"Mission Accomplished"

After a week of sitting around the apartment, I finally got my act together and assembled that bicycle.

In the same amount of time it took for the Maryland women’s basketball team to win the ACC championship, I cleaned (a little) and stripped down (just the annoying reflectors and such) the bike, then reattached the wheels. And as Kristi, Marissa, and the rest of the team took care of Duke in OT, I hooked the thing up to the trainer stand and took it for a spin. And so did Tim. We have a new toy, so of course we fooled around with it for the day.

During our joy rides, we primarily considered the noise of the machine, the stability, and its mechanics. Already, we’ve realized that while the trainer is a great stand for the bike and for an indoor workout, the device is probably too loud while spinning to actually use in the show. This brings us to the performance. The bicycle is rather stable. The actor should be able to move about comfortably and execute various cycling maneuvers and simulate turns and such. However, with no resistance on the back wheel, there is no resistance against the cranking of the pedals when you lean forward out of the saddle—as you would when climbing a mountain road. So, there’s that to be worked out. And then there are the gears that probably need to be tweaked to reduce their noise. And I’m pretty sure I’ll have to realign the rear wheel. Why didn’t I just set it correctly the first time? Oh that’s right, because I have no clue what I’m doing!

Regardless, we have the main prop. It’s not stage ready (or road ready, for that matter), but it’s in the living room. Now, time for everyone to begin a spin regimen.