Half the Road!

February 28, 2017

I made it out to the theatre tonight last week to view a film entitled Half the Road.  It was at AksarbenCinema.  I don’t make it out much, so I was amazed to see all the sports bars present in the Aksarben Village area these days.  Here is a horrible photo of a sports bar's advertising bike at the cinema.

http://www.dudleysomaha.com

  There was also an e-bike rental outfit with a promotional booth out in the lobby, 

http://quikbyke.com

along with the usual group which included:

Tour for Hope (Bike Ride to Prevent Suicide) - May 21

Wear Yellow Ride - May 13

Bike Rack

Omaha Pedalers

As for the film, it was great to hear about some inspired women professional bicyclists.  Unfortunately they don’t get the respect or the money they deserve.  The film informs us that women bicyclists typically don’t dope and they have to work full-time regular jobs to support their bicycling careers.  Also there are fewer UCI qualifying events for them to participate in in order to get the points they need to qualify for the Olympics. 

Mostly what this film is about is giving girls and women more representation in the male-dominated professional bicycling world.  Although there are many women bicyclists, the professional bicyclists that I am familiar with are all men and almost all of them are likely dopers.  This film introduced me to a number of professional women bicyclists who I am interested in learning more about.  Here are a few of those portrayed in the film:

1. Emma Pooley (she has a teapot collection - she buys one with the prize money when she wins races)
2. Marianne Vos (probably my favorite, she seems shy and unassuming but is clearly a badass bicyclist) 
3. Kathryn Bertine (also directed the film and Skyped with the audience after the showing!)
4. Chrissy Wellington (not specifically a professional bicyclist)

Of these, CW was the only one I previously knew anything about due to my casual fling with triathleting. 

The film was enjoyable, but occasionally a bit repetitive – professional women bicyclists are not treated with even the meager amounts of respect lavished upon professional male bicyclists.  Let’s talk about that some more.  I would have been a bit more interested in hearing more about how these women became bicyclists and show them bicycling about their homelands, etc.   The film did have a great sense of humor and never really got bogged down.   It was fascinating to see all the travelling that these women had to do just to qualify for the Olympics.   Kathryn went to Syria and then didn’t even get credit for it due to some weaselly UCI technicality!  I don’t mind travelling, but I felt like I got some contact jet lag just from viewing this film.

Then, after the film, Kathryn Skyped with Bob Mancuso (of Omaha Pedaler's) and the audience got the chance to ask her questions!  It was good to hear about her latest ventures and her life in Tucson, AZ.  She offers a free place for women bicyclists to stay if they decide they could use some quality time in the mountain/deserts around and about Tucson.

That’s one nice thing about being a non-professional bicycler.  We don’t have to travel by means other than bicycling all that much!  But then again, no one makes movies about bicycle commuters, right!?  Wrong!  Here is one!  And even another!?  Okay, so they both also involve Old Man 

Winter to make it a bit more baffling/obtuse.  Here's a geeky-looking documentary that contrasts bicycles and motorcars.  

Well, bicycling in Nebraska seems to be headed in the right direction.  Here are a couple exciting upcoming events:

Omaha Bike Swap Meet - March 12

Nebraska Bike/Walk Summit - March 23-24, Lincoln

And a non-bicycle-related event: 

Yes, Nebraska equestrians will be loving it.  Maybe they'll have bike trials world cup here next!?

It could happen!  In the meantime, let's all get our bikes rolling!  Safely!  Music video!  

Heatstroke of genius!

September 3, 2015

Many humble greetings to each of you my lieges.  I do have news this day, albeit not of the grandiosity befitting one of thine noble lineage.

1. 1.     I feel like my front brake works much better after consulting the late Mr. Sheldon Brown’s website of well-articulated and informative bicycle wisdom.
2. 2.     My front fender gave out (more on this later).
3. 3.     I went on a long bicycle ride with my uncle and we weren’t the only ones.

I usually am not very good at before and after photos because I am too impatient to get started to stop for a photo.  Here was my brake after, red lines indicates approximate former location of yoke cable.  As is obvious in hindsight, the lower the V of the yoke sits the more leverage/mechanical advantage you get. 

My fender broke loose of its moorings like a sleek dinghy in a moderate nor’easter.  It just plum wore out, ta put it plainly Jeb.  Just dun fer.

This bicycle ride was just a few days ago – last Sunday August 30 to be precise.  The conditions were ideal and not at all appropriate for a ride known as the Heatstroke 100.  This was an enjoyable, well-supported, and sensibly routed spree sponsored by the great Great Plains Bicycling Club.  The route consisted of 3 loops that riders could combine in any sequence they chose to ride a variety of distances as they saw fit.    

Some of you may be wondering what a moderately active person such as myself is doing going on long bicycling rides.  Well, my uncle invited me. 

Also riding for long distances gives me an excuse to eat all kinds of foods that I otherwise occasionally chide myself about eating (i.e., lots and lots of cookies).  

We pedaled along for many a mile.  We spent some time on Church Road.

