Kathy took possession of her Pocket Crusoe 28 days before this year's Seattle-to-Portland (STP) ride.

We took it out on a couple of weekend warm-ups, and she used it for her daily commute a few times to make sure she would be comfortable on the 202-mile ride.

No worries!

I had fun riding behind her listening to all the (usually guys) riders try to figure out how they were being passed by "that tiny bike."

Besides that fact that Kathy is a monster going uphill (maybe because some of her daily commute is part of the Chilly Hilly ride) folks just aren't able to see the real dimensions of the Friday. The dimensions of all body contact points -- saddle, peddles, handlebars -- are identical to her old faithful commuter. The wheels have to spin faster to cover the same distance, but that's been taken care of in the gearing.

It was a lot of fun to watch the young guys shaking their heads in confusion as she zipped past them, up hill, with a slower cadence. Go Kathy! Go BF!