bicycle

Geez, with the bike blog and with my free time being tied up in bikes right now, I’ve been neglecting this blog. Sorry. Go on over to NBBB for more on Ikea bikes.

But I won’t do something jerky like make that my “this weekend I spent hours fixing bikes” blog.  That’s this one!  My pal needed work done on his front derailer (Sheldon’s spelling), and Mrs. P. needed both of hers attended to.  Thing is, I forgot about the moving sun where I was working, and I got a bit of a sunburn.  I’ve gotten a few of those this year.  That’s not going to help the fact that I already look older than I am and have reached the age where that’s not good news anymore, just news.

But fixing things is always fun, and when you’re helping people to keep biking, that’s awesome, too.  Sunburn be damned.  A liter of water, an energy coffee drink dealy and Chinese food, and I was ready to face the world.

Which I did that evening, and Mr. Dan and I blasted all over North Baltimore, in search of a milestone on his new cyclometer.  We celebrated with cold drinks and chocolate, Mr. Dan’s treat.

I recently watched all six Star Wars films, too, in chronological order.  That is, in the order of The Force, not The Box Office.  Mrs. P. had never seen them, and I tried to keep my mouth shut.  I really did.  I hate how they changed the song at the end of Return of the Jedi, one of the most [musically] triumphant movie endings ever.  The other CGI stuff, I don’t know.  Whatever.  I’m pissed about that song!

Where are all these frikkin storms?

Damn.

Dudes, you gotta check out North Baltimore Bike Brigade site.  It’s getting written on, yo.  It’s here.

[Larger.]

Bikes locked together at the Ecofestival a few weeks ago.  Mine is on the right.

Photo Friday: Difficult Shot.

Shyte’s been whacky lately.  Have a lot to think about.  I sewed stuff tonight, too, after making one US gallon of homemade salsa for my mother, for M-Day.

We were out riding Saturday, hitting Lake Roland at Robert E. Lee Park. We were blowing down Bellemore Road in North Baltimore, a super drop. I mean, you’re running at 25 mph pounding the brakes, and you get back up 10 more miles per hour inside twenty yards if you let off the brakes. It’s not a drop for a problem. Toward the bottom, something sounded like it bounced off of my bike, my helmet visor and my glasses. Dan turned around. We stopped at Falls Road, and I wanted to touch my rims, to see how hot they were. Dan said he thought he snapped a brake cable, that something shuddered through his entire bike. I was like, “Yeah, you hit me with a rock!” I was thinking of how crappy the situation would have been if it had hit me in the tooth. We stopped for coffee drinks, hit the lake, chilled, cleaned out our brake pads and got moving.  A nice, relaxing ride.

Dan’s wheel was wobbling and hitting his brake arms. What the frikk?

We decided to walk the four miles home, rather than risk an injury or further damage. Dan was afraid that the heat of the descent warped his rims. I thought maybe he snapped or bent an axle. I mean, I can true a wheel like a sumbitch (for not getting paid to do it and having very little experience, that is). But I didn’t have any spoke wrenches on me.  We got home fine, though, and all was well.  I ate half a pizza for dinner.

Talked to Dan Sunday, and he found the problems. Bent axle, but also a snapped spoke. It was still attached to the nipple (huh huh huh), so we didn’t see it. No prob! We hit the shop, bought a spoke and went about getting it on. The freewheel was being a bee-otch and had to go into the bench vise.  The lockring tool had to, that is. That took a while. But then it came off, got cleaned up, Dan put the spoke on, and I got the wheel nice and trued up.  Working on bikes is a hell of a lot of fun.

Also, I was introduced to Lava Soap. Awesome.

[Also for Photo Friday: Professional.]

You a damn fine freewheel,
Won’t you back that axle up?

The sidewalk chalk area during the Ecofestival in Druid Hall Park last week.  North Baltimore Bike Brigade!  I really have to finish our website and get a ride together and go seriously public.  For Photo Friday: My Little Secret.

Geez, there’s a lot going on. Sorry for the absence.  There’s a lot to tell, from the Ecofestival, to teaching cycling to job hunting adventures and family visits.  More to come.  But here is what I rode to teach cycling with.  The blue box is full of bike tools.  This load [larger] was heavy enough that I almost dropped my bike down some stairs and did drop my cool new frame pump.  We had a little group ride across The Avenue Friday night.  If you heard bike bells going nuts and saw a line of bikes, I was second from the end, with two red lights and a big butt.

[My wife's Blinktastic bike, which she commutes on. It, sorry, she has a cool name, too.]

