Riders Wanted!

Freedom is making a choice

You choose to ride this new wave
or
you step back and wait for the next waves


Minneapolis needs pedalcab service!

Now recruiting.

Riders Wanted!

Bike Mows Lawn

Brains on your bike (when you are riding)

Been training without my trainers. This could be a no brainer.
Built this sick jump right near a hole dug for a tree.
I got some speed but was swerving. Front tire dug early.
Hit the dirt pile from the side and went flying into the pit.

It was so fun I actually did it again and got it perfect.
Even pulled up on the handle bars. Kicking off the top.
Landed on two wheels. My back wheel right before my front.
Back pedal - Lock the wheels. Ground cover sliding.

I was just too gitty pulling that air. Thoughts faded. Front wheels to the fence.
Knocked out a picket. Body continuing and dropping with a whole fence section.
Picked up my bike.
I picked up my bike. Looked around.
Then freedom rang. Freedom Rings.
Without a fence and without a rider.
The famous Ghost rider.

Riding up to the pile I had my line picked. Ditched it to the right.
Flying. The bike rolls off sight. On down the driveway to the street.
I heard some brakes squeek. Then a sweet crunching sound. Bumper to chrome.
Rim bents. Motions spent.

Keep you're brains on your bike when your're riding.

AFTON FX

Here are the shirts we made this year for the 24 hrs at Afton.

Actually I only made the stencil. My teammates made their own.

It says "Troast 24" on the back! The Turkey Takes Afton!

I was at the Bryant lake Bowl this weekend checking out some live music. Witnessed the Minneapolis Roller girls bash into each other on the street. Good times. Watched a fake fight break out. One girl was riding the other and then some wrestling. The referee screamed, "Give me 10." She was down and did 10 no problem. These are tuff girls!
I get back to my bike and my helmet is gone (the one in the photo above) and my water bottle. I hope they have a good time with that cracked helmet full of Afton Sweat. I hope you were thirsty too!!! I had about two sips left of some real good backwash.

Kids with a View

We are not talking about the summer of 1982 when your parents took you in the Pinto car camping. Your view was about to explode from the back seat.

Can't we just get out of the car already!!

Two Wheel View offers young people the chance to vacation on a bike. This year they went to Argentina. I took this same trip last year and had a blast. Sign up!

Grow One at the 24 HR Afton

(Not too sure what is going on in the background here but it looks like the devil rider is being tempted by a human bunny. )

Scott took an incredible ride in just over one hour. We are riding hardframes. I have a front shock. Scott does not. Please notice the florescent yellow bike and helmet of pure white stryofoam.

Last year the camel bag on my back here saved my life. I came into a turn and my bike hit a root. Sliding forward I wrapped into a small tree and that camel bag caught the impact my spine would have taken. Such an appropriate theme for this years race.

The theme for this years 24 hr Afton was "Grow a Spine."

http://www.24hoursofafton.org/

The girl with a blond Eyebrow

the real reason for blond eyebrows I was jogging in my neighborhood right after a nice bike ride and swim. This young girl on a corner asks me, "Do you know a girl with one blond eyebrow?" I kept running. She tagged along.

"No, I don't think so!"

She back stepped a bit and started describing her more. I really just kept running puzzled by the trick question.

If I answered "yes" I would be lying. I could have stopped and chatted with her to find out more. Maybe explain that describing someone by their most noticeable feature was something only detectives did when trying to catch criminals. But kids do it too.

I started back towards my house and stopped an albino squirrel that wass peeping out from under a car, from crossing the road. The white rodent stopped and backed up under the car.

Was the girl with one blond eyebrow related to the albino squirrel in some genetic albino sense? I don't know enough about biology or genetics to know. I almost did another loop in my hood so I could ask the same girl a hypothetical.

" If the girl with one blond eyebrow was a squirrel would she be an albino squirrel?"

Fight it on your Bike!

cd, paper,popsicle sticks. Artist unknown?The real reason I ride is for my heart. Then my mind. Then maybe the environment. It never really is in that order. But it is never just one reason why I ride my bike.

