http://sweetbike.org This Bike Is A Pipe Bomb - Or A Flower Tue, 02 Feb 2010 22:48:32 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en It only took me some 4 hours in my car to get to Port Townsend this Saturday.  Rain.  Traffic.  More rain.  More traffic.  Ferry schedules.  I'd also footed the bill for a tank of gas and paid for two ferry rides.  So to say I was disappointed when, after finding ... http://sweetbike.org/?p=687 [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="460" caption="Click the pic for more images."][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="460" caption="Andre found this cool gallery of some kids bike touring on the Upper Penninsula in 1979. Man, they look like us. Again, click the pic for the gallery."][/caption] And this is a pretty groovy blog. ... http://sweetbike.org/?p=682 http://velonews.competitor.com/2010/01/news/l-a-road-rage-doctor-gets-five-years_102274 [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="460" caption="Photo: Chris Roberts (permission pending)"][/caption] Not be a downer, but this deserves posting.  It's a few days old and I didn't want it to compete against the xmas tree massacre post, but I wanted to get it up all the same. Christopher Thomas Thompson, age 60, is a ... http://sweetbike.org/?p=662 Dude.  Seriously. Between myself and a couple others, we prestocked 14 good sized trees at my house.  That's out of some 40 trees that eventually showed up.  We prefunked at my place, strapped trees to trailers and trees to bikes and trees to bags and rode out to Westlake Center to ... http://sweetbike.org/?p=629 Zomg that's a mouthful. So, yes.  Tomorrow are TWO events that are so awesome they can barely be in the same room together.  FIRST OFF - it is the annual .83 Xmas Tree Massacre! At 7pm we will meet at Westlake Center and at 730 we will ride/carry/haul all the Xmas ... http://sweetbike.org/?p=617 Seriously, this guy rules.  When in doubt, make a mess and work it out later. Of course, I'm a fall-on-your-sword kinda guy so this sort of trainwreck approach is right up my alley. Onward! http://sweetbike.org/?p=608 Alex has built - from scratch - a beautiful bicycle.  This is his first "from scratch" bike ever, and the culmination of something like 9~12 months of slow, methodical work.  Alex is known among us as a metal worker, a rack builder - even the creator of a couple hacked ... http://sweetbike.org/?p=605 ...I'm doing the pee pee dance.  But I don't want to jinx it so not going say anything about it specifically.  So here's some links to things I've also been looking at lately. http://freightbaggage.org/ Freight Baggage.  These guys do some cool sewing projects.  Rack bags, backpacks, and lots of other things.  ... http://sweetbike.org/?p=599 So, I've been out for the last couple of days. Winter illin as it were. But between medication induced sleep while my body processes this crap, I found a handy module that formats my blog when viewed with mobile device. So far I've only tried it with ... http://sweetbike.org/?p=596 From a very cool blog I stumbled upon - http://hellingham.blogspot.com Largely cyclocross orientated it looks like.  I dunno.  I like the pic and like the blog.  The caption under the photo says Babcock rolls to victory with a fallen Cameron in his wake at the Cross Crusade finals. More great pics @ ... http://sweetbike.org/?p=590 Check it below the cut if interested.  It's funny but lost it's appeal to me now. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330386088555&_trksid=p2759.l125\ 2009 Bend Oregon Cyclocross Nationals Equipment: I can hardly believe all of this stuff fit in my car.  Don't hate the player.... hate the game.  I am looking for a good home for all of my ... http://sweetbike.org/?p=583 http://santarchy.com/ FULL GALLERY HERE [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="460" caption="Photo of Jon by Rogelio"][/caption] Every year, in cities around the world, Santarchy happens.  In Seattle, this means 600+ Santas get together at the Elysian Brewery around noon, and begin what inevitably becomes one of the best (and arguably embarassing) bar crawls in Seattle. This ... http://sweetbike.org/?p=571 Aaand the frame is only about $15 more than a Fisticuff. http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?168605-Dual-purpose-Surly-Pugsley [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="460" caption="Stolen without permission from bikeforums.net Sorry guys. This is the Pugsley with 29er Big Apples."][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="460" caption="Stolen without permission from bikeforums.net Sorry guys. This is the Pugsley with 4" wide ... http://sweetbike.org/?p=568 So the Pacer's gone through a lot of incarnations, but I'm super happy with the last, having replaced the 48cm Nitto Noodle Bars which were giving me tendonitis with a set of Richie bars, shellac'ing white cork tape, putting a top tube pad on (already dented the top tube) ... http://sweetbike.org/?p=563 Turns out, Molly isn't doing a bike-girl calendar this year, so Miles decided to do a bike-boy calendar sorta at the last minute.  