A Seattle Bike builder:
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High speed, extreme magnification of metal being cut on a lathe:
Posts Tagged Cycling
I have a neighbor with a rose blossom tree that is the first bloomer of spring. We can see it from our breakfast nook and the kitchen window. The second I see the small red buds starting to show, I know that spring is on its way. Petals are now covering a small patch of ground on my side of the fence and the ornamental cheery trees in the neighborhood blooming. Now is the time to peel myself from my winter sloth and get to the gym, run, and ride my bike. I took my wet-weather commuter-bike down from the rafters in the shop, blew off the sawdust and immediately saw that my head tube was cracked. Son of a…. No idea how it happened. No crashes or huge drops that I know of. It is an aluminum frame, so if cracked it is unrideable. When steel fails it is gradual and you have some warning. When aluminum goes, there is no warning. One just finds him or her self in a bloody and broken pile on the street.
The bike is my Winter/wet-weather commuter, but due to my only laziness, it has only see the road twice since last fall. I have some other bikes, but finding the crack was a a blow to the momentum I was building to finally get off my ass. I took it into a local shop where I know and like the owner and explained the issue. Specialized has a lifetime warranty and he called his rep and I will have a new frame in a few days. I will then spend some time in the basement tearing the old bike down and rebuilding on the new frame. I am sure that I will obsess over some minor detail that will cost me days and some amount of cash.
This weekend was busy with friends, a dinner out, St. Paddy’s Day activities, an outing to the Roller Derby (?!), and the 9th anniversary of the day that my sweet wife and I met was on Sunday. Even with all that, we still got bunches done around the house: Our under-bed dresser finished, bathroom table drawer installed (a little work on that left), wine crate storage boxes made, basement lighting installed, and the basement work bench is moving along.
The drawers for the under-bed dresser and the one for the bathroom all came from a wooden donor-dresser that my father-in-law drug home from a garage sale last summer. He paid $4 for it and it was in pretty bad shape, but it was solid wood and had potential. It was mistakenly left in the weather (plastic cover leaked) for a month before I salvaged the drawers, cut out off the top and used the sides for kitchen cabinet door panels. I re-squared the drawers, added dividers in the fall, and over the Christmas break sealed the insides (The Ruminator helped). After lots of filling and sanding and more sanding, I stained the fronts to match our bedroom furniture, then built ¾” plywood beams to hang the drawers from bed frame and used some scrap oak flooring as drawer guides/runners. The final product really looks good and is super functional. While some husbands bug their wives by filling the house with brought-home junk – I give my wife more and more and more storage and organization space.
On Sunday, I put the final coat of finish on the basement workbench top, let it dry, and then installed the three runs of aluminum t-track. Stamps-With-Foot bucked up and helped me wrestle its 200 pound beech and maple mass onto the steel base. I secured it with screws and covered the top with carpet squares while I finish the upper shelf/cabinet. I installed a outlet power strip under the main body of the topper and removed the old drawer dividers. I will soon add a plywood back with a mirror, a light under, a dedicated air supply line, install the desk drawers under the bench and mount 4 reclaimed letterpress drawers directly under the top as well. Happy with the progress so far.
I have found that my workshop productivity goes way down in the winter/the six months of Seattle rainy season. My garage shop is small and quickly fills with material, lumber, tools, and projects. To add to the handicap of the small size, the lack of heat means that I can’t do any finish-work because of wood humidity, shrinkage/swell, and moisture. I have made do in the unfinished side of our basement for the past three winters, but I am done my wife is done with the mess and clutter and my bitching about an inadequate work area when the weather turns crappy. I need a little bit of dedicated space that I can work on the small stuff year round that doesn’t require power tools and a little bit of assembly/finish space where I can glue and clamp some projects up, a solder station, a spot to reload ammo, work on my bikes, and a clean/dry/warm space to apply stain or a hand-laid finish coat. Add to this my current want of a small metal lathe and mill and I will have the makings of a nice little hobby shop from which to launch my plans for world domination …er, I mean a spot where I can make small parts, solder, or tinker.
Anyway, instead of buying a crazy expensive cabinet bench or making do with a thin metal and partial board Home Depot bench, I have decided to build the sturdiest all-around hobby bench that I can with the funds and material I have available (~$130.00), add some really nice features (aluminum t-track, lots of drawers, removable vises, power, lights, etc…) and make it into a finished piece of furniture that I will be proud to sit at and show off to friends for the next 30+ years. To start the process off, I found a cheap older thick steel framed 6′ workbench at Second Use that I felt would make a bombproof, rock solid base. I sourced a used IKEA cutting-board counter top that I cut down to the appropriate size and then used the trimmed pieces to add thickness and rigidity (I am still going to add some angle iron). I thought about and sketched 3-9 different ways to add some shelving and some organization to the top and was still tossing around options in my head when a realized that an old buffet that my mom had just might work. I took some measurements and looked into reinforcing here and there and realized that not only would it work, but that its style would set the tone and color for the entire bench build.
I decided that the drawers to be added under the bench top needed to be narrow and at least partially match the newly planned top section, so I looked for an older desk or vanity that I could cut apart. I struck out at Goodwill, the Salvation Army, and Craig’s List, but Second Use came through again and hooked me up with exactly what I needed at a decently fair price, well decent after I haggled a bit…
The current state of the build is that the bench top is 2/3 done, the desk is cut apart, the steel legs are up and in place and I am 1/4 of the way done with reinforcing the buffet/top shelving unit. I will update the build as it is completed and share some more pictures.
I hate breaking in a new leather bike saddle – hate. It takes a month of riding for it not to feel like some sort of 15th century Transilvanian torture device. When it finally does wear into place, there is nothing better on long slow rides. A properly broken-in and adjusted saddle makes back to back all day rides possible and enjoyable without any pain the next day. My favorite of all time was a 1970′s vintage Rolls that I got with when I traded a pair of skis for a time-trial bike in the 1990′s. It was like a soft calfskin glove for my butt. It died in a horrendous crash on a colorado mountain road – a crash that left me with some serious road rash and some broken fingers. When I replaced the bike and saddle, I put a Brooks B-17 (black) on my new stead. After the initial torture, it was a constant companion for about 10 years. It was heavier that most saddles, but I am not in the ounce counting club and a comfortable ride is worth POUNDS of added weight.
