It feels like hardly any time has passed at all, yet today its been exactly one year since, for unhappy reasons, this bicycle came into my possession:So I marked the occasion by taking it for a ride yesterday, and purists may be pleased to see that Ive put cyclocross tires on it:I mean you may not be pleased that I put these particular cyclocross tires on it, since this color combination isnt for everybody, but whats the point of riding a Richard Sachs if you dont draw a little attention to yourself?And yes, more than one person has commented that the bike looks like Christmas.Also, in case you were wondering, which you probably werent, I store most of my bikes in the cellar like wine bottles, and I generally only keep one or two inside my actual domicile at a time. (Which bikes Im keeping close at hand at any given moment depends on a number of factors including but not limited to time of year, weather conditions, current mood, phases of the moon, and whether or not Ive read an article about gravel bikes that made me angry and compelled me to ride a bike with 23mm tires entirely out of spite.) Right now the two bikes in my actual apartment are the Richard Sachs and the Faggin, which I only mention because the sight of them side by side is a sight to behold:Even the cats afraid.Part of the reason Id been using fattish road tires instead of cyclocross tires on the Sachs is that Im on the road with this bike at least half the time, and I cant stand the idea of wearing down knobby tires for no reason. (It triggers the same part of my brain that gets activated when the kids leave the lights on.) But then I realized the chances of my ever doing a cyclocross race ever again are extraordinarily slim, so what the hell am I even saving them for, anyway? In fact Ive got plenty more cyclocross tires where these came from, so I might as well just use them, since they work well on Very Small Rocks:Plus theyre better than the fattish road tires for the odd singletrack detour, or for when I have to reroute around a fallen tree:Though in that particular instance I just climbed over it.The 30mm tires I had on there were great though:I did want to move them to the Faggin, but they they wouldnt quite fit, so in the meantime Im saving them.But even without the toothpaste-colored tires, theres a lot going on with this bike:Its blood red, its made by a living legend (Richard Sachs, a.k.a. the Karl Farbman of Bicycles), it belonged to a friend, riding partner, and cycling mentor who improbably won it in a raffle, and I then watched that friend die. I keep it with my other bikes, but it doesnt seem like one of them; instead its like something out of Game of Thrones. At first I was scared of it, Im not sure Ill ever feel quite like its mine, and I still have weird dreams about it. It doesnt even have water bottle bosses, yet it carries more baggage than any bike I own.None of this is to say I dont ride it, because of course I do, and often, toothough in this case it had been a few weeks since Id been on it, since I think I rotated it into the wine cellar while I was rehabilitating the Craigslist bike:Also, none of the aforementioned emotions and associations detract in any way from riding the bike, nor to they translate into my being afraid of getting it dirty or scratched or anything like that. When Im on it I treat it like a bike, and riding it is always a pleasure. Its impossible to ride the thing and not believe The Farman is some kind of wizard, and whether its actually the bike or Im just under the spell of his rarefied marketing and artisanal chapbooks, the effect is a heady one indeed. Also, as someone who has been writing a cycling blog for going on 19 years I have a great deal of respect for his dedication. (Thats not to suggest my own dedication is similarly laudable, since in my case its not so much dedication as compulsion and basically amounts to an extended Duolingo streak, but if anything my own lack of actual dedication and craftsmanship puts me in an ideal position to admire the real thing in other people.)I mean the guy has probably had to answer the question Why wont you use disc brakes? even more than Grant Petersen has, and he still hasnt killed anybody (at least to my knowledge), which is an accomplishment in itself.Though I suppose theres still time.Also, Grant Petersen hasnt killed anybody eitherat least as far as I know. But a cycling-themed version of Clue featuring Richard Sachs, Grant Petersen, Jobst Brandt, and other luminaries past and present would be a surefire hit:[Old Man Petersen, in the drawing room, with the hemp twine.]Speaking of cyclocross bikes, after yesterdays ride it occurred to me I have no idea what a cyclocross bike even loos like today, so I checked it out:Same idea, different execution, I guess. And did you know this has a name?Its called a seat kink:The Inflites seat kink balances the bikes weight when its on your shoulder. This saves you valuable time and energy and stops the wheels getting caught on obstacles.I thought a seat kink was when you have a thing for smelling Brooks saddles.