Idaho Stop in California?

It's been a long time since I've posted. I've been busy with school and life and it makes for somewhat infrequent blogging. I've been asking myself WHY I'm still doing this. While I doubt Sammy Hagar was talking about blogging when he said "to me it's all just mental masturbation", the boot fits. Is blogging intrinsically a narcissistic form of self gratification? It could be argued successfully that indeed it is, and do I really want that mantle? Cheese & Rice, I've been spending too much in self-analysis. Never-mind, here's a little piece on the Idaho Stop, which just got shot down in the Oregon Legislature. Idaho has had the law since 1982 and it works for them, so why not for California?


Bicycles, Rolling Stops, and the Idaho Stop from Spencer Boomhower on Vimeo.

Calfee Bamboo UTILITY Bikes?

While looking through the most recent entries at Fake Plastic Fish, I stumbled upon a link to AfriGadget. There's an article up there about Bamboo Bikes, and none other than Craig Calfee of NAHBS fame was behind it.

I saw Craig's creations last week at NAHBS, and as usual, he doesn't disspoint. I would put a link here to my pictures, but since the hard drive on my Mac G4 iBook is apparently roasted, my photo uploading abilities are somewhat... limited. Anyway, check out the article.

18 Ways to Know That You Have Bicycle Culture

This is a just a short entry to alert my scarce readership of a humorous (but illustrative) list.

18 Ways To Know That You Have Bicycle Culture is a little funny article (firmly tongue in cheek) over at Cycleliciousness that was linked to by Todd at Clever Cycles. Although he's joking, you'd likely experience many of the things on the list if you live lived in Amsterdam, Copenhagen or several other cities in Europe. Sadly, we're nowhere close to this anywhere in Cali, though SF and Davis are fairly bicycle friendly cities, by American standards at least. I look forward to the day when Novato and Marin County at large has been been given the "Copenhagen Treatment".

Until then, I'll wear my dorky reflectorized helmet, my reflective gear and my flash flags. I don't wear "cycle gear" anymore, and I have my Azor Oma to thank for that!

CURRENT MUSIC: Black Sabbath, Heaven and Hell, Walk Away

Little Girls have SuperVision

I hadn't checked in on one of my favorite bloggers in some time, but I've been a fan of his blog now for several years. His daughter had some choice observations that he shared with us in his Cars, Cocks & Hair Replacement… entry. It got me thinking: when was the last time YOU saw a bicycle ad on TV? I honestly can't remember when it was, and that frankly bothers me. I see bicycles all the time b/c I look at them on the internet, I ride one daily and I look for other cyclists on the street, but I know that I'm somewhat of an anomaly in terms of the general US population. Other than the occasional token comment by our elected officials about riding bikes, the push to get out of our cars as a solution to foreign oil dependence is non-existant. Most folks don't even consider the bicycle as a viable alternative to the car. It IS, but in order to make this realization, you have to take a cold hard look at the whole picture.

So... I invite your comments: when was the last time YOU saw a bicycle ad on TV? Have you EVER seen one?

Car-head

While over reading the latest entry at Todd's Blog, I found my way to this link about Car-Head. I've suffered from Car-head for many many many years, even when I was biking the most. It's funny; you take the way things ARE for granted: it's the "normal" way, the way it's always been done... but it's none of those things. My wife and I struggled this evening with her desire to trade in her current car for a newer one and my dogged taurean resistance to putting more money into car society. There's this war going on in my head, and it all started when I bought an Xtracycle FreeRadical Conversion Kit. My aversion to cars has been growing as my eyes have been further and further opened to the damage we've done and are continuing to inflict upon our little blue ball. While I try and remain hopeful, the recent car acquisition is causing me considerable angst. I guess you can call it growing pains, but man is it a bitch. What I can take from this experience is a stronger commitment to drive less. My hat's off to folks who are car-free: it's not easy given the pervasive and ubiquitous nature or Car-Head mentality.

No left turns

I wish I could say I found THIS one myself, but I found it at Kent Peterson's Blog. It's about a life well lived, and the danger of turning left. Like Kent said, it's not about bikes specifically, but it makes a good point that any cyclist can take to heart.

