Na-na-Nashbar, good-bye!

February 21, 2020

Dear Friend(s) and Family,

I hope that you are loving life.  Although it is a tumultuous time in many parts of the world, hopefully you are having some good rest, relaxation, and/or recreation.  Or maybe figuring out who to support in your local/regional/national elections and/or coups.  

I recently noticed that there was a hole in my pannier, dear Willie, you silly!  It is probably going to get bigger.  

I also recently stitched up the ripped part along the inside of the pannier by using an awl to jab through the plastic reinforcement on that side.  And I have had those panniers for approximately 11 years. They are the best!  I will definitely purchase some more.  What insane, altruistic scofflaw goes about making panniers that last approximately 11 years!  Why the Nashbarians, of course!  Here are the best panniers – oh wait!  I guess Nashbar is part of Advanced Sports Enterprises(ASE) and has filed for bankruptcy, much like Price Point and Shopko before them!?  Well, I guess you know who wasn’t paying attention/supporting one of his favorite bicycle supplies suppliers!  The shame and sadness are with me now.  But the new panniers are elusive.  Let us have a moment of silence for the glory that once was Bike Nashbar.

The website is still operational under new and unnamed ownership.  Hmm.  This pannier special doesn’t look too bad.  May have to pull the trigger on that one before I lose one of my bottles of beer from ye olde panniers before I get a chance to pass it around.

And now, I think I will grab a beer to assuage my current sorrow and perhaps imbue tomorrow with a bit more sorrow.  

The name of the beer is Snowsuit and it was a gift for my belated axe-throwing birthday from my friend Nick.  Thank you, Nick.  I won’t need a snowsuit around here this weekend because temps are supposed to be in the 50s.  However, I am planning on zipping out to sunny Colorado for a ski trip in the near future!  Yes, I hope to have some fun and avoid serious injury since I have only recently felt fully recovered since my self-diagnosed medial condial ligament (MCL) (or somesuch) strain I suffered approximately one year ago.  So that should be fun, and hopefully not too painful. I’ll be sure to give you a long-winded update ASAP.  I will probably also take some video with the high-quality, but slightly awkward to attach and use, Sony ActionCam (GoPro knock-off).  To prepare for my trip, I am thinking about watching a ski-related movie, perhaps one of these?  I don’t know, Ski Party is hard to beat (I think.  The only part I've ever seen was when James Brown stops by in a comfy sweater to get down).

Well, it hasn’t been a bad winter for bicycling.  Just a few missed weeks here and there.  I have thus far only biffed it once (at slow speed on a quiet street) due to some unwelcome black ice.  How has your bicycling habit been?  Oh really!? Please tell me more!  You can always send me a postcard.

I recently went to a film sponsored by the likable Omaha Pedalers Bike Club.  It was Le Ride avec accente sil vous plais.  It is a very good movie, although I appreciated it more the first time I saw it back in November of 2017, I think it was.  The likable Phil Keoghan follows in the skinny tyre tracks of fellow Kiwi Harry Watson who was part of the first small group of English-speaking individuals to participate in the Tour de France back in 1928.  There is allegedly also a book about this event.  It was at this event that I learned about a town famous for its absinthe (maybe Pontarlier

?) and that the annual Omaha bike swap meet will be taking place at the College of Saint Mary on March 8, as noted here.  

Now that those brief introductory paragraphs are behind us allow me to fill you in on some of my latest activities.

1. 1.    In the past I may have mentioned that some of the tight-fitting, sporty boxer briefs are a conspiracy to cause impotence in those who succumb to their comfortable-looking charms.  My first inkling that this was taking place was when I donned these.  Butt my fears have been reinforced by the maiden voyage of these good-looking skivvies.  No wait, I meant these.  
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4. They were toasty.  
5. 2.    I had a flat tyre so I elected to ride the speedy WYR bike to and from work.  It was, in general, kind of fun.  But it is geared pretty high, which seemed to threaten to cause another bout of hernia, so I good-naturedly hiked my way back up the hill on my way home.  There was a dried leaf on the water bottle holder that seemed to represent the ethereal nature of the seasons and life in general.  
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8. 3.    The geese are back and appear to be eating dried leaves?  Maybe some grass?
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So, there you have it. Please give me a call when you get this if you have time for a chat.  Otherwise I’ll be sure to see you at the next soiree avec absinthe, oui?

Ou revoir la revolucion!