Below is a video of the Brooks factory tour. They still do it all by hand. Watching the video makes me want to buy an new one just because of its provenance.
I realized yesterday that haven’t posted anything for almost a month: no astute observations, not one pointed remark, no weird OCD-driven lists, no pictures of adventures at home and afield…. Nothing. Hmmmm. I have just been REALLY busy!! It started with painting the living room, the kitched paint was next, we expanded into wiring a hot tub, I decided to finish up a furniture project, the breakfast table “needed” to be cut down, fancied up, and refinished. I am heavy into finishing my incredibly overbuilt and way too complicated kitchen cabinets, Halloween came, there was Thanksgiving prep, I had to put the garden to sleep for the winter, blow all the water out of the yard irrigation system, clean the gutters (4th time this year – grumble, grumble… hate neighbor’s tree… grumble, grumble…). On top of it all, my J-O-B was INSANE: lots of late nights, weekends, travel, OT, pressure, stress, etc…
There is some proof of all the work that we have been doing – I have semi-updated the pictures on my project page, but remember that most were shot with an iPhone in crap conditions. None of this pics are going to get me into National Geographic!
It hasn’t been all work though: I have been able to go to the range with my cuddly .45s and punch holes in some zombies a good bit – fine, fine stress relief. I mentioned Halloween – Stamps-With-Foot and I outdid ourselves again this year at our local Halloween party. We went as Wednesday and Pugsly Adams – a big hit at the festivities. I went as a pimp to work – think Will Ferrel in The Other Guys movie: grill, blond ‘fro, leopard coat/fedora, purple faux croc high-heeled side-zippered boots, a pimp cane, crunk cup, loads of bling, coke nails – I had it down. A my fellow engi-nerds let me down though… Not one other costume in my group – not even a funny t-shirt!! Sales had some good ones this year, HR was all in, the fiber optics group brought game, but Engineering sucked it! How is it all those people with big brains, imagination, and vast amounts of reasoning ability could not come up with something?! There are WOW players, Trekkies, SGA initiates, one D&D uber-geek, and every single one of them (including the female members of our team) have slave-girl Leia dreams…. They let me down, but I soldiered on and even gave a new-hire tour and orientation in my pimp-o-rific attire. I will not forget or forgive their breach of the nerd code! Philistines.
Speaking of my J-O-B, the long hours, travel, all the late meals out, and my general lack of physical motivation has gifted me with 20 extra pounds of fat compared to this time last year. In essence, it is my own fault – my bikes are all sitting there waiting on me to love them, I have a sweet pair of new running kicks, A gym membership that we pay for every month, and a dusty yoga mat. I HAVE to dig deep, put away work and get my butt moving or I will be the size of Jabba the Hutt in no time and the Wife is not into Slave Girl Leia…
I think that brings it all up to date for the most part. I will try to be more diligent about keeping up when life starts swirling around me.
Thursday again
Sep 29
Spend an hour a day writing: I HAVE to finish my book on life in Germany. I have sat on it for WAY too long. I have set the office up so that I have a proper work space, free of distractions. I need to get up, have coffee, a bite to eat, and spend an hour typing. This means I will have to go to bed ~10:00 though…
For my dress shirts to be tailored: if I buy dress shirts off the rack I get 16/32 . Unless it is a new “slim fit” it fits fine across my back, shoulders, arms and neck, but around the waist I have a couple feet of material to crease, tuck, re-tuck, and hide. It looks sloppy if I take my suit jacket off. I would really like them taken in and button holes added to all so I can wear cufflinks. I know, petty uptown problems…
Get rid of some crap: I am on a binge to get rid of some of the crap we have accumulated in the last year. Do I really need a 4X8′ drafting table in the basement? How many backpacks does it take to be excessive? Do I need to keep all those fvcking back issues of Monocle and Outside?
Red tomatoes: Last year my tomato harvest sucked. I had 5 red tomatoes, 4 of them split on the vine, and all the rest remained green. I will not be having that shit this year! I planted early, have been lovingly tending to them all summer and if the warm weather is over, then I am putting a hoop-house over the beds until each and every one turns scarlet red.
Lumber: I could do with 50′ or so of 8″ wide popular planks. The final push on the kitchen will require some pull-outs installed and extra shelving put into existing cabinets.
Get off my ass: I have been traveling so much, missing runs and workouts in the gym, eating out, and scarfing down cookies like a junkie who has found a heroin tree. I have to get up, push away from my desk, and run/bike/lift/hike/climb and shed my cookie-handles.
One of the reasons my J-O-B pays me the medium bucks is because I will travel anywhere in the world with little to zero notice. I again proved that last week when, with two hours notice, I hopped on a plane from Seattle to Northern Ireland two days before the Memorial Day weekend. Stamps-With-Foot was none too happy. I bought her shiny objects while there to quell the violence in her heart. Man, she really likes shinny stuff because I haven’t heard one more cross word from her about my trip and I am starting to wonder if she relishes when I travel so that she can display annoyance and mock anger to receive sparkly bobbles and guilt-heavy jewelry.
Some rough initial, unedited opinions of Belfast:
- Strong northern winds blowing when I arrived brought in the smell of cattle and pastures – the sweet decay of manure and decomposing grass.
- Road right-of-way here is on the left side of the road. This makes me a hazard to curbs, rental cars and living beings. I also noticed after repeatedly walking against the flow of foot traffic on the street that people here walk on the left of sidewalk and escalators are left-flow as well. It’s the little things one notices.
- There exists a weird pocket version of adolescence rebellion Northern Ireland: lily-white 12-18 year old boys who are overly groomed, cell phone to ear with hip-hop blaring, trying to look tough – Impossible when one is wearing his collar popped and has his feet shod in white leather slip-ons.
- I went on a hop-on hop-off city tour that included drives down the Falls Road and Shankill Road areas of town were 40’ high barriers, blast walls, bullet scarred bricks, and where victims’ and martyrs’ murals take up the entire sides of buildings and. There is not an inch of street in those neighborhoods that doesn’t hold some palpable sad memory for some. It was spooky and sad and made me say a prayer of thanks for my lower-middle class childhood. Growing up in Belfast during The Troubles, in a constant state of fear and vengeance would have probably led me to a very angry and short life.
