Been a while

Today was my first commute (by bike) to work in over a month.
I commuted in January, February, and March. Donning layers, and charging batteries. The weather was pretty mild this Winter, but there where a couple of mornings that earned me some points.
I took the fenders off my bike last night too. It really is sort of pointless to put them on every Winter and remove them in the Spring; it's not like there is a huge difference between how a 24.5 lbs and 23.5 lbs bike ride. Just one less thing to rattle, and sometimes my foot hits the front fender at traffic lights. I like the way it looks w/o fenders too.
I love this bike.
In the quest for the lighter, stiffer, fast, next year's model the big bike companies got off the path of just truly great riding bike.
It doesn't have to be too fancy, or stretch the limits of materials and weights, it just needs to ride nice.
Sure lighter is nice, but personally I don't notice a lot of difference between a 16 lb bike and a 20 lb one.
Last year I rode my Univega and Cannondale a combine total of 7 times; I can't count how many times I rode this 32 year old fixed gear touring bike (well, I actually could count it, because I write down all that stuff, but I'm not going to).
I enjoy the Cannondale just fine. It's quite a nice ride when you combine traditional box section tubulars with the over-sized aluminum. I have no doubt it would not be holding me back if I ever entered a road race. But it just doesn't offer the same satisfaction as the Fun Machine.
I'm not going to get all fixed gear zealot here, because I've had that old Trek set up with gears, and it was a great ride. Hell, I've had it set up with cross tires and it's been a great ride.
Problem with bike companies selling such great bikes is if you sell something so great that the buyer might never want another bike, they miss out on return business.
Anywho...I'm really glad I lived next to Helen when she was cleaning out her basement and wanted to get rid of her daughter's old bike.