Just Checking In

My last post was a long time ago. Sometimes you run out of things to say, get bored, no time for it, any number of things. All of these things apply to me. Mostly, I just didn't feel like it.

2007 has not been a red letter year for me. It started out with extended illness, extended lousy weather and, an extended sense of personal stagnation.

I've haven't ridden even 10% of the miles I've ridden in the past few years. One reason for that is I quit at TiCycles. That was due to the personal stagnation thing. I just didn't want to face another summer at the shop. I seem to burn out on retail in about 5 year intervals. Right now I'm looking at a few different jobs. Had an interview Friday, now I get to sit on my hands and wait.

Good stuff has happened this year. We got a dog, finally. A beautiful little Australian Shepherd we named Scout. Very smart, very affectionate. Thursday 8/23 she was hit by a car and now has her left front leg in a cast. I tore a calf muscle chasing her. Nice double whammy there.

Really good stuff: Larry Craig resigns, Alberto Gonzales resigns. Does more need to be said about this? I'm sick of hearing about Craig already. He's gone, that's enough for me.

I'll try to write more. I've missed it.

Post Thanksgiving Thoughts

Well, another Turkey Day come and gone. The weather was mostly unsettled here. Rain, wind, snow and even a mostly dry day on Friday. I rode 65 miles on Friday. Ran into pal Steve Hampsten on the B-G on the way out of town. I usually ride alone so this was an unexpected pleasure. Steve joined me for a flat, yet briskly paced spin out to Redhook and back. He was riding his beautiful blue Tournesol. 650B wheels, hammertone Honjos, Berthoud Handlebar bag. Yep, beautiful. This bike just oozes hand-built sexiness. The Ram is not an ugly bike by any stretch of the imagination. The Tournesols just turn it up a notch.
Hit this link for more info:
http://www.hampsten.com/Tournesol/words.html

Karla and I had dinner at my Mom's place on Thanksgiving. My brother Steve, his son Alex and our youngest sister, Jennifer, were there too. We had a lovely time together, no fighting, plenty of Stella Artois to drink, lots of food. Mom is turning 70 next month. She tries hard but, her cooking is slipping a bit. Next year we may have to step up. Jennifer really wants to unseat me as family Trivial Pursuit Champion. She failed again this year. I never lose at stuff like that.

I wish there was a way to turn my head full of trivia into a living. I get phone calls, emails and, face to face questions about arcane bits of info all of the time. It's like I'm a flesh and blood Google. Music, bikes, history, geography, spelling. They're all here. Other bits of minutiae as well. It's Clavin-esque.

It snowed here yesterday. Very pretty. Not so bad in Seattle, really bad up north. I was 10 minutes late for work, although that may have more to do with butt-dragging than meteorilogical conditions. Karla reports the Element is more than capable in light snow. Good.

I've repaired the link to my Presidential Campaign. I don't know how it became disabled. I haven't added anything new to it lately. The time is coming when I will. Feel free to send suggestions.

The news of the weekend was full of shopper-mania stories. I guess one thing I'm thankful for is the internet. I really hate shopping malls any time of the year but, this time of year they become even more odious. Ebay and Amazon, that's where I shop. But, always go to your local bike shop for your cycling needs.

Business is pretty slow here at the shop. Crappy weather has something to do with it. This is our slow season anyway. We've ordered in more of that gifty, knick-knack sort of stuff this year. Every Christmas season we get lost looking people in here looking for presents for the cyclist in their lives. They almost never have any details about the sort of cyclist they are shopping for. So this year we have a few more books than usual. Lots of multi-tools and stuff like that, too. Good thing the slow season is short here. It's hard to make a living selling little stuff. In fact, come buy a bike from us today!

Have a nice Solstice. That's the real holiday if you ask me. Up here in the north, sundown at 4:20 makes longer days something to really look forward to.

A Light Mount

This is the light mount a friend and I have been working on. As you can see, it takes the place of the nut on your skewer. I've been using it for the last 3 weeks or so, and can say it works very well. It's made of 6061 aluminum and weighs 25 grams. I've stuck a Velox handlebar plug into the end which adds another 13 grams. I've been getting a lot of inquiries about the Nitto Light Mount I showed here a while back. That mount is no longer being produced. My mount is a response to that. If you're interested please let me know. I know there is a market for this thing. I'm currently looking for a machine shop to do a small batch of them. Then I'll know how much they cost. Right now I have no idea.

