3 Niagara Square Crit Squared...

The problem is, it squared me.

It was a difficult race this morning in downtown Buffalo, at the historic Niagara Square site. Traffic was blocked for an afternoon full of races. The course had half a dozen turns, but all of them a little on the challenging side since the roads were pothole ridden and needed work on some areas. As the Cat 5 race got underway, I decided to give it a push on the third lap taking to the front, trying to bridge a gap between me and two riders ahead of me. As usual, I made a fool of myself in front of spectators, since I couldn't keep the pace I was setting for myself, and gradually got dropped. Wrong attack, wrong time. Too much excitement lets say. After getting prompty lapped out, I rejoined the back of the pack as they passed by and hell, I finished! Fun day, could have made things a little better. Could have done with a team. :( Ok, I'll stop whining.









I did get see the Trek Lime Automatic shifting bike up close. Pretty cool actually. This is the height of data abstraction (in computer terms, show only whats needed and hide the rest). Everything you need is right there before you, whats hidden is an intricate generator mechanism in the hub that powers the lights and the chip of the computer, or "brain". This slightly brings back memories of riding the famous Indian Roadster bikes fitted with a dynamo that would power a headlight on the handlebar. As long as you kept pedaling, the light would shine.

I wish I could test ride it, seemed not possible in the heat of the moment. I assume that the computer, based on cadence input would shift to the next gear. A bike such as this is understable when used by people INTIMIDATED by bikes. Crappy street bike shifting still gets me intimidated.....

Its lame to be used by a real cyclist. I'm sort of against this thing encroaching into the road and racing bike market. Electronic shifting is lame.