a month of folding bike.

I got a flat last month.  It took me a while to getting around to taking my rear wheel off.  It took me still more time to get the flat repaired.  And getting the wheel back on... I think I will do that tomorrow.  It's not that I've been particularly busy-- though I have been out of town for about a week of the last month and out of school for a week on top of that.  I didn't realize how long I had been off the ODT until I did a mass update of my bike log yesterday: a month!  

I suppose that says a lot about the functionality of the Dahon.  It's an easy bike to grab and go (considering our stairs).  It has fenders and stays reasonably clean.  It handles fine in the rain and I am plenty visible on it.  Surprisingly, I've even settled into a grocery getting routine with it- the bike handles just fine with a bag on the handlebars, or the basket on, depending on how well I plan.  I've actually been doing fewer deliberate grocery trips and doing more combined trips, getting groceries on the way home and the like.  I even rode it to a job interview in high heels (red patent peep toes, if you must know) and a dress.  It was fine.  I have yet to fall off it in traffic, even if it is not always as sturdy or as maneuverable as I like.  A month of folding bike has been a mostly positive experience.  I've gotten a lot faster on it. The bike does exactly what I need it to do.  It is a pure transportation machine... if all I'm doing is five or six miles a day.


Any more than that and the Dahon starts to exact its revenge.  Smaller wheels mean more spin.  I have to work harder with a load in my backpack vs. on the rear rack (generally not a fan of stuff on the rear rack of the Dahon).  The last couple of days were particularly busy.  I inadvertently did 25 miles in 2 days on that little machine.  That kind of mileage is a little out of the norm for me considering my habits, and not something I would usually do without rotating bikes.  My leg muscles can take it but my seat bones... my knees... my pecs... oy.  So I've encountered the comfort limits of the Dahon and we're kind of like frenemies right now.  It only took 120 miles!  


Needless to say, I'm getting on that ODT wheel tomorrow.