It's never too early to make your New Year's resolutions...

...especially if you're not going to follow any of them anyway.

It's kind of ironic that I'm making New Year's resolutions for bike stuff, considering what a state of absolute wreckage the rest of my life is in. But I figure I've got to start somewhere, and bikes have been on my mind a lot since my time is no longer taken up with mundane pursuits like employment.

First off, I want to get more miles. The goal last year, and the one before, was to get fit enough to complete comfortably a double-metric century. I've done 126 miles before in a day, but only once, and at an age when thirty wasn't yet on the horizon. I've done a hundred once or twice more, with 6-hr times, and plenty of 75s. I could do a metric century right now, except that it would get dark too soon to finish.

Second, I want them to be miles that I can feel proud of. I've always had a vague sense of embarassment every time I put my bike in the back of the pickup truck. I've tried to observe the rule that a ride needs at least to last longer than the drive to the start, but it needs to be more serious than that. I want to ride out my front door, put in my miles, and ride home. Mountain biking will have to observe different rules, as I can't imagine doing the forty mile turnaround to Yellow River, and get some meaningful dirt too. But I'll make honest road miles my sustainance, and keep dirt for dessert.

Third: Bikes for transportation. There's no reason I can't use my fixie to drop letters at the post office, or Pee Wee Patel to ride to CVS. I've got a butcher's bike that would be great for grocery shopping, and few enough time constraints. If I've got to trip over 30 bikes scattered all around the house, they may as well earn their keep.

Fourth: Finish up some projects. Pee Wee's got bad brakes. I bought a new set of pads but haven't gotten around to installing them. The butcher's bike is in just as many pieces as it was when I opened the box two years ago. You can't ride what doesn't work. And I can combine this with...

...Fifth: More hours at SOPO. The South of Ponce Bike Co-op needs warm bodies and weak minds, and I've got both. If I volunteer there and help other folks fix their bikes, it buys me credit and cred, and my own projects get done too.

There's more, that doesn't merit it's own number or bullet point. At 45, I feel stupid wearing a pro rider's jersey with sponsor names all over it. It feels as absurd as dressing up like an old-west prospector to go to the supermarket. ("Yipee! I done found me some bread! An' some o' them-there individually wrapped processed cheese slices!") So I"m looking for functional bike clothing that doesn't make me look like a lycra billboard, or cost like the Rivendell retro guys. I"m buying interesting used jerseys off Ebay (my favorite is Aeroflot; I mean, what brand name has less credibility than the Soviet national airline?) but the wool ones bid up in a hurry, and most of them contain a lot of orange, a color that makes me look like I've got a liver disease. So I'm looking for knit woolens from other sports and casual wear. I want to get some quality slacks in a dark color and wool or wool-blend, and convert them to cycling knickers. And I even want to take that Butterick pattern for cycling shorts, jersey, and cap, and run up a set or two, since I do have that serger now.