Le BSO

All lit up again

November  10, 2017

Hola guachos y chinas,

Blessings to you from the heart of USland.  Let us ride with gallantry and pageant.  

We here in the midwest are now thrown off the hot shackles of daylight savings time.  My lights have been at full blaze for the past month or so.  I currently enjoy deploying the following set of lights at all times or more:

1. NiteRider MiNewt 750- good headlight.  I always keep mine attached to my helmet.  Cord may not hold up to yo-yoing with the light.  Shocking, right?  Nite Rider fixed it up for $50.  Good customer service.  
2. Bontrager FLare R - rechargeable rear tailight and very reliable so far.  Will see how it takes winter conditions.
3. Planet Bike Beamer 3 LED - gift from my father in law.  Good up-front beam to help me stay visible.  Good enough to function as a headlight if you aren't in a hurry or if you're on familiar terrain. 

I also frequently activate this little fella that I’ve got strapped to the back of my helm:  

As I was recently coasting down the neighborhood hill I startled a pedestrian who jumped back when she espied my illumination.  As I braked to a more conversational pace she declared, “You scared the daylights out of me!”  Well bike lights will do that to a person, I reckon!  I sometimes have a mild sense of nervousness when I consider the silent menace we call the hybrid vehicle - they might sneak up behind me without any audible forewarning!  Aaaaccckkkk!

Here is the one fellow cyclist I occasionally encounter, typically at Chatty Corner, on my way to and from the grain silo at which I am employed:

Butt serious; however, let’s get lit!  Snot Jr. went to sleep before 11 tonight, so I am getting crazy and drinking a Belgian style ale and typing!   Whew-ha!  

Not much out of the usual happening here.  How about you?  Well, I don’t really know what to say about that.   Will you please send me a written explanation with or without a graphical representation of your feelings?

I have been treating my wrist discomfort with the usual gluc(osamine) and chondroitin. 

We Nebrascyclers have got some work to do, if the League of American Bicyclists rating system is worth its weight in chamois butter.  We are woefully unfriendly towards bicyclists here  in the C-huskerplex.  We came in 50th out of 50.  And this with a governor who is an avid cyclist!?  Oh the shame!  I feel like it is all everyone else’s fault!  I am moderately active!  I ride hither AND thither on my 2-wheeled companion I like to call the Bastard.  Or B for short.  What more do you ask of me LoAB!?  Do you want me to quit my day job and devote myself full time to bicycling and/or bicycle advocacy?  Speak to me great LoAB!  I am your vassal!  Let these motorists be freed from their plastic and metal enclosures to experience the great freedom of skinnier and fewer tyres!  Well, maybe I can find some great goal/mission to liberate the box-enclosed masses from their self-imposed, somewhat comfortable traveling prisons.  

Well, I went out to the movies last night and saw Le Ride, directed by and starring one of my good bicycling buddies - Phil Keoghan.  He came by one time for a bike ride with me and a few  other close friends (he was riding across the US to raise money for fighting MS).  Le Ride is a film about PK’s epic bicycling adventure with another of his good bicycling buddies named Ben.  I think he might have asked me to participate too, but his invitation must’ve gotten lost in the mail.  Do you have my current address PK?  It’s 8515 No. Kizmiaz Rd., Phil.  Is that so hard to remember/write down, Phil!?  Anyway, it’s a good thing you didn’t ask me to go because I’m very busy getting ready for my own top-secret epic adventure that I will tell you all about later, whether you want me to or not!  

Anyhow, PK and Ben intrepidly set off to ride the 1928 Tour de France.  As all of his close friends know, Phil is a Kiwi, which means he hails from the island of New Zealand.  In 1928 one Kiwi, Harry Watson, set out to ride in the TdF with 3 Aussies.  I think the press dubbed them the Austrasian team.  There were only 4 vs. the average team size of 10, so they worked very hard and the elder statesman of the team, at the ripe old age of 38, became overly fatigued after several crashes and 200 mile days in the saddle.  He sadly quit and rode in the car.  And he was very sad to sit in a car - just like all us motorists normally are because we are not bicycling!  Right!?  

This film was brought to my/our town by a company called Demand Films, which I trust will continue to bring great movies to me right here.  I demand!  Of course that movie gave me a good excuse to hop in a car to make it over to the movie theater so I wouldn’t have to freeze my Nebrass off bicycling in this chilly fall weather!  Shwew!  

Your puny,

BS