I met this serpent yesterday, as I was biking along. Going at a nice slow speed on a soft path, really allows for a great view of wildlife up high or down low. I thought he was a bullsnake, but now I believe he is a youngish Prairie Kingsnake or a Northern water snake. Some sort of innocuous snake at any rate, pleasant and of no harm.

I biked, and biked and biked some more, then I got a dipped cone at the not Tastee-Freeze. I passed 200 miles on the bike’s odometer.  LovelyBicycle’s photos are extremely inspiring. Olympus EP-1 with the Fearsome Fujian 25mm TV lens

My Felt Cafe3.
When I originally bought this last July, I had not owned a bicycle for 18 odd years.  I knew I wanted something reasonably austere and reasonably stylish.  What I kept going back to, in my head was an old three speed I had in the early 80s, that was all-about fine. I don’t remember too much about it,  it was probably dead stock, and decidedly old looking by 1985.   I was later gifted a generic 80s steel framed 10-speed of domestic name brand.
But anyway, the Felt. I tried out the Electra Townie at the bike shop and the Amsterdam, but they were a little too ‘comfort’ bike.  I opted for the Felt Cafe3 without a test ride (the shop had to order it)  and to my delight when it arrived, it was a reasonably perfect fit.  So I paid for it, and began my modern era of bicycling. Then I found the webcomic Yehuda Moon and the Kickstand Cyclery…

It’s a light, surprisingly fast bike. I did not like being leaned over with half my weight on the bars though, and the pinch-stem did not seem to hold the handlebars all that tight. I tried to tighten them, shim them, and eventually just had the stem replaced with a pop-top generic mountain bike stem, and the bars were replaced with some wide Walls-bars. Then I could raise the seat.   Pedals replaced for some skeletonized grippy things.  Then the rear rack, and  Selle An Atomica seat, gewgaws, and finally a Sackville Small bag from Rivendell.

Basically, I have half- Van Sweringen’d the thing. And it gets me around nicely.

Break seatpost quick-release binder.  Drive to bike store to purchase new one. Spend an hour getting seat post, seat, saddle bag situated.  Leave too late to make the parade. Sulk. Bike 15 miles anyway.