The color was described as "gold", but it is pretty close to road/school bus yellow,
and I think it is perfect for riding around town. Just a quick trip to the hardware store and then by the beach today. Perfect riding weather.
Crazy Day November 09 2011, 0 Comments
The Niner finally sold, did another Local TV interview recording session, 18 month progress for the little girl at child care, and still grabbed a minute or five to roll through the swap meet and by the beach.
The weather has been fantastic, cold mornings, but the days are about as good as it gets. Momentum is building in with the bike commute scene in our local community. Likewise I have had a couple of good meetings this week to keep the tailwind blowing on this venture. Also, all the parts are in for a couple of builds I am working on and should have some progress posts in the near future.
Lunch Date November 07 2011, 0 Comments
Today was perfect for a mid day escape to ride with my wife and the dog, childcare does allow for the occasional date.
While we were out-of-town, winter seems to have jumped right past fall. Morning temps have been in the low 40's and just creeping over 60 in the day. Time to hang up the lightweight AC shirts and pull out the flannel and rugby shirts. Granted, we are spoiled when winter riding still includes shorts.
The Bridgestone RB-T that I had posted about a while back is finally completed and in use by ha happy new owner. In reality this bike did not need much more than a cleaning, new cables, tires, fenders and an old loved Brooks saddle.
I am really happy with the way this one turned out, and the new owner is stoked. The request was fo ra road bike that is still quick and fun to ride, yet could manage a medium load of groceries etc. This bike popped up, in near NOS condition and fit the bill. We had the rack, saddle and tires on hand. The fenders are the new SKS Longboards. THey were as easy as any SKS fender to set up, and have much better coverage than the standard fender offerings. The drive train is all original, near pristine and even the shifting still indexes perfectly.
One thing this bike still had, but is seldom seen are the SR / Sakae pedals:
Smooth spinning, wide enough for smaller feet and easy to service if needed. I really love the old Sakae pedals, but they are from an era that has passed.
This bike will be seeing a lot of use hopefully.
Transitions November 02 2011, 0 Comments
Making the rounds today was a bit of a shock coming from 15 days of 85% relative humidity and tropical warmth to the single digit RH, 40 mph winds and dust storm we are having today.
Still though, keeping things in perspective, it is better than ice and snow.
Made it out for a bit this morning to run some errands, 24hr grocery stores hooray, and cruise by the beach.
Looks like I am going to be getting some work done today, pretty small surf, and yes the fog is looming just off shore.
On the news front, the niner had up for sale, then not, is up for sale again. You can see it
here. I also have plenty of the silver shifter bump caps,
here. These and a few other items will be starting to sill up my shop/garage sale pages in the coming week. I have 4 bike projects for friends in the works with more to come, this should help spice up the content around here in the next couple of weeks too.
Happy Monday, be sure to ride this week!
Thank You for taking a look!
I have made it a year now today, and without the encouragement of you all looking regularly it would not be so much fun. I have learned a bunch, met some new people and achieved some of my goals. The foremost, using the tools at my disposal to encourage you to get outside, ride your bike, escape the inertia of using your car to get around and play a bit. It appears to be working on that front. The rest has some room for growth, but that will come.
Back to the photo stuff. I really have enjoyed the GoPro for its ease of use and angle of view. The thing is that I have been feeling a bit lazy with respect to my creativity. The creative outlet fuels the rest of the passion to keep this going. I will be relying less on the GoPro an da bit mor eon my other cameras from here on out. With darkness approaching I decided it was high time to teach myself the art of long exposure night shooting. Not as tricky as I thought for my first stab at it.
The shots take a little more setup and gear hauling. The results are well worth the effort. This was the most fun I have had shooting in a while.
Thank you again for your readership, and as we roll into the fall and winter do not forget, PLAY OUTSIDE!!
Happy Friday.
Load Testing October 10 2011, 0 Comments
Today was another fantastic day to be out on the bike gathering the groceries for the week
ide blue skies to the east with the fog looming just offshore behind me. THe high sweeping clouds made the blue skies pop, this one made me think of the swallows that will be heading back south pretty soon.
