It’s the classic story of “The Tortoise and the Hare” The automobile is much, much faster than the bicycle. Or is it? I recently did a little experiment. I reset the trip meter on my Garmin Nuvi 660 GPS and drove to work. When I arrived at the office, I found my average speed was just 16mph! Wait?! How can [...]

Trek Valencia Experience : Ride #6 (of 10)Ride Type: Moderate ride to/from workDistance: 20 miles First, the good news. The streets were mainly dry after several days of thick fog and drizzle. Now, the bad news. It was 34 degrees outside with a wind chill of 27. Brrrrr! At my wife’s insistence, I opened a couple of Christmas presents from [...]

Trek Valencia Experience : Ride #5 (of 10)Ride Type: Easy commute on a humid, damp morningDistance: 6.48 miles La Taza Coffee House has been prominently featured for being a great coworking destination. From my father’s house in Hollywood Park, my Garmin Edge 705 indicated a distance to La Taza of just over three miles one-way. A perfect distance for choosing [...]

Trek Valencia Experience : Ride #4 (of 10)Ride Type: Difficult commute to work in rain/fogDistance: 23 milesFor the past 3 days or so we’ve had fog and drizzle. On a couple of mornings, a widespread dense fog advisory had been issued. This morning the drizzle and fog were still around but visibilities were much better. So off I went, my [...]

I was really looking forward to my bicycle commute to work this morning. Last night I’d spent a decent amount of time preparing for a chilly, mid-30′s ride to work. When I rolled out of the driveway this morning it was drizzling and very wet. My headlamps gave me a good sense of how steady the drizzle was. Temps were [...]

Trek Valencia Experience : Ride #3 (of 10)Ride Type: Easy-Moderate Commute to restaurant/grocery storeDistance: 14 MilesThe Valencia reprised its role as transportation for my weekly Sunday Morning Ride with my Dad. I biked to my Dad’s house in Hollywood Park and we biked from there to our destination, The Magnolia Pancake Haus. If you’re looking for a great breakfast haunt, [...]

Trek Valencia Experience : Ride #2 (of 10)Ride Type: Difficult commute in very strong, gusty windsDistance: 22 miles Well, I’ve already had a negative experience with my new Trek Valencia commuter bike. No, it had nothing to do with the bike. It had to do with 20-30mph winds I encountered on my ride home from work. This Tuesday turned out [...]

Sharing a quick snapshot to give you an idea of what I meant in my Ride #1 review. The handlebar grips are wide at the end to provide a larger surface area of support for your hand. It complements the comfortable, more upright position provided by the Valencia’s commuter-friendly geometry.

Trek Valencia Experience : Ride #1 (of 10)Ride No.: 1Ride Type: Easy CommuteDistance: 10 miles Wow. First impressions mean a lot and my first ride on the Valencia was almost surprisingly good. Here are my initial thoughts based on an easy, 10-mile commute to a local restaurant with my Dad. This was a fun, casual ride in chilly temps. Ride: [...]

I picked up my 2009 Trek Valencia yesterday and started adding my accessories to it (e.g. Blackburn X8 headlamps, Topeak Explorer bicycle rack). I had hoped to ride the bicycle into work this morning (Friday) but with temps in the low 30′s I decided to hold off. The saying, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression” [...]