- This land is a sea of red hair. Most of it real, some from a bottle, one 20-something lass walked into view with natural ginger roots and pink/red tips. An Asian teen and a black girl with red dos also strolled by my people-watching perch – Were they red-headed just to blend…?
- I happened to stop in at a mass at St. Mary’s (walked out of Kelly’s Bar and there was a church, what do you do?) and police had to be called because of drunk/high/ crazy lady (maybe she was all three) interrupted mass and tried to take over the microphone at the pulpit. – High drama.
- Traveling without my wife is lonely and sucky. The sharing of things and people seen, food eaten, and the smell of the flower and grocery markets is a thing not to be trivialized.
- Every third word I here is “fock” or “focking.” Spoken with gusto by men, women, teens and kids (one lad with spiky hair, maybe ten, at an international food market said today: “Ah fock this ma, I wanta go home”). It seems that the Northern Irish have such a great affinity for this word and use it as much as possible in an apparent attempt to claim it as their own.
- I went to Madden’s Bar to drink a pint and listen to the advertised Irish trad music. Walked in for the last 30 minutes of the Champions League final between FC Barcelona and Manchester United. As I sat down, Barcelona scored (final was 3-1 Barcelona) and the crowd cheered. Apparently, I was in a Nationalist/Republican Pub… I kept my United love to my focking self and drank my focking Guinness as focking quietly as focking possible. Music was great though.
- For some reason biking in Belfast is not wide spread. It can’t be due to a northern Irish aversion to 2 wheels: I arrived on a Thursday afternoon and the roadways between villages were packed with road bikers all kitted up in multi-colored spandex. Really, hundreds of them, but in the city it seems like almost no one rides. I went out walking on a mostly sunny afternoon in the central part of downtown and saw maybe 15 people riding all day. There was only one fixed speed wonder and only 1 guy on a trials bike (Danny MacAskill fan I would bet) out hopping on to park benches, walls, and planters. It is not the weather – London and Hamburg are full of bikes. The Belfast streets are broad and flat. It must be something left over from The Troubles, I don’t know and didn’t get a chance to ask.
- As discovered when Stamps-With-Foot and I were in Dublin – Guinness is better in Ireland!
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May is bike to work month and I need to ride. As I have neglected my many two wheeled lovelies this spring in my quest to become hugely fat, I decided it was time that I get back in the saddle, shed some pounds, and get into fighting shape. My first outing was somewhat painful and more than a little ego smashing. I drove into work the first sunny morning of the month and cut out 20 minutes early to take advantage of the not-rainy weather. This winter and spring have been cold, wet, crappy, and gray and I am so white that my skin is almost translucent.
I rode my CycloX bike at what I believed was a nice little let’s-get-reacquainted clip. The sun was warm, the sky blue, little wind, I was soaking up vitamin D, and WHOOSH! – an ass on a blue bike darted past me without a word and cleared my bars by a couple inches. Son of a… Poor form, poor form… Times past, I would have chased him down, stuck on his wheel and punished him with a nasty big-ring pace till he fell off, ashamed of his transgression and performance. However, my cookie handles precluded me for doling out lessons in cycling etiquette right then. Let’s just say that I got passed a bunch. Once, that lovely afternoon, by a 70+ year old man on a ’80s steel frame, who said “Look out, son!” as he rolled by on my left. Really, he said that.
I would like to tell you that I got stronger as the month wore on, but traveling for work, a painful case of costochondritis, and my own laziness conspired against me. I rode home three more times in May, averaging once a week and did ZERO weekend rides. I am more than a little ashamed to own as many bikes as I do and not treat them with the respect they deserve. June and July are going to be different. I am going to commute an average of twice a week (when I am home instead of in Belfast – long story) and I am going to do one weekend ride a week. In fact, next weekend I am going to take my lovely bride on a tandam bike ride/pincnic on either the Burke/Gillman or the Cedar River trail
On a brighter note, ridership at my work has increased 33% from last May to this: we have 3 people out of 700 that now ride to work occasionally instead of just two…
I live a street over from an arterial road that is renowned for both it speeders and the accidents that they cause. There have been individual demands and requests for YEARS to have the city do something about the collisions and deaths along “I-35.” As this is my neighborhood, I need to be involved if I expect things to get better. I recently sent different versians of the letter below to my city council and our mayor:
Councilman _______________;
As this May is bike to work month, I would like to invite you to either join me for my daily commute along 35th Ave SW in West Seattle or for a stroll and discussion along that same stretch of road.
There have been repeated community pleas asking city officials to do something the speed of the traffic on that road for years (see links below), there are multiple speed-related accidents a week, and at least one pedestrian or cyclist death a year since 2006. According to SDOT’s own findings six of the top 15 most frequent accident prone intersections for the past five years are along 35th (at Morgan, #4; at Webster, #7; at Barton, #8; at Juneau, #12; at Thistle, #15).
I would like for you to join me for both a first-hand look at the issue and a discussion of possible rational solutions.
Thank you and regards,
Hiram Crookshank
Links: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, & 8
No reply yet, but I will wait a week or so and see. If I don’t hear anything, then I am going to turn it up a notch – the squeaky wheel gets the oil and all.
Cycling Bigot
Apr 19
I attended a meeting of the Seattle Crime Prevention Council tonight and as we were discussing more pressing matters like excess speed on our block leading to multiple accidents and at least one fatality a year since 2006, a gentleman in the back made a pronouncement about “all cyclists” being dirty, smelly, trash. You got to love generalizations… I bet someone on a bike really ticked this guy off and now he loathes ALL bike riders – making up a little story in his mind about how everyone who lowers themselves to peddle a two-wheeler is somehow beneath him. Huh… I think I remember showering this morning and I have a feeling that the shirt I am currently wearing cost more than the man’s entire outfit – including his cheesy 10 carat nugget pinky ring. Apparently, bigots come in many forms…
Sunday before last, my Father-in-Law, the Chatty Buddha, and I trekked over to the 2011 Seattle Bicycle Expo. We got a late start, make later still by the whole Spring Forward thing. We arrived at the show a little after 3:00 (show ended at 4:00), snagged free parking, and talked the two young ladies at the door into letting us in for free! We spent some time looking at the classic bikes (Where I drooled some and my pants got a little tight), made a quick walk of the show floor, and the circled back to the booths that were most interesting: the $70 cycling Jerseys going for an end-of-show-special for $30 were particularly attractive. We picked up a couple and a conned the vendor into giving us two caps that matched the jerseys for the price of one. J
I walked through the Bamboo Getto and took a few shots, talked to the gents at Co-Motion cycles, Eben Oliver Weiss, AKA Bike Snob, gave a talk that I wanted to see, but my packed weekend schedule prevented it. He Blogged about his trip here.