Pink Lemonade

This evening, for the second time in several days, I started crying. The first time was May 3rd. May 3rd was my uncle's birthday. He died in October 2006 from Pulmonary Fibrosis. He was not a man of many words, but he had a heart of gold and he was a wonderful listener. I spent about 4 days with him back in 2000 when my wife and I took a road trip through the southwest and for me, it was one of the highlights of the trip. I'm very thankful that I got to know him, even if it was just a little bit. My cousin's email is what set me off. She wrote a very beautiful thing about her dad on his birthday and sent it to me, and I was sobbing by the time I finished it. Somehow I wasn't surprised, because she and I simultaneously fell apart at the funeral and ended up sobbing in each others arms for several minutes. It didn't seem strange that we hadn't seen each other in at least 20 years.

Tonight I got caught up with Fatty's Blog, and the ordeal that he and his wife are going through is excruciating to read. In particular, the reaction of his 11 year old son put me in tears for the second time in 5 days; DAMN! I can only imagine the pain that Susan is going through, but to see your children in that kind of fear and pain is intolerable. The folks at Twin Six approached Fatty about making a limited edition pink version of his totally awesome jersey in a show of solidarity for his wife. If you can do it, please go to the Pink Lemonade entry and vote for the size that you would want. Most of the funds go to support breast cancer research and little goes to Susan. Twin Six won't be making a dime, and I think that's pretty damn cool of them. If they do indeed make the jersey and I can get one, I'll wear it with pride as I suffer over Carson Pass on my trip to Burning Man by bicycle. In fact, I'm dedicating my suffering first ascent of Carson Pass to Susan Nelson.

Stupid monkeys...

The Archdruid Report: Faustus and the Monkey Trap

I found the link over at Mauricio's Blog. Mauricio is a fellow Xtracyclist, and a regular poster over at Todd Fahrner's Blog. It's a great article and at the risk of repeating this point, for the third time, it points out that Biofuels are not the answer to our energy problems. Look, I'm all for using WVO (waste vegetable oil) to create biodiesel: this is giving it a second life. Cultivating crops for fuel only? Stupid stupid stupid. A line from Rush's "Territories" (released in 1987 on the Hold Your Fire album) song rings particularly true here;

The whole wide world
An endless universe
Yet we keep looking through
The eyeglass in reverse
Don't feed the people
But we feed the machines
Can't really feel
What international means
In different circles, we keep holding our ground
In different circles, we keep spinning round and round

Hard to believe that I used to quote Rush on a daily basis.. back in highschool. I can still do it once in a while. I'll be seeing them in Concord in August; already got my tickets.

Yeah, this post is all over the map... just like me.

Oh.. and a teaser: the Stokemonkey is completed. I fired it up for the first time today and it runs. There's some other details to finish (battery box placement to accomodate PeaPod, front derailer hookup, shellacing of the new cork grips, readjusting the handlebar accountrements, cable tying off loose ends), but after 8 long months of procrastination and excuses, the end is nigh. Just in time: I did my first ride to the shop in many months on my wife's bike and I was pining the whole time for SuperVato. It didn't help that the seat on her bike is NO substitue for my B17, the handlebar position on her bike (for me at least) is several inches below the seat and I was carrying a 30+ pound pack on my back. It all added up to a less than comfortable ride. None-the-less it was a beautiful day, perfect temperatures and the ride was glorius. I kept thinking to myself "why haven't I been doing this all then time?". It finally lit another fire under my ass and I finished the Stokemonkey install and started on the other finishing details. I'm waiting for the shellac to dry so I can sand and put on another coat tomorrow evening. Monday morning may find me riding to the citay.. though as Todd said, I should really take it easy on the battery the first few rides. Oh... and I weighed the entire rig (w/ battery). Sit down if you're standing (wait who stands to read this blog anyways?).. a whopping 95 lbs! I was thinking all along that somehow I was going to come out around 80 lbs, but ... no. Then add me (currently around 190), my son (I'm guessing, but probably around 35lbs) and a load of groceries (20-60 pounds) and I'm up between 320-380lbs. Does that exceed the rating of the FreeRadical? It's rather unclear. I'm guessing that I'm nearing capacity, but it's probably more about my wheels than anything else.