I am teaching a group of little dudes about cycling, a sort of course/class. Safety, maintenance, the difference between all them there tubes rolling around on a bike, etc. The kids are between the ages of 11 and 16 and are definitely into video games and the like. Two of them have ridden a bike like twice. And, frankly, they don’t go outside to play like I did when I was their age. I was afraid that they might not be all that interested when my surrogate uncle suggested the endeavor.

Last night, I explained in general, how a bike works, where there are bearings, how everything on a bike has a purpose, how they can learn to ride around sans car and driver’s license, how they can be self-sufficient and free on a bike. Most of all, that riding a bike is fun, not just something for hippies, raceheads, the Dutch and people who don’t want cars.

I think they dug the idea.

They actually asked questions, thought using a chain tool/breaker (which we did because a chain needed to be replaced on someone’s bike) was cool, wanted to know more about things like fenders. Of course, I haven’t showed them how to grease wheel hubs yet, what tire Slime smells like (ick!) or taken them into traffic where they have never ever been in the position of driver. That can be scary for anyone. But I think they have it in them. If the project continues, I think the cycling community might gain a few young members. Enthusiastic ones! If you see ten people with blinking red lights (my rule) riding around North Baltimore city this spring, that’s us.

At the risk of sounding like a complete jerk, what’s up with some cyclists around Baltimore who tote around like seven pounds of safety gear but don’t wear helmets? A guy just rode up University Parkway with bright dayglow gloves, jacket, hat and pannier. But no helmet. He had a half-dozen red lights, including one on his hat.

I suppose one could respond that the nature of his gear was to prevent a wreck, not to protect himself. Maybe he likes his bike a lot and does not want a crash. Maybe he likes cars and does not want to mess up people’s cars that might hit him.

Or maybe he thinks that getting hit from behind by a car that does not see him is the only way he’s going to get smashed. Not the Door Prize. Not jerk-ass joggers who avoid empty sidewalks to walk swiftly with jaunty hips in the bike lanes, with traffic, not against it. Not holes in the road or old storm drains with grates that run parallel to the street. Just saying.

I’m genuinely confused — not trying to start a helmet vs. no-helmet fight. I’ll cop to riding sans helmet during the two months in 2005 between when I bought my bike and when we sold our car.  I’m confused most by folks who clearly have safety in mind but still don’t wear helmets.

[Larger.]

I’m not certain how useful/effective my chain cleaner was for chain cleaning because, frankly, I waited too long to clean our chains and over-did the lube last time i put it on — and used too-sticky lube.  The jury’s out, though it is fun to use.  But this cog brush worked great for getting the crud out of our cassettes, chainrings and pullies.  It looked like it got run over by a greasy truck when I was finished, but, hey.  It took one for the team.  It cleaned up pretty well, too.

For Photo Friday: Found Object.

At the risk of sounding like some nut, one of the latest CarMax commercials really bugs me. You know the ones where there’s some allegedly outdated mode of transportation, someone wants to buy one, and then the dealer (HorseMax or BicycleMax) have some policy similar to CarMax. “Why didn’t someone think of this before?” the customer wonders aloud. There is one with chariots, which, Okay, I think we’d all call an outdated mode of transportation. But then these commercials claim the same thing about horses and camels, which is certainly saying something to people who live in lands where these beasts really are a means of transportation. I suppose you could argue that the commercials are meant for an American audience, and no one here rides camels to work, so no harm, no fowl. But no one in this country ever needed a camel dealer for transportation. That does not work. They are totally saying that cars are the highest and most modern form of transportation. Not just any car. A used car from CarMax.

Which is why the one about bikes makes me mad. It has some big-toothed Victorian wankers talking about comfort, French cheese, bringing a bike back if you don’t like it, etc. The implication is that bikes are an outdated means of getting around, one that, with the rest of the commercials, I think counts as more of a statement. That those of us on bikes that are actually more modern than the Planet Killers a lot of people drive are somehow old-fashioned. That we are ugly ladies who want a pillow under our butts and a creepy mustached guy riding around with us.

Watch the video here.

I don’t know. They are in the business of selling cars, so maybe they are threatened by the fact that more bikes are sold yearly than cars. Maybe they deliberately targeted cycling. Maybe what’s next is like the anti-global warming morons who try to sell us jacked-up science. Maybe Ford and GM will start funding studies about cycling as unhealthy, dangerous, etc.

Or maybe they’ll want in on the action and start making bikes, which would be pretty nice. Those companies have a lot of money they could invest in infrastructure. GM got rid of streetcars and got buses into major cities. Maybe they could get bikes there, too. Not to mention the sweet designs they might be able to come up with. A Mustang bike?!