Let’s say that I have been neglecting my bikes this year. If my road bike were a truly a woman, she would have already maxed all the credit cards and run away with that suave, skinny, tanned bike mechanic that so lovingly tuned her last summer. With the return of Daylight Savings time, it is time to rekindle the romance with my many two-wheeled mistresses.
My oldest friend, Herbert, was in Seattle celebrating the rain/spring break/grey skies for a week and we decided to go for a long bike ride while he was visiting. We cruised down to the ferry dock near Lincoln Park and took a couple bikes over to Vashion Island for a circumnavigation tour of that dot of terra firma. I rode my commuter bike and Herbert rode my 1979 disco-orange Volkscycle. The night before we installed some retro fenders on the orange beauty (Arron’s Bike is the SHIT! – incredible customer service!), thinking we might get wet, but karma intervened and we had blue skies and warm sunshine for the whole trip.
After climbing a nasty hill leading from the ferry dock, we rode south along the less populated western side. Vashion is dotted with small farms, quite roads, tall trees, and beach front cabins. The abject poverty of some of the homes we passed was quite sad: 3000+ sq. soot cabin with 3-4 acres of green pasture behind, a dock extending out into the Sound with a handsome 30+ foot sail bot moored there, panted barn, new tractor, happy cows… so sad… ;-)
We stopped for lunch and beer at the Quartermaster Inn – yummy red pepper soup – and made it to Vashion Island Coffee Roasters just before they closed. Coffee… I bought a bag of my favorite Ecuadorian roast, and enjoyed a fine cup of joe, sitting on the bench outside watching the world go by. Getting back on the bikes was difficult… after a wet winter of cheating on my two wheel mistress with beer and snacks, my insensitivity to her was repaid by the butt-numbing pain inflected by my bike seat. Holy crap! Herbert was in worse shape as the plastic 1970′s plush saddle h was astride turned into a crotch mounted torture devise after 25 miles or so.
All together, we rode 46 miles, drank some good beer, ate yummy food, ingested way too much coffee, laughed about stupid things done as children, lovingly remembered friends that have passed, and made some memories.
Post Script:
We had planned to paddle a kayak over to Blake island the next day, but our butts decided that wasn’t going to happen. Instead, we hobbled around for a couple of days like two old guys in search of a hemorrhoid pillow…
I picked up an old (1999?) Specialized Hardrock from Stamps-With-Foot’s uncle a couple weeks ago. She somehow agreed to let me have another bike. I figure she is either having an affair with a non-cycling Adonis and her guilt has allowed this acquisition OR she has come to understand that my bike addiction is not like heroin or gambling or video games and as long as I don’t spend the mortgage or dip into the spawn’s college fund then she will tolerate all the frames and wheels hanging in the rafters.
Anyway… My new whip will be used as a winter commuter and CycloCross bike. It is an 8-Speed and the derailleurs and chain are not as finicky about the water and gunk as my regular 9&10 speed training and race bikes. It is all Aluminum and tough as a coffin nail, so it will not rust and should take the beating that my lack of CycloX skill will subject it to on race days.
Shortly after bringing it home, I stripped off the knobbies, flat bar, grip shifters, scary seat, and brake pads. I had a set of drop bars, some 26” slicks, and KoolStop pads waiting for it and dropped by Recycled Cycles for some used shifters, grip tape, a shorter stem, and cables. I hit gold while there and as set of PAUL Cross Lever in-line brakes just fell into my basket… They looked BRAND NEW and I got them for ½ of retail! The Wife was not amused at the total for the shopping trip, but to her credit there was no beat down, no yelling, no sleeping in the garage threatened, etc… She may have picked up a pair of shoes at equal cost though…
I spent a night after work rebuilding and tuning and I must say that I am VERY happy with the results. The day after I finished, I took her on a shake-down ride home from work, my normal 16.3 mile commute. It poured on me the whole way and the bike felt solid, the ride and shifting was smooth, gearing was just right for carrying all the additional cold/wet weather gear. Like all the rest of my two-wheeled mistresses, this bike also has a woman’s name: Christina. I named her after the actress, Christina Hendricks because she is not some effete tofu-munching, carb-dodging runway model. She has curves and muscle, and is sexy in an Olivia De Berardinis sort of way.
Yes… The shop is a mess. I have a couple things in-process. No funny quips required.
Oregon Handmade Bicycle Show
Oct 23
I do like me some bicycles. I really like the ones that some guy welded/brazed in a small dim shop near/at his house. Tool marks, thoughtful frame geometry, pump bosses, bottle openers, hammered fenders and the inclusion of S&S couplers make me feel all funny on the inside. I never miss a chance to fondle a hand-built frame.
Stamps-With-Foot was planning to drive down to Portland to help a friend out that is an artist/costume designer on a new stage production. I was on the fence about riding along, as talk of sewing and fabric makes me as attentive as a narcoleptic on ketamine, until I happened upon the notice that the Oregon Handmade Bicycle Show was in Portland on the same weekend. That sold me and I immediately fired off an e-mail to my lovely bride stating that while I was going with her, there would be abandonment for the better part of a day while I alternately drank coffee & beer at the show while groping steel frames and taking illicit photographs of possible two-wheeled mistresses. Her reply was something like – ‘Fine, but you’re driving and you can’t buy ANOTHER bike…” Deal. I don’t have to buy the cow when the milk is free…
I went to the show with my buddy Dave, who doesn’t share my obsession for bikes, but he is a fellow gear-head and also posses a keen mechanical knack, so I knew he would be good company. The show was small and somewhat pricey to get into, but atmosphere was lively, the people watching was excellent, and there was LOTS of eye candy! I wanted to put a down payment on an new road frame, but the more I talked to the builder the louder Stamps-With-Foot’s voice became in my head. I kept getting flashes of me standing outside in the rain with my new frame, no coat, shivering in a wet hat and the dog looking out the living room window at me smugly…
Below is an image gallery of some of the sights and lines that we found there.