Hybrid Car? No thanks

THIS article that I found through Oil Is For Sissies summed up the fuel efficient car thing pretty well. In fact, it put down in writing the thoughts that had been running round my head when I vetoed buying a hybrid. See, Hybrids aren't cheap. There are cheaper cars whose milage isn't that much lower. Wait, I'll just shut up now, because I'm just going to confuse you; go read the article. You'll see what I mean.

Oh, and you can safely exclude the bicycle or human/electric hybrid from this equation. It's on a whole different level.

Yeah for raffle wins and YEAH for Dave Nice

If you haven't heard of Dave Nice and his misfortune on the Great Divide Race in 2006, then read Fatty's entry here.

I was incensed when I learned of Dave's misfortune in the 2006 GDR, so much so that I immediately went on the offensive and contacted everyone I knew in Montana and told them to be on the lookout for Dave's bike. It didn't help Dave get back in the race or get his bike back, but I felt like I'd done... something. Then after reading fatty's entry above, I really could do something to help Dave, so I dropped $100 on Fatty's raffle for Dave. I'm stoked that Dave will be able to race the GDR this year: losing one's whole rig like that has got to be bone-crushingly devastating. I know I would be tempted to enter a bad spiral of depression if I were him.

The selfish part of me was stoked to win a prize in the raffle, but I would have put in that money even if there wasn't a chance of winning anything. See, I used to enter every damn raffle that I came across, and I never won a thing. I'd enter to win raffles for things I could give a shit about. I never won. This was for something momentous. The GDR is an amazing race. Forget those asshats on "the amazing race". This is the real deal.

I dropped more than I should have, but I think Dave deserved another chance at the GDR, and I'm honored to help make it happen. The selfish part of me feverently hoped to win something cool and bike related. Fatty emailed me and informed me of my win.. WHEE. Ergon grips. I checked them out on his site (they're a sponser) and have been intrigued.

Holy Wow

I started reading the Fat Cyclist Blog this evening, and there's a lot of great articles there. The one that pinged the tuning fork in me though is this one. Holy wow. Very sobering, and very heavy as the final thing I read before I go to sleep. I'd say "Enjoy", but that doesn't fit. Epic ordeal indeed, this one is heavy, but definitely worth the read.

An argument with my wife this evening over a money issue weighs heavily on my mind as I read this, and my over-reaction seems so very stupid now. Time is short folks; enjoy your small joys and triumphs. Crippling disability or illness can strike us at anytime and take away our ability to do the things that bring us joy. This article will make you want to hug the people you love, and if you're a bicyclist, it'll put the riding jones on you somethin' fierce. You've been warned.

The Real Reason You're Broke!

Kent Peterson posted THIS LINK on his blog, and I just can't say it any better, so I'll shut up. Well, one last thing... I have been known once in a while to get holier-than-thou about unlit cyclists at night, but only when they manage to almost kill me. Shutting up to commence... NOW.

Doing good things

Two of my favorite bloggers (and bicycle people) posted inspiring entries recently.
Large Fella On A Bike has a great article about his run-in with an extremely rude driver who nearly killed him. His reaction is a fabulous example of an evolved response to a stressful situation. He thanks his daughter for the insight she provided into people's motivations for doing bad things. Awesome!

Kent Peterson's entry titled Get A Light! made me think twice about my own reaction to unlit cyclist encounters. I've been guilty of the same reaction he had more than once. My yearly Burning Man attendance creates the highest number of "Hey, Get a light darkwad!" comments. It's not very helpful, as it only serves as an outlet for my own frustration, and the people receiving the comments are no doubt not listening to the message behind the comment/insult.

I guess this means it's time to start carrying some spare cheapo blinkers around with me when I'm night riding to give away. Obviously more effective that yelling "Get A Light Darkwad!"

For the record, "Darkwad" is a term that started (as far as I know) at Burning Man to describe people who are traveling around Black Rock City sans lighting. In a city with nearly 40k bicyclists, riding unlit at night creates enormous potential for collision.

Most bicycle related fatalities occur at or after sunset, and of those, most involve unlit cyclists. Get two light sets: one for yourself and one for a friend or stranger.