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!

Good gear pedaling!

August 4, 2015

Hello goodlings and goodwinkers.  Well, the month of July has sailed and ‘tis onwards towards August waves of golden splendour.  It is now national immunization awareness month.  I am celebrating by enjoying some chilled Merlot avec accente, merci boucoup with something gritty, probably playground sand.

Here is an exciting video clip of the most fascinating moments of my last July commute of oh so long ago. 

It was also back in sweet July that I received my last issue of Outside magazine, which was one of 12 issues that I had won by flying on airplanes for enough miles to get a magazine, but not a free flight. 

It is the Encyclopedia of Gear issue.  If I participated in an outdoory activity besides bicycling, I might be enthusiastic.  However, I don’t and I wasn’t.  Gear seems so impersonal.  If I want gear I can look at my Campmor catalogue, through which I recently purchased some delightful mesh briefs, to make sure my package is delivered intact and fully fairly functional.  Or I could talk to a gear-oriented bicycle technology enthusiast.  One who spends many hours reading about new-fangled fancy options like pink slime tyres, one-forked-up suspension forks, compact disc brakes, and wireless shifting.  Well, let me tell you fancy smarty pantsies this – a little less conversation, a little more action!

While you were reading about the new X.0 short shifter, I was out pedaling laboriously up a hill on a heavy bike with a Sette avec accente chain tensioner.  It’s not that I don’t care.  Safety bicycles were pretty damn good when they started out shortly after the invention of the locomotive back in the 1880s and they were perfect by 1990.  The rest of the stuff is just bells and whistles and access to dangerous speeds.  Why some of these machines are hardly worthy of the name safety bicycle!  Harrumph!  John Kemp Starley would roll safely over in his grave if he were to see some of these modern speedy diamond frames of death!

So what else is happening in the modern worlds?  Music and lots of it!  

Hey, let’s all bicycle around and find some music to listen to once we get somewhere where we hear some music!  

  

K9 distemper and your raccoon

July 21, 2015

How are you?  Okay.  Okay.  I hear you.  Breathe.  Good, good. 

Hey, have you noticed any trail/road hazards lately?  What!?  You too!?  Me too!

Here are some trail hazards I have noticed while out with spinny-wheeled forms of transport.

Yes, there are some dangers.  This guy was rabid distempered.  We avoided him and his swarm of insects like the distemper rabies.  After he drove Toddler Snot and myself away from our pedal- and/or push-powered means of conveyance he foamed at the mouth and clawed at the air convincingly.  

Toddler Snot thought it was fascinating and kept moving in the raccoon’s direction, so I had to redirect and distract him.  I kept a watch on our frothy friend out of the corner of my eye.  While there is nothing particularly funny about a rabid distempered raccoon, it was pretty funny when he got aboard our trike after a few unsuccessful attempts and finally succeeded in rolling it into the creek.  Don’t ride rabid distempered.

I have also observed some other recent trail obstacles – mostly auto parts.  

Another event I’ve recently experienced was purchasing a used Strider bicycle. 

Since his trike had been jacked by a raccoon, I figured we’d try something else for him to pedal roll on.  Toddler Snot is bound to love it, and I’ll give you his review and updates on his progress. 

Well what else is happening?

Here is a website I have not noticed before.  It's the Nebraska Cycling Association!  Apparently you can ride bicycles fast in a variety of formats and venues here in Nebraska.  Mostly cyclopcross and a few mountainous bicycling events.  Then there's the top secret, unrelated and possibly entyrely factitious Cyclops Mountains bicycle smack down.  You may pass, be passed, piss, be or get pissed, etc.  Competition brings out the best fluids in/on all of us!  I actually enjoy participating in some racy activities from time to time, so I'll let you know how this budding relationship develops.

In the meantime, let's all meet up in the Cyclops.  I hear a balloon approach to the starting line is quite soothing to the distempered amongst us.