We saw a series of strong graphic designs on old rural buildings.

and a country dog.

I ate lots of delightful snack food at many of the SAG (support and grub) stops.  

The SAG people were upbeat and awesome.  Eventually though, they got tired and wanted to go home.  That was too bad for my uncle and I because we were weighing in as anchors, averaging 10.3 mph for the first 78 miles and the museum locks the gates to the parking lots at 5:30.  We were asked to take the short straight line route back to our starting point, the Strategic Air & Space Museum.  My uncle and I; however, did not even consider granting this request from our selfless benefactors.  We had planned for this contingency.  So I told the SAG men from the Moose’s Tooth that our plan involved me bicycling fast faster for 22 miles in order to reach the museum in time to move our vehicles out before they closed the gates.  The SAG men looked a bit doubtful, but they graciously accepted my counter-offer.  The only caveat was that they were going to take down the signs.  And they gave me a pickle juice that no one else wanted.  Thanks young Hosses.  Thanks!  I screamed over my shoulder as I was frantically pedaling down Highway 6.  Nothing like a mission to make a bicycler like myself feel even more self-important than usual!  By the way, the Moose's Tooth SAG was especially great because they had plenty of space to sit down and they had the Margaritaville satellite radio station playing.  I knew I should be fortify myself for the excitement.  When I reached Highway 31 I stopped for a quick cocktail of sorts. 

Kind of a chocolaty pond scum martini of sorts, if you will!  I will!  Yumm!

The rest of the ride was a bit hilly, but I passed the time by wondering if my bowels would rebel.  They held true, though, and I made it to Dairy Queen for a banana split recovery meal.

Before that, though, I crossed the pedestrian bridge over the Platte River for a second time.  I hadn't seen it before, because it's a bit hard to spot if you're just motoring along.  Here it is from the road, through a break in the trees.

 and here it is from the bridge.

So there you have it, friends.  Let's all recover and do it again some time!  

Sugary nostalgia

August 24, 2015

Well hello.  Fancy that, a time when we are both available!  Well, wait!  Before you go let me just say this – I’ve been thinking about nostalgia. 

Here in the Midwestern part of our USiness I oftimes find it easy to drift back into the days of my early childhood and even further, back into an idealized Leave it to Beaver-esque world I never actually experienced, and will not until I perfect my bye-bye-to-now-cycle (not sure about the name).  This machine will allow me to pedal my way into various other thymes and dimensions and may or may not involve riding rapidly towards a large, solid object and achieving a moderate impact to the cranial capacitor (just a go-to idea if when I can’t come up with anything else).  

Butt I digress.  I think this whole thing started when I began expounding upon the joys of the safety bicycle.

Here is a classic safety bicycle that was made here in the US. 

http://luxlow.com/bicycles/oldbike/1894-antique-sterling-safety-bicycle-built-like-a-watch-2600/

Pretty sweet, eh?  Not your cup of tea?  How about this modern version of a safety bicycle that I encountered at a recent musical event?

http://civiacycles.com/bikes/  I think...

Reminiscing about never-experienced days of yore can take many forms. 

Here is a version of Sixto Rodriguez's classic Sugar Man that I recently enjoyed during our fair city’s Jazz on the Green summer concert series.

Courtesy of Sonny Knight and the Lakers.

It is easy to be nostalgic in late summer, as we consider the fun times we had playing around in water with our friends.  Here is a photo of a friend I made just before we had a fun water fight in the backyard.

He turned the faucet and sprayed me with the hose a few times, but then I realized he wasn't very fast and so I ran over to the hammock and fell asleep.  I woke up dry, so I guess he never made it that far...

Now it is starting to cool down and we can all think about what we did or didn’t do during the fun outsidey-friendly time of year.  This coolness will be a boon for the upcoming Heatstroke 100 ride that I am contemplating participating in, due to my uncle’s contagious enthusiasm.  In addition to my uncle, it may also be due to my friend Rich’s persistent invitations to various bicycling activities which has made me feel more enthusiastic than usual.  As a moderately active person, sometimes I focus more on the moderate part of the equation, but the active part still counts too!  Why just yesterday Rich and I went out on the Jim Johnston Memorial Ride.  It was great.  Jim Johnston was killed by a motorist while bicycling.  His family initiated the ride to raise funds for scholarships for Millard West High School students and to grant Jim’s wish to organize a bicycle ride.  Jim was a science teacher and an athletic trainer at Millard West High School for many years, but also found the time and energy to enjoy plenty of bicycling adventures in his 56 years here on Earth.  

The ride was beautiful.  An impatient pick-up truck driver leaned on the horn while driving through a gauntlet of 4 bicyclers riding along near the shoulders on either side a peaceful and uncrowded highway, which was something I probably could have griped about with Jim were he still with us.  Instead I enjoyed some Chocolate Outrage and kept spinning.

Alright.  Let’s meet up at a cool Heatstroke 100 this Sunday!  We’ll reminisce!  Huzzah!