One bad-@ss little kid!
Sep 23
You know his dad was the videographer/director. It is a cute and slick short film that makes me want to bribe my kids into doing something half as cool: A Star Wars film short using our dog as Yoda (some CGI green will be needed), my son as Luke and daughter as Leia. Oh the sibling light-saber battles that we could have! Stamps-with-foot (my wife) and I will have a cameo: I will be Chewy and she can be one of those saucy blue dancing girls with a thing for wookies….
My ride home on Wednesday was a soggy one. I had planned on a little drizzle, but what I got was a downpour. I forgot to put on the fenders so I had water, mud and road grit striped up my butt and bag. It made for an annoying commute, but it was a self-created annoyance. I should have dressed for the worst and fendered-up. On the positive side, all the cyclists who clogged the Interurban Trail last week in the sunshine were gone and there were only a hardy few, sporting full rain gear, lots of lights, and waterproof panniers. Last night I came home on my normal apres-work 3-mile loop. By the time I got home, my shoes were water-filled and heavy – let’s call it resistance training.
Yep, fall is officially here. My strawberry plant’s leaves are turning red, the heirloom tomatoes that I have fought to save all summer are finally turning from green to red, and it is now time to install extra lights and the fenders on my commuter. This time of year is both comforting and scary for us lovers of the two-wheeler. The trails and paths are free of our spandex clad brethren on their first ever “road bike”, there are very few kids on big-wheels to dodge, the ladies after-work-walking-club (the one that walks 6 abreast on the trails like a Spartan phalanx) has retired to the treadmills at LAFitness. I find that my ride is quiet and boring and drama free… Except that drivers tend to lose what little ability they had to see cyclists. Even with three blinking lights attached all willy-nilly, fall and winter commuters are spooky around intersections and shared roadways.
I acquired another bike a couple weeks ago and just found out that I am inheriting a new Cyclocross bike from a family member who also has a bike fetish, but who’s wife is not as understanding as mine concerning all the hunks of steel, carbon and aluminum in his basement. Though, I may be at a tipping point. One more and I might officially have a substance abuse problem – bike frames CAN be an elicit substance if not consumed in moderation.
As for my latest acquisition: My Hellbilly neighbors had a yard sale a week or so ago and due to the blaring death metal and the drunken lawn party atmosphere, the sale was lightly attended. One of the unsold items was a classic Schwinn Varsity that was somewhat beat up and missing a rear wheel. While walking by on my way to Walgreens, they offered it to me, so I HAD to check it out. It turned out to be a lime Green 1973 10-speed that was in good overall shape and had original bike registration stickers from Walla Walla, WA (1974-1976) and the negotiated price was a case of PBR Tallboys. How could I pass up a frame built in the year I was born?! Such action would border on sacrilege. I paid up and carried the thing to my garage/shop and started stripping all the old parts from the frame. I am not 100% sure what I am going to do with it just yet – maybe a 3-speed internal rear hub and conversion into a sometimes-commuter and basement trainer? For now the frame will hang in the garage awaiting time and spare cash for the build-up.
The coming CycloCross bike is a 9-speed Specialized with a beefy tig-welded aluminum frame. I have to swap the bars and shifters (already have a set from an old bike waiting to be installed) and give it a tune up. I plan to make her my primary work commuter AND my CycloX race bike come fall. This will allow me to forever take the commuter wheels/tires off my carbon bike and tune it for solely training and racing.
I am running out of space in the garage rafters. It is a web of wheels, gears, cables and seats above my workspace. Since they are all out of the way, I don’t know if my cute little bride understands the full depth of my “collection” and if any more two-wheeled “ladies” show up she may do some snooping in the garage and the poo will hit the fan – I hate when we “have to have a talk…” That said, I would still like to have a couple more: a downhill 29er and a folding single speed for the train/travel, but I feel that the physical and financial impact of any cycling purchases in the next couple of years will have a detrimental effect of my love-life and corresponding sleeping arrangements. I REALLY like my bikes, but I like snuggling up to a warm happy wife a lot more. I think that I am going to have to start practicing cycling moderation. That realization hurts a little.
I hadn’t been on my bike since the overloaded ride from Vancouver to Seattle. I pulled a trail-a-bike (one wheel, handle bars, peddles…) with a 95 pound kid and 80 pounds of gear, including the trailer. It was squirrelly and scary trying to peddle from dead still, and I will never do it again, but I can say that my bike has never been so smooth once I got above 10mph. It was like I had installed dampeners on the steering and suspension. The trail-a-bike is off and now for sale. I switched my chainings and rear cassette back to the pre-suffering setup late last week and brought my bike into work for a ride home.
Holy CRAP! I almost tumped over 3 times before I got both feet on the pedals. I couldn’t keep my bike going in a straight line – like I was seriously drunk. This is a bike that I have put 11K miles on, It feels like part of me when I ride, and can tell when my seat or bars are moved a fraction of an inch. It took me almost three miles to get it all figured out and control the bike to the point that I felt comfortable. Thank God that I was on a nice wide paved trail! If I would have been on the road I would have packed it up, called the wife, and caught a ride home. It was scary.
Last year I did a 100+ mike bike ride for the American Diabetes Foundation. I was telling my son about it over the phone – about how hard it was to cycle 100 miles and climb mountains and hills on a bike, when he said “Dad, that sounds REALLY cool. Do you think we might could do something like that together someday…” Pride welled up in me and I said ‘yes!’ My Boy… taking up the mantel of his father’s interests. My heart shined knowing that the adventurer bug had bitten deep and early with this one…. I have come to realize that it was not pride in my son, but my own hubris.