0% Financing on all new 2008 bikes! Taxes and registration extra.

Professional driver. Closed course.10,000 mpg (EPA estimated)

Model shown with optional equipment.

Last year, it was snowy and cold.  After a flick, we celebrated with a couple we love.  The hubbies declared their Irish-ness over pint after pint of Irish brew.  This year, it is sunny and beautiful, though a bit nippy.  I ran my errands on my bike today, weighing down my backpack enough to compress my chest, which kept making me giggle.  I need to use my rack next time, though.

I went to a St. Patrick’s Day Tea at The Crown and Thistle this weekend with my parents and aunt.  I was wearing a very green sweater and my red beard.  A quiet lady who worked there put her hand on my shoulder as she was walking by our table and told me, “You look like one of our real Irishmen today.”  I took that as a compliment.  I wore several pieces of green yesterday to a family party.  More today.  I’m drinking Irish tea and listening to Celtic music and enjoying the sun.  I am not much in the mood for drinking, though I think my heritage requires at least a pint or two of Guinness tonight, with the cabbage I am eating for dinner.

I delivered a head of cabbage to my parents’ house in Hampden on my bike rack today, wearing green.  I’m like a leprechaun today, I swear.

So I pretty much swore off the LBS when we moved to Baltimore for things like tune-ups. In Carbondale, there was a bike shop called Phoenix Cycles that we went to regularly, with an owner and employees we really liked. Hell, I remember going in once to buy a thin cable for locking up my helmet when I got too lazy to carry it around Carbondale and staying for an hour talking to the owner/manager. We always got a wave when we walked or rode by the store on a busy corner, and I think we even sent them a Christmas card. It was a nice relationship, and it was easy to bike to. To boot, the people there seemed genuinely interested in “bike culture” and getting people out of their cars. The selection of bikes and accessories was nice, too, but the people were what I liked.

Where I live now, it is a different story. We have some chains like REI and Performance Bike. Some local chains like Princeton Sports and Hudson Trail Outfitters (where I bought my bike). A few truly local bike shops, yes. But the only one close to me is really devoted to “raceheads”, and I am not walking in there with my hybrid full of heavy utility accessories like lights, rack, fenders, bell, etc. No offense if you’re into racing or that un-named shop. It’s just not my thing. Enough people have made fun of me for me to not want to that particular shop for anything. I know, it’s my issue, in my head, etc. Okay.

Which brings up not going to the LBS anymore except for parts. When I bought my bike last fall, it came with free lifetime tune-ups. Lifetime. That’s sweet. It’s a little far to ride to on a damaged or needs-tune-up bike, but free is free. However, they have a 5-7 day “turn around.” Only owning one bike right now, I really prefer to, you know, have it. I have a membership there (which actually has paid itself several times over in the form of awesome sales and free online shipping), but they said there is only so much they can do to rush, even for members, especially during “bike season.” I decided I’d tune my own bike up and stop being so afraid of messing something up and/or getting very dirty.

I learned to do the most frequent things you get for a standard tune-up. It’s nice to be self-sufficient in small ways with such a self-sufficiency-inducing machine like a bike. I mean, part of the freedom of cycling is that you can do almost everything that needs to be done to it yourself, if you’re a commuter.

Lately, Mr. Dan Dan The Gih-tar Man and I have been learning the harder things to do and about the finer details of our bikes. Cranks, bottom brackets, cassette removal, etc. I have not touched a headset yet, but that’s coming soon. I’m still nervous about some tasks and probably take a long time to do them, but there are some things I am getting good at. I can clean a mean drivetrain. I mean, seriously, I got my chain down to the bare metal a few weeks ago, and it was black and sticky from neglect. Given the dirty streets around here during the dry summer and the fact that I used crappy lube (and too much of it) last time, this was an accomplishment, I tell you. I can get brakes perfectly adjusted. I am developing my wheel-truing skills, too. I totally have a fantasy of being the best non-shop wheel truer in North Baltimore, who will true wheels in the summer for the price of one six-pack of local beer, in the winter for one cup of Dunkin Donuts or Zeke’s coffee.

In fact, I am going to help Dan with The Mule tonight at his house, with my folding truing stand.

“Are you gonna ride down?” asked Dan.
“I don’t know. Why?”
“Because then you’d be a service bike! Coming down on a bike with tools to fix another bike, that’s awesome!”
“Holy shit, you’re right! I’ll get that sumbitch on my rack one way or another,” I declared.

So if you see a dude on a Giant hybrid with a wheel and truing stand mounted to a bike in North Baltimore tonight, ding your bell at me and meet us at Dunkin Donuts later. The one on 41st. You know.