my own little Collective

Went to a local bike shop to ask for extra bike parts. As soon as I said it was for helping kids fix bikes they were more than generous. They gave me a bunch of cables, a tool box full of bike tools, and discounts on chains and other parts for the kids. T. White's Bikes is the bomb. That night we basically tore down and resembled 4 entire bikes into a working order. Those kids are now experts in bottom bracket maintenence, brake lines, chain breaking, and gear componentry. Good times.

Where do you go from here?

So I just got out of the stakeholder kick-off meeting for the "Central Utah County Bike and Pedestrian Plan" (basically it is the Orem bike plan). It should be a really cool project, the lead firm knows their stuff when it comes to bike plans and Orem and MAG are really supportive.

I'm sure I'll post more about that later, but what I really wanted to post about is Bikely. I'm pretty sure it just uses google pedometer, but you can search for your area and find rides other people like or post your own route. Because it is google pedometer based, it shows you distance, elevation gained/lost and all that sort of fun stuff.

Pretty cool if you are looking for a good route for commuting or some killer hills. It has a handful of good rides around Salt Lake, but it could use some help for sure. Mostly, though, I'm just interested in seeing where you fools ride.

Look Mike! people have even posted rides in Aukland

The Bays

Share your bike routes @ Bikely.com

An Answer to Mike

A while ago Mike posted about the dearth of bike parking in Aukland. A few days ago the Bike Snob posted about an article in Slate Magazine about bike parking being a way to coax people into commuting by bike. As usual witty criticisms followed.

Because I am a dork, and I am not repulsed by the terms "zoning" and "regulation," I read the article. I was expecting dork talk, but instead I found this awesome video. I seriously can't get over how cool this is. I'm sure it costs some moola, but with $2 billion of the stimulus packing going to over 5,000 bike and pedestrian projects, there has to some money kicking around for an undergound, automatic bike rack. I would like to see it shaped like a dragon, you put the bike up against it's lips and a big, mechanical tongue comes out and it swallows your bike whole. Now that would get people riding more often.

Anyway, enjoy.

"training"

Rode out to a little town called Tamaki the other day. Wasn't a massive ride but my ass got sore enough for me to want to take a train home. I need to get some kind of butt pad that isn't paired by destiny to spandex. After riding around an unfamiliar town for a while I stepped up to the platform and waited for the train back to Auckland. The train pulled up and a ticket taker waved me over to the front of the train. Apparently there are only two of these to accommodate any and all bikers. Here in Auckland biker khotspa (yitish) isn't really feverish. The design of the bike stands are pretty cool even though the ticket taker asked a few middle aged women to move so I could collapse the seat they were on for my bike to rest.


The seat-belt was a nice touch and sat with piece of mind.



On separate note, the kids I teach at church need to complete a bunch of biking requirements from the physical preparedness section of their Duty to God Award. So I'm planning a 20 miler and a bike safety course. Any readers or contributors out their that could send some materials my way for bike safety are thanked in advance.

Haters suck these balls.

18 baby!

Every year the League of American Bicyclists (I don't know who they are) ranks states on their bicycle friendliness. This year Utah was ranked 18th. They have a breakdown of how the ranking works, but I don't know if they count mountain bike trails as part of infrastructure, or if they only look at the major population centers, or anything more than what that spreadsheet says. Regardless, given the size of the state and the indifferent nature of our legislature, 18th isn't bad.

I would, of course, like to see more bike lanes, safer intersections, and above all, more aware drivers. However, I am confident enough with my bike handling skills that I feel comfortable in any traffic situation. My tummy and love of sleep are better at discouraging me from riding than lack of infrastructure or jerk drivers. But I am am devoid of any real out of Utah experience.

So here is my question to any of you Rollers (or visitors, if we have any of those) who have experience in states that aren't Utah (I'm looking at Greg, Kai, and Marc in particular); How do the rankings stack up? Is Utah really 23 places better than New York? Is Wisconsin really that much better than than the our great state?

Summer clean up

Ok, as some of you may know I have two old cruisers that i picked up at a garage sale a few summers back and I am finally going to clean em up. There is some rust on the handle bars and I dont know of the best way to get it off. Anyone have any ideas?


Let me know

lolo

racks are an issue

not in a two block radius did I see any available "official" place to lock up. This was the closest spot to Katie's work.

First Long Ride of 2009

My friend Derek and I set out to spend some much needed time in the saddle, mostly as a butt workout than a leg and cardio (translate climbing) workout, but we ended up getting both.

Route: Out and Back from my house to Olema.


View Larger Map

Seriously guys, if you ever drive to SF, bring your road bikes (or MTB) and let me show you around. This ride was very nice, including the GGB, several redwoods, rolling meadows, a state park, lots o' little towns, a sea breeze and right around 60 degrees F the whole time.

Ride Update

I love when I can confidently say that a purchase was more than well worth it and today I am saying it loud and clear...THESE BIKES WERE SO WORTH IT! (not that i didn't know they would be but I'm just letting everyone know.)

Kristen and I have been riding quite a bit but this morning we finally got out on a longer ride. We went out to Avon, Utah and it was beautiful the whole way (sorry no photos). We passed through Paradise and let me just say that it lives up to the name. The town is small and very farm centered. The houses that you pass on the road are amazing! They are all pretty big, but that "farm" big not that "Midway-Switzerland souvenir shop" big. It was definitely fun to ride through.