When planning out our yearly summer trip I threw in a “simple” bike ride from Vancouver, BC to Seattle – no big deal, right? Wrong! I mentioned it to my Father-in-law during the initial planing stages and he asked to come along – I of course said yes and soon after his brother, David, also joined our little two-wheeled group. I did some route planning, a little bike tuning, changes a few parts here and there, and bought Carlton a tag-a-long bike/trailer before he arrived in Seattle. I thought that it was all a done deal and we would have a relaxing little three day tour…
I spent four scary days on the road with my 9-year old son and the shear physicality of the ride was possibly the most demanding thing I have ever done on a bike. While I plan to ride with Carlton as long as I am able, I will NEVER, EVER use a tug-a-bike trailer bike again. It was squirrely, unstable, and heavy. I spent 95% of the ride, freaked out about his safety and trying to keep us from hitting the ground. …Shiver…
Pain and worry aside, the ability to ride with my son was AMAZING – even at its hilly worst! I got out on the bike, my son was with me, and we spent some quality time with Laurel’s dad and uncle. I was part of Carlton’s first train ride, his first ferry crossing, his longest bike ride, and his first trip to another country. My 9 year old son’s strength and fortitude STUNNED me! I could not have ridden 154 miles when I was 9. He was terrific and I am so proud of him! We spent the last night on a sailboat with our extended West Coast family at Bainbridge Island Harbor and watched the fireworks on the 4th of July. It was a fitting end to a glorious trip.
Forgive me for a lapse into cliché, but it really is about the journey rather than the destination. I spent a lot of time twirling the pedals, and listening to him talk while all sorts of things ran through my monkey brain while trying to keep us in one piece. I came to a few conclusions:
My son is sweeter than I was at his age
He is more stubborn
Bike Trailers SUCK!
My wife’s career is truly flowering and she is finding her way in the work-a-day world
I really and truly want to start my own business
I wish my sister and I were closer
Extra-Strength Tylenol is my forever friend
My father-in-law is loves the debate surrounding a question more than the answer
We (Carlton and I) will spend more time together next year
My father-in-law is still on his journey of self discovery – what he wants to be when he grows up 
I need to write more and finish a couple of articles and my Germany book
There are times that I need to unplug from my cell and e-mail
Tents are better than hotels
I need to prioritize projects at the house and start getting them done
There is a colleague at work who will throw me under the bus without thinking
My knees at 36 are not what they were at 21.
Man, bike trailers with 200lbs of 9-year-old and gear suck!!
The German language has a few REALLY cool words that I wish we used in English more. Trepswerter, Doch, Zeitgeist, Fremdschämen, and Schadenfreude
We have to turn off my cable as soon as Madison leaves this summer
I like the mix of languages during breakfast in an international hostel
Books make my heart happy
Mexican food + cycling for 3 days = BAD!
I need to end the clutter in my life and home office
I REALLY want a Kindle e-reader
Our children are windows to our own behavior and soul
I miss having a large group of friends and need to work on that
The mountains are calling me and I want to make a solo trek after September
Our upcoming wedding has become a serious stressor in my life
We need to trade the Subaru for a Honda.
I really do need 3 more bikes – really
Our bills in Germany piss me off
I love train travel more than any other type of long distance conveyance
Did I mention my feelings on bike trailers?
Can one man truly have to many bikes? What if they are ALL in working order and some of them were free? I now own 6 and while rolling through my ally on the way to work Wednesday I found that one of my neighbors threw away an Orange Volksport Mark X from the early 1970’s. It was in SWEET condition with only a flat front tire. I threw that bad-boy in the truck and took her to work. When I got home, I just adjusted the brakes, lubed the chain & cassette, fixed the flat, and gave it an inaugural spin. The wife isn’t normally thrilled with new bike acquisitions, free or not, but she didn’t seem too mad about this one, but I can’t say she was full of glee either – I think it is the retro orange color that swayed her from the normal, ” YOU GOT ANOTHER BIKE?!?!?” reaction..
Why would someone throw away such a cool old bike? No, you can’t ride the Tour with it and I am sure they moved on to an aluminum and carbon REI Novara or the like, but it is a funky grocery-go-getter that deserves to still be ridden. I have decided that it will be both my loaner bike and one of my weekend, to the coffee shop whips.
This new find got me thinking about all the bikes that I have owned in life: I really miss some of them – the BMX that my dad bought me in 1983 is probably the number one that I wish I still rolled. Below is a list, in no real order, of both the bikes that I have owned and currently ride:
1975 Radio Flyer Tri-cycle
1992 Black Trek Antelope 800 (loaned it out, never came back)
2001 Red and White Trek 1200 (Stolen)
1979 kids bike with yellow rubber “gas tank”
1978 Green Machine Big Wheel (first one in town, BABY!)
1979 Banana Seat blue Schwinn
White & Red 650cc 10-speed (1980’s)
1981 Red and chrome Huffy BMX
Dahon Helos 8 aluminum folder
1983 Raleigh chrome BMX (Thanks Daddy!!)
2005 Red Specialized Allez (X2 – 1 stolen & 1 hit by a car)
2007 Red Specialized Allez Elite
No-name unicycle (2007-08)
2008 Redline Aluminum RL7 BMX
1968 Schwinn Twinn red Tandem 6-speed
1989 White Pogliaghi time trial bike (sad, sad story…)
1981 White Raleigh Super-course (repainted black)
1999 White Trek 2600 hard-tail
Orange Volksport Mark X (1970’s)
48” wheel black Penny Farthing (1895 replica built ca. 1975)
Update: As of 8/12/10 I have two more steeds… a 1973 green Schwinn Varsity and a 2005 Aluminum Specialized 9-speed CycloX racer
I made an application that grabs the latest news from NPR, CNN, and my three favorite comics and delivers it to my Outlook In-box first thing in the morning – I know, I’m a dork. Anyway, one of the ‘toons made me roll with laughter and I spit my fine latte out of my nose. About two years ago I was cycling through the fields of North Germany, along narrow country roads, with a friend and neighbor who just could not stay warm on the ride. The cold wind was just cutting into him so he pulled off, grabbed a paper full of glossy adverts from the ground and started layering them flat inside his jersey. I laughed and laughed at him all the way home and would snicker for months afterward when we would ride together. I had completely forgotten about it until yesterday morning when the comic below opened up in my morning Geek-mail. Coffee should never be spewed from the nose: it is both painful and messy. My laughter/coffee fountain was also a source of delight for the other cube-dwelling Engi-nerds that surround me.