Been guilty this last week of having too many things to do, in too little time, where I felt I needed to get in my car. Case point: I drove to the bike shop to pick up a new bike tube and V-brakes. Sure I could have walked. Or taken my BMX bike on down the road. But I was doing it for my bike so it's just OK!

I came home after other numerous errands, fixed the bike and got on with riding!

Some great excuses for firing up the dinosaur breather (--and solutions):

"It's been hot and sticky. I have to towel off after the ride." --So bring a small towel.
"Cars scare me." -- Find a bike trail
"Been Raining and Raining all day" -- Wear a trash bag or get rain gear and fenders for you bike.

Seeing is Believing

They have these new marks on streets that are designated streets for safer biking! They have these chevrons denoting bike movements. A free bike zone of sorts. I think they may notify drivers that these roads are safe for bikers. No speed bumps just these stencils. "Bikes moving this way!"

I biked with a friend yesturday north of the cities. The day was perfect despite the heavy wind.
Passed by a rider who was having chain issues and shouted, "You all cool?" He didn't really look up but just said, "yup." Then this lycra rider on some 5lb. carbon road bike came zipping by in a blur. He was really ok.

Keep riding and encouraging riders!

That's where my Rim Went!!

This fellow has so much fun with his yard. He's yard is full of bikes with flowers growing out of them and then this wall on this alley garage. Super functional and Green.

I saw it earlier in the season and it was just the wheels. This creeping plant came up quickly and now you can barely tell that these are old bike rims beneath all the green.

I did not count but I would guess there are maybe 50 rims. They all are straight too. Most are the front rim of a bike which is the easiest to take off a locked bike. Rarely do people lock their front rims. This guys got a racket for his creeping plant. I am locking my front rim now!

Seriously. He probably got them donated or collected abandoned bikes in his alley. I may steal his idea but I won't steal the rims like him. I won't use straight rims. I want the beat up torn and tweaked, just straight bent rims. I want a painful mess of spokes covered by a creeping jasmine vine. I can smell it now.

Bike on Rack!

Bikes on the my roof rack. Took this while driving. Guess it was safer than sticking my head out the window to look. The idea of driving somewhere to bike is a bit crazy at times. If weekends were 5 days and the work week was 2 then then I might throw the bike on the car less. Not suggesting that I never drive. I wish I always biked but I like to see things far away and then ride my bike. It takes a hours in a car to get to Lake Superior in a car which is maybe 3 days on a bike. I like the idea of bringing a bike and then using it to cruise around and check out a town.

Bikes get people into the rhythm of people. It's easy to stop and talk to a local. Even easier to get sidetracked or take a single track trail off a road into a thick forest and get lost. Take your bike with you! Remember that your roof bike rack makes your car at least 3 ft taller and beware of the Drive-thru's. (A story for another blog)

Yes your bike is on your Rack!

Save Green by Going Green

Pot Hanger from ReadyMade - Inspired by the Compact
Here is where Green is going. Being green is really not all about saving the world from Global Warming because this will eventually facilitate all humans becoming bike riders. Choosing less toxic foods, riding your bike rather than getting in the car, using efficient bulbs at home, reusing --not abusing. These things help you help yourself. Heart of heart's pumping. Think of all the green you are saving and all that junk gets put to good use.

No hands!

How do you feel about riding without hands? I like that I can do it. It comes down to knowing your bike. It helps if you are clipped into your bike but this is not necessary. My sister was dared by my brother to coast the hill by our home without hands. That was when seats were a banana and handle bars were right there in your face. This was before I knew how to ride a bike. I just remember my Dad pulling up and seeing my sister laid out on the pissed pavement. Not the prettiest moment. She wasn't wearing a helmet. The only helmets then were big and bulky or leather with straps and pads.

It just feels liberating at times not having to turn or hold on. More in the summer than the winter. Nice dry days. I prefer the pavement over gravel. I typically hold on going down hills. I guess it's easy to understand why.

