In Which I’m Missing My Bike

A Boo Bicycle frame made with bamboo.
See boobicycles.com.

I set a goal this year to ride 5,000 miles on my bike.

That means I have to average a bit mover 400 miles per month. In January, I rode 70 miles. Having a mileage deficit in January doesn’t bother me—in this climate, it’s to be expected.

But, so far in February, I have a goose egg. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Nothing. Zed.

To be fair, while I don’t have as good an excuse as my delayed twin, who was a bit occupied having organs removed from her abdomen (she always was an over-achiever and her appendix was, too) in February, this month, I think most Iowans would recognize, has not been biking friendly. We more than halfway through it, but 6 inches of snow are falling today on top of a layer of ice that preceded the snow, so this week is starting to look a bit iffy, too.

Oh, well. The first year I did RAGBRAI, I was unaware I would do RAGBRAI until my son invited me in March. Starting training in April or May is, to be honest, not all that impractical as long as you can commit to building up a decent mileage count.

It’s a bit early to throw in the towel on 5,000 miles in 2014. Most of those miles would have to be in the summer anyway. So, I'm not giving up yet. Instead, I’ll dream of spring. And bamboo.

I have a Google news alert about biking, and bamboo has been making the biking news recently.

For one thing, there is a company in Colorado, called Boo Bikes, that makes bikes out of bamboo. They are pricey, high-end bikes, and I don’t know what the pluses or minuses are, but the frames sure look cool, don’t they?

And there is a British rock band called “Bombay Bicycle Club” that often shows up on my Google alert. In January, they released this video, which has totally nothing to do with biking, but which seems something to warm the spirits a bit as we wait for spring and more biking weather:

Update: I lied. and I wrote about the lie on this blog. I rode 8 miles on Feb. 3. So February is not a total loss, but I didn't feel like re-writing the post. It feels like I haven't been on the bike this month, even if it's not literally true.