The road was clear pretty much the entire time and we only had one Douche truck pass us. It was a great ride totalling 32.6 miles. I love bikes.

brakeless?

So to be honest flip-flop wheels have mostly been flip and no flop. The past 3 weeks though I've been flopping the crap out of them. Meaning, I've been riding fixed. Most people that read this are probably thinking big deal, but the way I ride is fast and crazy, so the brakeless fixed aspect is chilling in a pinch. Pinches are a common occurrence for me. Regardless it's been a fun learing curve. Most places are extremely hilly so its a little easier to get the skids going. Also, it took me a while to realize that the skids got easier the farther over the bars I leaned. Its amazing how far you can go over the top of those bad boys. So now skidding is like it was when I was 8 doing it after every forward movement. The joy of skidding and whipping your tire around to the side to turn left or right is just instinctually badass and adoringly juvenille. O, and when I say brakeless I really mean that the brakes are still on there I just try not to use them. I'll make the switch completely soon, maybe.

An Excerpt from an Email

"KAI CARTER,

Thank you for your interest in the LOTOJA CLASSIC and for taking the time to submit an online application. This year's response to our open registration period was unprecedented. In fact, most rider categories required a drawing to determine this year's participants.

We hope you are excited to hear that your application HAS BEEN ACCEPTED. YOU HAVE A SPOT IN THIS YEAR'S LOTOJA!"

Oh boy...

You Know You're in Europe When...

There is a Knight Rider poster on the wall.

http://fixedgeargallery.com/2009/apr/6/MonsieurTrucnul.htm

Ride Report: Collinston, Utah

Between sessions of pajama church this past Sunday Logan and I went on our first good ride of the year. Saturday, we dialed in Logan's new bike and switched my broke-ass second hand 7-speed STI for my old trusty down tube friction shifters. We had originally planned to ride west across the floor of Cache Valley, taking in the early spring fields and livestock, reminding our legs how to keep a high cadence, but taking it pretty easy. We google mapped a destination, thinking it was just into the foothills.

The battery in my computer is d-e-a-d so when we got to the crest of a hill we checked my phone GPS, not quite there, so we kept climbing. The next time we stopped and checked we were six miles past our original plan in a little town called Collinston.


Collinston is a pretty little bucolic Northern Utah town with everything you would expect - acres upon acres of pasture and fields, expansive porches on quaint farm houses, rusty trucks on blocks in the front yard, and enough carrion to choke a kettle of vultures.


Of course, no good ride would be complete with out peeing on the side of the road while trucks pass, honk, and yell.


While I have been commuting more these past few months, I still have my winter legs (also known as no legs). Logan, on the other hand, was in good form. But the return trip headwind after 15 miles of unexpected climbing was brutal for the both of us. All in all, it was a great early season ride.

Later in the year we want to extend the ride to Brigham City then up the canyon and back to Logan for a 70 mile loop. Good climbs, quick flats, scenic Utah views, everyone is invited.

JUST THE FACTS:
Riders - Toph and Logan
Bikes - Steel and Aluminum
Distance - 37 Miles - Logan, UT to Collinston, UT and back
Counties - 2
Jerks in Trucks - 2
Unaware Cars - 2
Honking Semis - 1
Road kill - lots
Weather - Perfect

current state of affairs

So 3 blowouts in one day. I miss my specialized armadillo tires which for almost a year prevented a single blowout. I need to head to the 3 dollar store and get a patch kit. I opened one I got about 3 years ago and the glue had dried to a small gummy ball.

Because of the week without a bike it has been made clear that we are so centrally located in town and the terrain is so steep and hilly that walking seems to be a more viable option. I've decided to take the long way to school though and make my bike more of a passion again instead of an inconvenience.

Auckland spoke card

Tragedy

So usually, when i hear about a cyclist who was hit by a car i think wow, that sucks, because it does. After the initial sorrow i feel for the poor guy/gal i wonder why they got hit. Who's fault was it? Although i blame the driver of the car outright I often find myself wondering if maybe the cyclist was in the wrong place. Big Toph has taught me well that a lot of peeps on the road don't know how to ride with cars and sometimes i should have an open mind. For the most part, though, it really is the cars fault, and in this story http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=5909581 there is no doubt!

Today, i am blown away at how unbelievable some people can be. I mean, a hit-and-run is bad but a hit-get out-check on the critically hurt cyclist-turn around-get back into car-and then run is sick on an entirely new level. What a sad thing.


Be safe fellow rollers

spoke cards

I think that in the spirit of The Holy Rollers we should make our personalized spoke cards available to all. O yeah and here's a Morgan one Toph.

hubba hubba

I just rode out to one of the warfs in the industrial part of town. We saw this huge gear that reminded me of phill woods. Little rusted but still awesome.

Est-ce que tu dis en Français? Peugeot?

As some of you know, my first born turned into a science project here in New York. Observation: My entire frame rusted in about two weeks. Conclusion: There is a lot more moisture in the air in New York than Utah. I wasn't too disappointed considering I was looking for a reason to get a new frame. Rather than wallow in the past, I'll just share pictures of my new ride.