today i took my townie to work. as a result, i didn’t bring my chrome bag. and as a result of THAT, i left my blinky lights at home. i asked one of the other cyclists at the office if he could spare one, but he hadn’t ridden at all today. awesome.

it’s not entirely necessary to have a front blinky (though it is the law, and much safer), but it’s pretty fucking dangerous to ride at night (in the rain!) without a rear red blinky. and it all of a sudden hit me like a ton of bricks. the new storage place for my red blinky shall NOT be the strap of my chrome bag. no friends. it is now thus…

obviously, the light will be mounted on the bike when i’m riding it, but the STORAGE is now something that doesn’t ever stay at home. i ALWAYS bring my lock. thus, i now always bring my red blinky. i may even go as far as to put my front white light on there, too. i mean, vy nott?

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Pretty good concept. The next Cyclavia event is being crowdfunded on Kickstart.
How cool is that.

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/12/15/ci … kstar.html

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Rashida Represents my Interests!

Well, OK, maybe this really has nothing to do with the bike other than a little local flavor, but you know I’m not really going to ruin it by going there. Other pics in this ‘sweater series’ include donning specs, wearing big fuzzy tops and seasonally-inappropriate skirts, and miles of lightly freckled smiles.

Happy Friday!

http://www.reelartsy.com/2010/10/rashid … azine.html

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i need new arm warmers, so i’m fucking JAZZED on this.

JERSEYS
BIBS
THERMAL JACKET (new!)
WIND VEST
ARMS
LEGS

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admittedly, it’d be a much happier holiday without those fuckin shoes.

from shelby tanner’s FLICKR.

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Man I LOVE seeing pics like this. Being, you know, in Northern California where, you know, winter riding involves cold and rain, but no SNOW and less Yetis.

http://boingboing.net/2010/12/11/its-a- … -grab.html

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So this morning I set out to ride to work in the rain, but unlike last time, I took 3s to prepare. Shorts, tee, vest, warmers, change of clothes in a bag, plus the anorak and fender… even lights. I was go for launch. Kind of a jackass thing to be proud of, but with my track record of late, this was a win in my book.

The ride conditions themselves were just fine: rainy but not pouring, cold but not freezing, and generally free of external car-and-road-condition-born calamity.

One problem, though: when I hopped on, I felt a twinge in my lower back, lower than i’ve ever felt before. My back has been bugging me the last few days but this was new. I took off but along the way soon discovered with alarm that I couldn’t push. I couldn’t mash, I couldn’t accelerate, nothing. I could spin, but getting up to speed if I had to slow, let alone stop, was excruciating. I had no choice but to carry on.

When I got to the office, I couldn’t dismount. I had to drop the bike and walk off of it. I stretched and it was bad but seemed like it would be OK, as long as I took it easy, so we walked down the street for coffee per the usue. I made it about three blocks. The spasms increased, I had trouble walking, even standing, and it was getting worse. I abandoned and turned back, going so slow that my associate actually made the coffee run and caught up with me before I got back to the office. I’m now in my office chair with a heat pack, but I can’t let go of the armrests or desk edge. Typing is interesting, so if you don’t see a lot of it from me for awhile, you’ll know why.

Moral of the story, be prepared! Otherwise you’d potentially be brokeback AND soaked! At least I’m dry!

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The thing about sleep deprivation that comes with parenthood of a toddler: you can survive by dialing in the routine stuff, like the checklist int he morning of getting the kid ready, or the basics of sundries and care. But the atypical routine can get away from you, because you don’t have the time,or the physical energy, to think things through. Unfortunately.

To wit: at the last moment, I declined a ride into the office and pulled out Wrongbike, which was home for a night instead of living at the office as usual, and decided to ride. GREAT! Each ride day is a gift.

What I didn’t consider was that even though it was merely sprinkling, it HAD been raining for two days straight. The world was wet.

So I had to laugh, on my ride. I had JUST commented to wifebot on Saturday, noting all the roadies out for a morning loop on the bridge in their ponchos, how weather can be fun on a bike, as long as you planned ahead and are properly equipped. Well, here I was, ill-equipped, which is the opposite of equipped. For one thing, I was wearing a jacket, a jaunty scarf, a soft driver’s cap under my helmet, but regular shoes (when clip ins would have been EXTRA appropriate, given how slippery wet pedals are) and a messenger bag, no poncho or anything. I could have turned back, as the sprinkles turned to light rain and my dampness became sogginess, but I HATE turning back, almost as much as I hate stopping. Worse, I was already feeling the dreaded wetback: the spray up yer backside from the rear wheel. Like I said, not only was it sprinkling-and-light-raining, but it had been raining for two days, so the roads were soaked.

By the time I got to work, I was just a mess, laughing at myself. See, I don’t really care, as I’m a consultant and I’m not seeing clients: I wear shorts as often as I can anyway. But it was funny. Because org-pr0n dorks like me pride themselves in being organized and prepared. So when we leave without our sensitive shit, we feel like dopes. I was imagining my strap-on fender hanging in the shop, my anorak tightly rolled and sitting in the ‘Tasking Weather’ section of my go-area.

Anyway, best part: I was just looking around and realized that I took my main back-up light home the other night. I have a rechargeable heavy-duty light system, which I’ve written about before, which I didn’t have because it was at home. So that evening, I pulled my drawer open at work where all my tools and extra arm warmers and tyres and what not are, pulled out my backup lights, and used them to get home, as the daylight savings thing had caught me unawares. So now, after riding in and getting soaked (I’m wearing shorts and a tee shirt and my morning ride clothes are hanging muddied in the bathroom) I’ll be riding home in the dark, flittering between the SUVs like that dancing trash bag in American Beauty. But my org-pr0n nature won out after all, as I remembered i have a teritary light system in here for JUST this occasion… from previous years where I did the same thing: rode home with the backups and then left THEM at home as well.

Anyway, bike’s all cleaned up now, but it cracked me up. The best laid plans, undone by sleep deprivation and chasing a toddler around.

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"It was like ‘bring on the clowns."
Quote directly from the article, perfectly summing up this one.

And I tended to think of Canadians as even-keeled. HAHAHAHA.

Wow.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/nat … le1829041/

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Man, this interview with the co-host of American Pickers really got my juices flowing for another bike project. The thing is, around here in the SF Bay Area, there aren’t a lot of rusty old antiques to be found. We’re picked clean, so to speak. We must venture to gain, I suppose…

http://www.collectorsweekly.com/article … age-bikes/

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