As far as my overall fitness lever: I have never worked this hard to look this bad! I REALLY miss being 19. The days of drinking lots of beer, eating crap, still looking decent, and performing at an elite level are GONE. I am officially almost old and I have outrageous cookie-handles/spare tire, my arms have shrunk, and my body fat percentage is bordering on Santa Claus level. The months of inactivity after the most recent surgery and gorging myself on coffee (triple Grande one pump mocha with whip…), 1-liter wheat beers, donuts, more beer, cookies, and brownies did little to prepare me for the coming summer. I have been doing yoga at home weekly, but want to find a local class/studio to visit for a weekly or bi-weekly session. Yoga really adds to my climbing and as I have decided to focus on my core (keeps me from stressing robo-shoulder) and my agility, it compliments the abundant AB work – which is not going well since I am starting from scratch again. All the work last summer and fall was for naught. I am slowly working back into my pre-cartwheel down the stairs groove.
The Bionic Shoulder is doing SO much better. I still need the second surgery, but it can wait – no serious rush – and I can do 15 push-ups without it hurting. I have been real careful not to stress it as I am going to need it in as good a shape as possible if I snag a slot on the Alpine Club of Iran Climber Exchange trip that I am hoping to be selected for. I am climbing all right, but I have been hesitant to frequent the rock gym or bounder on plastic holds. I have found that it is REALLY easy to over train and tear something on plastic.
I have logged about 90 running miles in the last 6 weeks, Nike+ has helped with that, but I have been neglecting my two-wheeled mistresses. I may have ridden 120 miles in the last 7 weeks… It is my new commute and the spring rainy season. The ride home has a shitty hill at the end of the 15mile ride and I have to fight traffic some so that puts me off, but more than that, the sun has been shy of late. I am by no means a fair weather cyclist, it is just that rain + traffic + cold + hill = me screwing off instead of riding. I have already paid the entrance fee for the annual Seattle to Portland ride, so I have to cowboy-up and get a bunch more training and commute mile behind me. Speaking of rides: I am also signed up for a Duathalon in June, a couple of 10k road races and a half Marathon this summer, all in an attempt to keep myself on target for the STP ride, the possibility of climbing in Iran and to keep my cookie handles in check.
Comics for Cycling Geeks
Apr 28
There is a special place in my heart for the daily comic strip. I have a tool that feeds my three favorites to me in an e-mail each day so that I start my morning off with a little laughter. One of my favorites, Yehuda Moon, is for bike geeks, but has been on hiatus for a couple of months. Rick Smith, the cartoonist behind the strip took some time off to recharge his batteries and I have missed my daily dose.
Yehuda is an old-school Luddite cyclist that commutes everywhere – in all types of weather, rides a heavy-weight steel framed steed, sports a wool sweater and cycling cap pulled low, is a militant cycling advocate, and owns a bike shop with a guy named Joe who loves carbon bikes, technology, and speed. Joe serves Hardy to Yehuda’s Laurel. I see a little of myself in Joe and a lot of me in Yehuda. He pulls shenanigans that the evil inside me sing with glee – painting cycling lanes on main street in the middle of the night, relieving @sshat drivers of their keys, giving bike thieves a u-lock beat down, etc…
On May 2nd, new panels will be available, but this week there have been a couple spin-off funnies available if you check at the main site.
Friday was payday and you know what that means… a 16oz yummy Starbucks coffee, paying the mortgage, lunch at a restaurant (not carried to work in my Marvel Super Heroes metal lunch box), and if there is a few bucks to spare, something small like a new chisel, a jersey, or a new climbing cam. This was an exceptionally good Friday!! Not only did I get my $55 REI year-end dividend (just enough for a blue Patagonia pullover off the clearance rack), but I also found a super-sweet deal on a new set of wheels for my bike.
The set I am currently rolling have about 7K miles on them and they are real heavy. While they will continue to work for commuting wheels for another 2,500 miles or so (15 months..?), they are not great for rides and races. A fact that became painfully obvious last fall when 113 miles into a 104 mile charity ride, climbing up the correct mountain after some jokester swapped some route signs that led a group of us up the wrong mountain. I was in my biggest gear sweating away, on the precipice of dry-heaving, watching the front wheel flex on each down stroke of the peddles – robbing me of substantial forward momentum. I have been keeping my eyes open for replacements and after applying a store credit for a failed part, I picked up a set of Bontrager raceXlite Aero wheels for the whopping sum of $38.00. It made me feel all funny in the lower abdominal region when I carried them out to the car and I felt a little paranoid, like I was doing something a little wrong and a touch naughty.
I spent an hour or so on Sunday in the garage cleaning and installing a 12-25 cassette, taping the rims, putting on my set of racing tires, and filling the tubes to 105 PSI. I am going for a 50-mile timed road ride on Good Friday with them and I can hardly wait!
I will attend most any type of gathering with “bike” in the tittle. Throw in “old”, “classic”, or “retro” and I will be there to see the doors open. When my wife brought home a flyer for the 22nd Annual Seattle Old Bike Swap, with a drawing of a Penny-Farthing right at the top, it was decided then and there that Palm Sunday would go on with out me at our local center of worship since the meet was scheduled for 7:00AM till noon on that particular feast day.
I got there a little after 07:00 to quickly have my hopes for finding hi-wheel brethren and secret troves of Bone Shaker accouterments dashed. There were a couple of 19th and early 20th century 2-wheelers, but the swap was mostly dedicated Schwinn Stingrays from the ’60s and ’70′s as well as classic BMX bikes from the ’80′s. If only I would have kept that PK RIPPER with the Mag wheels and the tiny Uni seat… Now, I wouldn’t say “NO” to a 1967 green Stingray 3-speed with a chrome spring bat holder if I just happened to be presented with one, but they just aren’t the thing that make my chest thump with longing and desire.