It's not really to raise money - more of a, this seems like it'd be a hoot.  So we all went to Henry's on Saturday and between ... http://sweetbike.org/?p=555 Holy freakin crap, 22 degrees on the ride into work this morning! ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG Brrrr! http://sweetbike.org/?p=550 Told you I'd be back. Oh, and who's this?  This is Chase.  He's a heck of a guy.  And I thought this post needed one more stud. http://sweetbike.org/?p=544 [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="Nokian Gazza Extreme 294 - 29er x 2.1 inch - jesus rolling these things on my Karate Monkey is like laying down tank track."][/caption] Last winter I had the Long Haul Trucker with 26 inch wheels.  When it snowed, we all ordered studded tires - and then ... http://sweetbike.org/?p=537 What the hell... Christoper Felix Hahn, a student at the theater science in Gießen located in Germany was just banned from cycling for 15 years, which also includes riding a skateboard or any other unlicensed vehicle. So you might wonder what this young man did to have such a harsh punishment, ... http://sweetbike.org/?p=531 [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="we rides teh bieks to Kuboda Gardens - picture from Greg"][/caption] http://sweetbike.org/?p=528 [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="460" caption="Photo by Andre Ball"][/caption] http://www.ecovelo.info/2009/11/24/andre-balls-endless-summer-entry/ This is us (.83) on our way to our annual camping trip, Ben Country 4.0, riding the dykes along Whidbey Island.  Andre took the pic and has entered it into the Endless Summer photo contest on the ecovelo blog.  Good luck Andre. http://sweetbike.org/?p=519 I'm not making a statement one way or the other about they're doing here.  But the article is interesting and I didn't want to lose it and am a little sick of looking at my last crappy post on here.  I need to unstick myself and get to blogging again. http://artoftheprank.com/2009/07/17/diy-bike-lanes/ Onward. http://sweetbike.org/?p=512 http://sweetbike.org/?p=503 Northwest Film Forum’s 4th annual Seattle Bike-In is happening this Sunday, August 23rd in Cal Anderson Park on Capitol Hill. The event aims to bring together biking, transportation, art, environmental, and community advocates for a celebration of biking and environmental sustainability. This community blowout features live bands at 7 ... http://sweetbike.org/?p=490 With graciousness and humility, I'd like to start this with something my friend Dave wrote about this night on his blog, 327 Words.  It's perfect. Saturday, August 08, 2009 An Eyeful It’s a good thing that, unlike our stomachs, there’s no limit to the amount our eyes can consume because if we did ... http://sweetbike.org/?p=473 DEAD BABY http://sweetbike.org/?p=471 Well, much has been going on.  Slightly less bike camping, more daily riding with the locals (.83) here in town.  Summer is in full swing.  And it has been ridiculous fun. Too many bars and too many miles to go into specifics.  A couple recent highlights. I lent my Pacer to Jeff ... http://sweetbike.org/?p=440 But seriously, I can't justify it.  My bases are covered.  Utterly.  I have significant overlap.  I don't have redundancy exactly, but I do have overlap. Fast bike - LeMond Fast bike / All day bike - Pacer All day bike / Touring Bike / Mountain Bike - Karate Monkey I am not kidding about ... http://sweetbike.org/?p=436 http://www.good.is/post/berlin-gives-fixies-das-boot/ Apparently Berlin has outlawed fixies - or that's the language.  They've confiscated a bunch of bikes until riders afix brakes to them.  So really, it's not banning fixies which would irritate me to no end.  It's banning bikes without brakes, which makes 20 kinds of sense to me.  Yeah yeah ... http://sweetbike.org/?p=430 GALLERY Onward http://sweetbike.org/?p=425 This is more or less what I always pack when I go out.  It all fits in one pannier with a little room to spare with exception of the bedroll which gets strapped under my handlebars. Starting from the top Bivy Bed Roll (Thermarest, sleeping bag, bivy sack all rolled up in ... http://sweetbike.org/?p=417 For a change of pace last weekend, the .83 navy mobilized (in part) for Blake Island.  This started as a kayak trip from Alkai to Blake, which is about 4.5 miles. Nothing about kayaking across open water seems like a good idea to me. I've never been a water person to be ... http://sweetbike.org/?p=412 "The Auburn Police Department recovered my stolen Long Haul Trucker this morning. One Officer Wallace was driving along when he saw a dude with dreadlocks riding a green LHT with a Brooks saddle, and decided the combination was sufficiently unlikely to merit a little hassling. Wallace, (correctly) convinced that something ... http://sweetbike.org/?p=403 Role Call: Andre Alex Lee Kalen Clair Rogelio Jeni Monica Ryan Caroline Derrick Remington Me My Photo Gallery Alex's Photo Gallery - Alex's Blog Post Andre's Photo Gallery Park and ride at 65th and Ravenna.  