The Week That Was

Are you an extremely happy Democrat? I sure am. I haven't been this light-hearted in a long, long time. So long, Santorum. So long, Pombo. So long, DeLay. So long, Hastert. So long, Duke. Good bye, criminal Republicans! Good bye and good riddance! I know it won't be perfect but, it probably won't get worse now. Single party rule isn't good no matter what side of the aisle you prefer. Now we'll get compromise that will work for America. Checks and balances, just the way it's supposed to be.

And now, for the local news. You may have noticed we've had some rain up here in the PNW. It's pretty unrelenting. We're already ahead of the monthly norm with more on the way. November is typically the rainiest month of the year here. A whole lot of people have been washed out of their homes and jobs. I feel kind of selfish complaining that it's been raining too much to ride. So I won't.

Long Time, No See

Well hey there! It's been almost exactly 5 months since I last bothered with this. I had a bitchin' summer. I hope you did too. I rode my bike a lot, no surprise there. Drank beer, grilled a lot of meat, and generally enjoyed another nice Seattle summer. We didn't go to any Mariners games this year. Between the cost and the lousy team it just wasn't worth it. We didn't go anywhere until the last week of summer.

But, we saved the best for last and went to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. In a word, it was AWESOME! I've been wanting to go there for as long as I can remember. I only wish I'd gone sooner. I finally saw bears in the wild. Bison, elk, coyote, moose, owl, pelicans, and eagles too. No wolves, next time. The geysers were amazing, Old Faithful went off, the Grand Tetons were truly grand, Jackson Hole was the coolest tourist trap I've ever been to. Just a really great trip. The only downside was the torn calf muscle Karla had to deal with. No hiking or biking for her. The only upside to that was we saw a lot more of the parks than we may have otherwise. I got to do a ride that crossed 8800 foot Dunraven Pass. This sea level dweller was glad it was mostly a downhill ride. It was our first vacation in 3 years. We took 9 days. Another week would have been good. We'll be headed back within the next year or 2.

To properly enjoy the journey, we did something we resisted as long as we could. We bought a new car. I know, I know. I've railed loudly against car and consumer culture here, there, and everywhere. The combined mileage of our 2 cars was 380,000 miles. The point of diminishing returns was well behind us. We sold our 1991Toyota Previa minivan with 240,000 miles on it to an appreciative Laotian fellow for a pretty good deal and bought a 2005 Honda Element. I've gotta say, it's a really nice car. We've been staying pretty close to town for the last couple of years due to a lack of faith in the cars we had. It was nice to have a care free trip and it's nice for Karla to not worry about the car breaking down on the commute, or anywhere else for that matter. We still have the 1990 Civic wagon. It's running well. I've used it a couple of times to go mountain biking. Mostly it stays parked in the driveway. Much cheaper that way.















Goat Wall Lookout, 5000 feet, Methow Valley,
North Cascades. October 7th 2006


The Element has not been treated like most people treat new cars. The day after we bought it we drove over Colockum Pass in the central Cascades. The road is horrible. It's not paved. It has long rocky sections, deep ruts, and is quite remote. It was a hot summer Saturday and we saw 2 other cars in 25 miles. It is far more suitable for a Hummer than a little faker like our car. However, our little faker acquitted itself nicely. We decided the plastic body panels were a good thing. We visited my Dad and step-mom in East Wenatchee after the pass. My step-mom, Jackie, was amazed we would treat our new car that way. We thought we did exactly what we got it for. We have also driven it on mountain dirt roads in Yellowstone and in the Methow Valley in north central Wa. We think it's a great car.

The Joke Explained

So, a guy named Craig at an undisclosed location was the only one to give it a try. You had it half right Craig. He correctly identified Dave Stoller as the bike smitten kid in the 1979 movie "Breaking Away". A true classic. If you haven't seen it I highly recommend it. This movie is set in Bloomington, Indiana. Our hero Dave wins a Masi racing bike and decides he too will be a racer. He adopts an Italian persona that drives his friends and family crazy. Mostly his Dad. So Dave is an imaginary Italian. The box I wrote on came from Performance Bicycle Shop. Scattante is their imaginary Italian house brand frame. It's actually made in Taiwan. Thus, an imaginary Italian is endorsing an imaginary Italian frame. Maybe I'm too clever but I crack myself up all of the time anyway.

