Bicyclistic

Last autumn I lived in the northwest corner of Ireland. This is my bike on the way home from the shops. The village was 4 miles away and the picture was taken with just a mile or so to go home - you can see my cottage in the distance.

(click to enlarge)

The beauty of an XtraCycle bike is that when you are carrying nothing it rides like an ordinary bike, but should you suddenly have the need to carry something - you can. In this picture I have food and supplies for a few days, but also a load of wood, branches and scrapwood, that I picked up along the road to be used as firewood.

Long-time readers of my scrawlings will know that my bicycle goes by the name of Long-Grass. As standard road bikes go it’s long, but that’s not where Long-Grass got its name from.

A touring bike now acting as a commuting bike that lives off tales of former glories, much like myself, Long-Grass became longer 4 years ago when it transformed into an XtraCycle. Strictly speaking the terminology is that I purchased a Free Radical kit from the company called XtraCycle, and applied it to my bike. Whatever it’s called, it remains the best thing I have ever bought.

When I moved to Kansas City, the wise and the good (and the unthinking and the dishonest) told me that living in KC would be impossible without a car, especially if you were a parent. Thanks to XtraCycle, they were very wrong.

One day I’ll do a list of the things I have carried on my XtraCycle bike.

See Also:
   • 20 Canvases on a Bicycle
   • Buying a Christmas Tree Without a Car
   • My Cycle Across America

[note: my bike is actually a Cannondale T-Something-Or-Other]