Anyhow, while there was some decent stuff here and there, most of the show was taken up by bike junk vendors and used-car salesman-esq “amateur” bike dealers who wanted a way too much for their wares. I found a 1982 Raleigh Super Course Carlton frame (both the brand and bike model dear to my heart) that had a goodwill sticker still attached. I thought about building it up with some spare parts as a Coffee Shop/Errand bike. The incredibly obese vendor laying claim to it quoted me $250 for the pleasure of taking it home. As it was MAYBE worth $40, I slowly put it back in the bed of his rusted El Camino and backed away form the obviously deranged former ward of the state.
The fixed gear craze, like disco before it, is now dead – see link below. I will observe a moment of silence at 7:00 PM this evening with beer in hand – pouring one out for all the hipster hommies who will need a new trend to follow. I will then forever remove the 16t track cog from my flip-flop hub and place it lovingly on a lonesome nail in my garage. Maybe my son won’t make a “ninja star” out of it and it will be there waiting, much like polyester and bell bottoms, for the day when it is once again socially acceptable.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/700C-Men-s-Mongoose-Cachet-Fixed-Speed-Bike/13398142
I will continue to spin my Single-Speed to and from the grocery store/coffee shop and will occasionally ride my one-geared beauty to work. She has made me a better, stronger cyclist and I DO love to ride that bike. I can’t and won’t give her up just because of the semi-share pedigree with the now passe wanna-be track bikes sold by the likes of Bentonville.
My multispeed, derailleur equipped, steeds are at this very moment spinning their wheels with glee. No more dismissive looks and snide velo comments from the day-glow orange rimmed and narrow barred bikes locked up at East Street. Yes, it is now their turn to snicker as my bike chain goes click, click, click – moving down the rear cassette, propelling my 9-speed racer ever faster away from soon to be re-purposed and repainted frames and into the reclaimed future of cycling.
the new bike route home
Mar 17
Today was my first commute home from work to the new house and the first commute since they cut on my shoulder. My wife dropped me and the 9-speed off this morning at the J-O-B and it was a scene out of a not so funny ’90s movie: me standing on the curb, backpack over flowing – slung over one shoulder, bike in one hand, lunch/coffee in the other, watching my ride pull away with a mixed expression of fear and excitement, knowing that I only had one way home – the pedals.
Now the sun was scheduled (per the interwebs last night) to shine for most of the day, but it seems that there was some sort of confusion with the powers that be and the time table was shifted to accommodate an interview with rain and a meeting of high winds. I got smirking weather reports every few minutes from co-workers who had access to the arrow-slit windows in our building (my position doesn’t warrant such perks) and who relished the anguished expression I gave when told how cold, wet, and dark it was becoming outside. A little after 4:30, the rain stopped and the sky turned from dark to light gray. I sucked it up, changed in my assigned mop & buffer pad-filled cleaning closet, and started my ride home. During my now 14.3 mile one-way commute there were a couple of route-finding challenges, some major potholes, sunshine, rain, sunshine with rain, a wicked headwind, tunes from the iPhone, and a monster hill. The shoulder felt OK and my quads are not as strong as the need to be, but they will come back in force by mid-summer. It took me an hour and twenty minutes to get home this time, but think that I can shorten it to an hour and ten on a normal day.
It felt extremely satisfying to get out and ride after work. I immediately rewarded myself upon arriving home with some Girl Scout Crack as you do when you have a cookie addiction.
Seattle Bike Show 2010
Mar 15
Since I have this bicycle fetish, I rode my Single Speed to the 2010 Seattle Bike Show on Saturday and got to take a look at some great new bikes as well as some killer classic race bikes. The show was on the small side – held in one of the cruise ship terminals, but there was maybe 500 Sq. feet of space on the mezzanine for a show of CLASSIC Jack Taylor and various other old track and racing bikes. It made my heart pitter-patter. Some of the steel steeds had derailleurs that only a machinist could dream up, there were oil headlights and canvas bags strapped on here and there, but my favorite jewel of a find on the classic bikes was what appeared to be the first cycling computer – a stopwatch strapped to the handle bar of a velodrome bike – VERY cool. My Penny Farthing is SO getting one of these. I have already started the CAD work on it and will try to sweet talk/bribe our machinist at work to hook me up.
Some of the new bikes were outstanding as well. There was less of an aura of “the fixie” than I have seen at other shows, and more bikes geared toward commuting in the PacNW and work bikes. I saw a couple of ideas that I am going to incorporate into my own shop and cycle fleet: single digit break levers for the Single Speed, a wall clock for the shop made from an old chainring, the aforementioned “cycling computer”, a crate and light for Laurels bike, etc… There were also some unique wooden bikes. They were gorgeous! and the engineering that went into them was impressive, but I am not ready to swap my steel or aluminum frames out just yet.
I do have to give someone a plug: I am apparently an idiot and left my camera on all night and I only noticed that the batteries were completely drained as I took my camera out of my bag to get a shot of an enormous 60+ tooth chainring. I made a mad scramble for some AAs and struck out with the venue coordinator, the concierge, and at random booths. I finally happened upon the Kenmore Camera photo booth. I spoke with Dave Guinn and asked to buy any AAs that he had, even in a camera. He didn’t have any models that used AA had he hadn’t brought any with him, but this guy picks up a display model and hands it to me to use, like I had known him for years. I put my SM card in and was set to take pictures at the show (I will link a few below). I left my battery-less camera with him – not that he asked me too, but I thought it would be a gesture of good faith, and walked around for a couple of hours snapping away. With that kind of attitude, you can bet that I will be doing all my medium format and 35mm portrait film shopping with them and when it is time to upgrade my equipment; I will stop there first. Again, Dave at Kenmore Camera really saved my day.
My own personal groundhog
Feb 12
Spring is a comin’… The Girl Scouts are marshaling their pig-tailed, freckled forces for an assault on my waistline and dental health. I don’t need to check on the ground hog’s shadow. Spring for me comes with the first box of Somoas every year. In case I hadn’t noticed the change outside from confines of my sugar-coma, the new grass is starting to sprout in our yard and a local nursery is selling seeds and bare-root plants. I have spied a number of cyclists, clad head to toe in isolated spandex, on the bike paths and in the city. I cannot wait for the warmer weather, sunny days, cycling to work, trail runs on something other than mud, and new sprouts in our garden.