Reader Feedback Day

Man, I post a few gripes and I get a slew of emails telling me to knock it off. Remember, the name of this blog is "Riding AND Ranting". And, I take that seriously. Hardly anyone comments when I post happy rainbows and unicorns type stuff. Let's address this. There really are Fixie Dicks. There are plenty of cool people that are just out there riding but, there are also plenty of people that seem to consider this a punk fashion kind of thing. And bring that attitude with them. I don't like it. And I don't like being viewed as a less than serious rider because I don't "Keep it real" like the Fixie Dick seems to. I do everything I possibly can by bike. Commute, do errands, play. And have done so for years. So I don't have a lot of patience or appreciation for the assumptions of Johnny-Come-Lately hipsters. Fixie dick ranting is now concluded.

Regarding the guy in the full racer kit, what can I say? He looked like an escapee from clown prison. It's like Little Leaguers wearing their uniforms to an MLB game. Only, the Little Leaguers are cute. Adult fanboys are always a little disturbing. Like face painters at a football or hockey game. Certainly, the cyclist isn't as loudly fanatic, unless you're on the slopes of L'Alpe d'Huez sometime in July. It has been mentioned that this may have been a gift. That is indeed a tricky situation and I'm glad I'm not in it. And I considered that very point when I first saw this guy. Still, it was funny. It can't be undone. Don't you do it either, dear reader.

Here is a new rant. Bike shops are often put in the position of meeting place for a ride. That's great, we do a lot of business as a result. Just don't take up a prime parking spot in our limited parking area for four hours. It's like they don't want us to do well. Please keep this in mind when planning your next rendezvous.

Well, buckaroos and buckarettes, that does it for today's spleen venting. I'm glad to have received your comments. Touching a nerve is harder than you think.

Happy Trails!

A Joke

Who can tell me what the joke is here?
I'm very proud to have thought this one up myself. Get your answers to me. I'll post the winner as soon as there is one. There is no prize. Only your name posted here for all time.

Funny Looking Rider

Just so you don't think I'm picking on the fixie riding youth of our area, I offer this little bit of hilarity. Yesterday on the Myrtle Edwards Trail, I passed a guy, about my age, wearing full PHONAK Pro kit while riding a hybrid loaded with panniers. I laughed out loud at this sight. I'm not a vision of sartorial splendor on my bike by any stretch of the imagination but, I know better than to wear full pro kit in any circumstances other than being on that team. This guy had shorts, jersey, vest, socks and a cap. It doesn't help that the green and yellow of PHONAK is about the ugliest kit out there. Oh yeah, he was wearing Nike court shoes too. I wish I'd had my camera with me. I'm going to look for him next Friday. Maybe I'll get him to pose.

A New Kind of Cyclist

Over the past few years, I've noticed the increasing numbers of fixie riding hipsters all over town. This sub-group is mostly an outgrowth of messengers riding fixies on the job. Now, we all know that messengers are the epitome of urban cool. Or think they are anyway.

I know a lot of people that ride and appreciate the simplicity and the soulfulness of riding fixed (KP). I'm not one of them. I have a single speed I get those things from. My knees like to coast once in a while.

That's not what I'm writing about today, however. Today's rant is about the hipsters. They all strive to be so unique. They do this by wearing black cycling caps, Cinelli seems to be highly prized. Or black Army looking flat top caps. They also like to wear jeans (?!) rolled up on the drive side. Trucker wallets, Chrome messenger bags, aviator glasses. Yes, very different from each other.

These things don't bug me too much. What's been bugging me is the very poor etiquette they show on the road. I was riding on a narrow sidewalk yesterday, which is legal here. And was passed by a fixie rider without a word of warning of any sort. You sometimes can do this on the bike path but, on the sidewalk that's just selfish arrogance. I've seen other examples of this lack of manners. No lights at night, passing in the rain with no fenders, that sort of thing. It's funny they don't bother with things like lights and fenders.

I know they don't want to clutter up the clean lines of their bikes with a bunch of old man looking stuff. I think it's funny that they are sacrificing function for fashion. I also think it allows me to call them stupid. After being passed yesterday on the sidewalk I thought "What a dick." I then thought of a new descriptive phrase for this category of rider. FIXIE DICK. Now, they aren't all like this. But there are enough of them around here to fully populate their new domain. When you're out riding today, keep an eye out for them. I'll bet there's a fixie dick somewhere in your neighborhood.