Enough day dreaming, and time for the business end of the trip. Two stops totaling, 1 gal milk, 1 gallon Tangerine Juice, 3 quarts yogurt, boxes of cereal and crackers, more juice, bananas, and some how squeezing the camera gear back in the bags. One trick I use is to take the bags of stuff out of the boxes, getting every little bit I can out of the hauling capacity.
Fully loaded with over 30 lbs of stuff I decided to head uphill to push the bike and myself a bit. The handling climbing up was very precise, not slow speed wobbles all over the road, even mashing a 36/30 low gear. The views were fantastic once above the fog, the bank looming just off the beach, with the channel islands poking out the top miles away. This shot diving into one of my favorite turns captured it best.
Adding a twist to the regular Sunday ride we have been heading over to the playground as a family before keep on riding to the market.
Then it is time for me to keep on keepin on for the next 10 miles to get the veggies. Today was another incredible day to be outside.
This area of southern California is really is a wonderful place to ride and call home.
While setting up for some pictures came across one of my pet peeves. I will never fully understand why changing a tube is so intense that you throw the dead tube off on the side of the road.
I usually pick them up, take them home and patch them. While a free tube is a nice bonus, they are usually 23mm tubes, and do not see much use in my stable. have a few ideas on how to curb this kind of waste, but implementation is going to be a bit of a process.
and I think it is perfect for riding around town. Just a quick trip to the hardware store and then by the beach today. Perfect riding weather.
Yes, it really was as nice as it looks. The weather was perfect, the ride was longer than I planned, nad that made it better. I look back and find it hard to remember a time when it was more fun to get the food for the week. The food tastes better when you sweat a little to get it too.
The weather has been fantastic, cold mornings, but the days are about as good as it gets. Momentum is building in with the bike commute scene in our local community. Likewise I have had a couple of good meetings this week to keep the tailwind blowing on this venture. Also, all the parts are in for a couple of builds I am working on and should have some progress posts in the near future.
While we were out-of-town, winter seems to have jumped right past fall. Morning temps have been in the low 40's and just creeping over 60 in the day. Time to hang up the lightweight AC shirts and pull out the flannel and rugby shirts. Granted, we are spoiled when winter riding still includes shorts.
I am really happy with the way this one turned out, and the new owner is stoked. The request was fo ra road bike that is still quick and fun to ride, yet could manage a medium load of groceries etc. This bike popped up, in near NOS condition and fit the bill. We had the rack, saddle and tires on hand. The fenders are the new SKS Longboards. THey were as easy as any SKS fender to set up, and have much better coverage than the standard fender offerings. The drive train is all original, near pristine and even the shifting still indexes perfectly.
One thing this bike still had, but is seldom seen are the SR / Sakae pedals:
Smooth spinning, wide enough for smaller feet and easy to service if needed. I really love the old Sakae pedals, but they are from an era that has passed.
This bike will be seeing a lot of use hopefully.
Still though, keeping things in perspective, it is better than ice and snow.
Looks like I am going to be getting some work done today, pretty small surf, and yes the fog is looming just off shore.
On the news front, the niner had up for sale, then not, is up for sale again. You can see it 
The shots take a little more setup and gear hauling. The results are well worth the effort. This was the most fun I have had shooting in a while.
Thank you again for your readership, and as we roll into the fall and winter do not forget, PLAY OUTSIDE!!
Happy Friday.
ide blue skies to the east with the fog looming just offshore behind me. THe high sweeping clouds made the blue skies pop, this one made me think of the swallows that will be heading back south pretty soon.
Enough day dreaming, and time for the business end of the trip. Two stops totaling, 1 gal milk, 1 gallon Tangerine Juice, 3 quarts yogurt, boxes of cereal and crackers, more juice, bananas, and some how squeezing the camera gear back in the bags. One trick I use is to take the bags of stuff out of the boxes, getting every little bit I can out of the hauling capacity.
Then it is time for me to keep on keepin on for the next 10 miles to get the veggies. Today was another incredible day to be outside.
This area of southern California is really is a wonderful place to ride and call home.
While setting up for some pictures came across one of my pet peeves. I will never fully understand why changing a tube is so intense that you throw the dead tube off on the side of the road.
I usually pick them up, take them home and patch them. While a free tube is a nice bonus, they are usually 23mm tubes, and do not see much use in my stable. have a few ideas on how to curb this kind of waste, but implementation is going to be a bit of a process.