Thursday, May 24, 2012

Overheard at the bike to work breakfast on Monday

"did you ride?"
"No, I drove. I don't bike in the rain"

Me, I'm feeling pretty smug and pleased with myself.  I had the day off, and I biked down to the kickoff breakfast for our Bike to Work week anyway.  But when I woke up at 6am that day I could hear the rain coming down pretty hard, and I thought maybe I'll just stay in bed, I'm sure they'll get along fine without me.  Soon the rain lightened up, though, so I hauled myself out of bed and "geared up" as they say. Put on some rain pants over baggy shorts and biked on down. By then the rain had almost stopped and I discovered the rain pants and jacket were overkill. Enjoyed the breakfast, and got to go for a short ride afterwards.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Dogs on the beach

A few pics from our trip to Oregon last week without the bikes, but with the dogs. Dash and Scout - two hard partying dogs.






Saturday, May 19, 2012

Slight disconnect at Powell's in Portland

which two items don't go together?

We were in Portland last weekend and I made a quick visit to Powell's Books to pick up some light reading material. It may be a little ironic, but I already had the Bicycle Times issue that was there so I picked up both Just Ride and Bicycling magazine (which have competing views on carbohydrates, among other things). Didn't notice Just Ride was autographed until I left the store - woo hoo. (Actually didn't know who Grant Petersen was until maybe last year). Both seemed good for flipping through randomly, which seems to be the way I read as I get older.

It was a little odd being in Portland without our bicycles, but we didn't want the hassle of dealing with dogs, luggage and bikes on the back of the truck. Almost got a Tern folding bike at REI but it was the Uno and I'm not familiar with the other options available in folding bikes so passed on it. Wasn't sure if we had enough room for it. Also almost picked up a nice orange single speed from the downtown Bike Gallery (seemed like a good shop, by the way), but was sure I couldn't fit it in or on the truck unless I tied it to the top of the truck bed cover. Shoulda left the bike rack on the truck before we left.

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

TJ Meenach Drive on Bloomsday


If you're from the Spokane area, you're probably well aware the big foot race/fun run/walking party called Bloomsday happened Sunday.  I was able to ride down TJ Meenach Dr. to cheer on my wife and a few others as they ran up Doomsday hill. The above was a nice sight and a nice ride - the road closed off to traffic. Plenty of room to maneuver for a biker like me who can only brake with one hand.

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

So Many Choices

hey long time no hi-C. Not much going on here, but this is all I got, something I started and abandoned before my little hand problem.

Drop bar, flat bar, swept-back bar, chopper style.

Cycle Chic - "Style over Speed"; Vehicular Cycling - "fast, efficient"; Try to follow most rules of the road but don't stop fully at stop signs when it's clear (just like cars do); Just ride

Bike Specific clothes, racing kit, street clothes, combination Street and Bike.

Clipless pedals, platform pedals, half and halfs

caliper, disc, v-brake, no brakes.

Sit up, hunch over, relaxed, aggressive position.

Mountain, urban, racing, road, touring, hybrid, rando.

26, 29er, 700c, 27x1&1/4, 650b, skinny, wide

10 speed, single, 24, 28, 20

triple crank, double, single

I give up, there's just too many possibilities to list all of them. But they all seem to be good.