My only Sunshine

This is the signage on the sidewalks of Lanesboro, MN. The yellow means "yield." The circle and slash means "NO." The figure on the inside is a real rough representation of a biker. I see no bike frame, just wheels and biker. I wish I knew the designer of this sign; probably been riding bikes her entire life. How else would someone know what that gyrating feeling of loosing touch with your bike. When body and bike become merely body and wheels.

The Rubarb Fest Rules! I was in Lanesboro to see the "Prairie Home Companion" held at the local softball field. Garrison Keillor took his time as they could not find a satellite to beam up this live show. Never seen so many wet-ends in my life. The rain came down through most of the show. Best outing with my pancho ever! Intermission came when the heavy rain started. The ticket says *Rain or Shine*. It was like some sort of omen. Maybe if it just said *shine only* we might have had it dry. Oh well. It was fun all the same. Much of Mr. Keillors monologs mimicked a sour sort of homily. Garrison went into a monolog on Graduations. The rain continued. The band played, "You are my Sunshine." We danced and sang.

0-O o-O Riding Partners

Was out on a great bike trip this last weekend. All along the Superior Lakeshore.
Trails flat and smooth. The wind was cold and the waves broke hard upon the sandstone cliffs.
Took some pauses along the way to catch a certain lake spray or hear the pockets of rock taking the full force of a wave. More spray.

The flowering trees were in full bloom. Some trees fallen completely over in laughter; a wall of roots, rock and earth. The joking wind right off the lake blows here. I see more than one tree laughing.

It was nice taking my time rolling down some gravel lanes. The sea in full rage-and-glory besides us. I looked for ships but nothing poked out of the surf but rocks. Rocks.


*** Rake - Twin Cities on Two Wheels -- Dan Gilchrist
http://www.rakemag.com/stories/section_detail.aspx?itemID=30511&catID=282&SelectCatID=282

Ride that way tooo!

We were biking with and without a helmet. I forgot my helmet but I wasn't too worried about others poor judgement; the cold and rainy weather took them home. I did think about why I wear helmets in the City.

Might you believe motorist's look out for people riding without helmets. Here is the reasoning. Riders who have helmets may feel like they have some safety net so they may ride recklessly more often. Drivers may have a tendency to give riders without helmets a special right away. More crazy riders wearing helmets. Cars not giving preference. You can make a connection.

Riding with a helmet is safe and sane in the city. It is downright riding with poor judgment to be riding without a helmet. Just in case. Wears your helmet not "Where's your helmet?"

*****cool read UTNE May/June Issue on Biking safe in the City ***********

"And once you look like you know what your're doing, ride that way too. "
- Julie Hanus

Alien bike Invader

This is actually a study for body movements and a continuous line drawing of a bike with two bike panniers. I failed at putting the body together. Looks like a sliced up bike alien. This is how I feel sometimes in the morning. I am totally gung-ho to get on the bike but the legs are not there for me; or vice versa, my heads not in the game.

Two ways around these seperated biker feelings. Doing some leg stretches helps! Stay in each posture for a full 45 seconds; it really makes a difference. As far as getting the bike in your head. Once your on the bike things are so much better. It's a great kick start for the day. Try to think of the days you struggle to stay awake because you left your bike at home. Biking makes the days shorter and your life so much longer.

Carbon zero!

I was listening to a show on NPR about carbon being the binder of almost everything. Break the bond by making combustion and the carbon is released.

Biking would not be Carbon neutral. Carbon neutral would be driving with biodiesel; using a fuel that was newly created by the sun and earth.

Biking is zero emissions and 100% fun.

Bird Pond: Frozen with SUN

Sorry Birdies! NO water?

This is the state here in Minneapolis. It's so nice out. The sun shines but it is so cold!

It's a sweet and sour sort of feeling. The skin basks in a freezer burn state.
I did go for a ride today after spending a good 1/2 hour trueing one of my rims. It is far from perfect but at least the brakes are not rubbing. I do not have a true-ing stand so I have to improvise. Many things I do are a great improvisations on what I feel would be true.

Play on Sun. I can't wait to dive into my shorts and Tshirts.