Rolled out around 9:45 for Darrington.  Monica had a fractured hand and couldn't ride, so Rogelio carried her on the back of his Xtracycle and I carried her gear on my bike ... http://sweetbike.org/?p=392 Friday after work, Lee, Alex, Andrew, Andre, Rory and myself met in North Bend to do some exploratory riding up the North Fork of the Snoqualamie River. MY GALLERY ALEX'S GALLERY Alex has a very good blog post about it HERE that ... http://sweetbike.org/?p=386 There was a time when I took nice pictures.  No, seriously.  I had a knack for composition it turns out.  Now, I take crap pictures.  I blame digital photography.  Something about peering through a viewfinder and pulling the trigger and hearing a satisfying "snicksnick" sound, like a little ... http://sweetbike.org/?p=379 I'm sorta writing-stuck. It's not writers block exactly, but sometimes I'll get all backed up and just... stuck. And then nothing gets written about and the backlog continues to grow and the problem compounds itself. So this is just a dump to unstick things and get ... http://sweetbike.org/?p=373 HERES A GREAT ARTICLE ON THE ZOOBOMBER PYLE WHATS A ZOOBOMBER? Zoobombers are a Portland phenomenon.  They ride the local train called the MAX to the top of the Oregon Zoo, then take an elevator to the top of that top, and then bomb down the hill to the bottom where they ... http://sweetbike.org/?p=363 Critical Mass went on the Highway 99 viaduct.  From Sodo to Fremont/Wallingford. This girl had her little one with her on todays Mass on the viaduct.  Say hello Andrea and Jasper (if I remember correctly). Was a really nice ride.  Beatiful day, nice route, nice finish. Best mass in months.  Finished ... http://sweetbike.org/?p=356 I'm never going to get around to writing about it like I want to.  The short story: Friday Night - Core Whore Afterparty at Mr D's. Saturday Morning - Andre, Lee and myself drove down and explored the Carbon River Valley for future camping/biking.  Verdict, no go.  But it was very pretty. Saturday ... http://sweetbike.org/?p=354 From lifeinthefastlane.ca... Some of the weirdest bikes the world has ever laid eyes upon have been designed and built by Didi Senft — a 56 year old cycling fan better known as “El Diabo” — whose most recent creation, the Guitar Bicycle measuring 16.4 feet (5 meters) tall and 39.3 feet ... http://sweetbike.org/?p=351 What could possibly go wrong? NANTES, France (Reuters) - Close to 200 prisoners will cycle around France next month, watched by scores of guards on bicycles, in the first penal version of the Tour de France, authorities said Monday. http://sweetbike.org/?p=345 http://www.tourdafrique.com/tourdafrique/ One day I will do this. http://sweetbike.org/?p=338 View Larger Map Wat? http://sweetbike.org/?p=337 View Larger Map It started on Saturday.  5 of us (Andrew, Stuart, Russell, Andre and myself) took the Bremerton Ferry to the Green Mountain area to do some camping and scouting for the up coming 4th of July trip - dubbed Joeball Mountain.  We ... http://sweetbike.org/?p=336 Funny thing about the Karate Monkey.  I'll let Surly describe it - from their most excellent BLOG POST: When we first designed the Karate Monkey frameset in 2002, there was an array of front ders on the market that worked great and allowed adequate rear tire clearance. Since then, Shimano has ... http://sweetbike.org/?p=335 My house is a mess of camping gear, drying out tents, and bicycle tools.  I'm eating reconstituted beef stroganoff, trying to figure out and refine my camping kit. I'm so friggin happy right now. I'm like a little kid. I picked up a minimalist biv sack - little more than a nylon ... http://sweetbike.org/?p=334 1 - Disc brakes are a pain in the ass and squeal.  I gotta fix this somehow. 2 - Riding the Karate Monkey without fenders in the rain is like turning on a hose and shoving it down your pants, front and back. 3 - This might be the most versatile and ... http://sweetbike.org/?p=333 Pictures worth a thousand words.  It now has gears (3x9).  And disc brakes.  And h-bars.  Wheels custom built by Niki at Mobius cycle - Surly hubs, three cross double butted spokes, DT Swiss rims.  Easily one of the most comfortable bikes I own.  Rolling on 2.35 inch Schwalbe Big Apples.  ... http://sweetbike.org/?p=332 Still haven't reported on it because I'm still recovering from it.  Stay posted. I'm uploading my pictures to my gallery now.  I'd like to note I charged my camera battery but somehow managed to  run out of juice half way to the campsite so I'm largely photo-less.  Which is really too ... http://sweetbike.org/?p=331