Vary) but overall it’s been an indispensable garment.

I realize you don’t come here for the product evaluation, but sometimes you get it anyway.