June 2008 Recap

Holy smokes! This has been a heck of a month.

June Week One - Parked at church.


While I broke my car-free streak by driving so I could pick my wife up from the hospital after work last week, by all other measures this month was chock full of surprises, miles, and good times with good cycling friends. I also JUST barely squeaked my $15 worth out of the bus pass, using it for 9 one-way trips this month which would have cost me $15.75.

June Week Two: Karen and I chasing down a new commuter


I packed on the "recreation" miles pretty hard these past two weekends, with the June Moon Ride the weekend before last and the 200k Permanent last weekend. I pretty much enjoy every mile I put on a bicycle, so "recreation" is just a term I use for superfluous bike trips that have no transportation value.

June Week Three: Bike Surgery, wheel swap and fender installation.


I suppose I could say I rode 137 miles last weekend just to get to 3 convenience stores and write it off as a really action-packed day of errands but I doubt anyone would buy that. Completing the 200k lets me scratch one of the big to-do's off of my list of goals for 2008: To ride a genuine century.

June Week Four: Lunch break in dress clothes.


With that, I've managed to wrap up June with 848 miles.
479 came from 20 days of bike commuting
139 came from bike errands
230 came from group rides and the 200k
I rode the bus 4.5 round trips (9 one-ways)
I drove once.
2008: 2460 miles so far.

Another month like this might well kill me, but it would put me right back on track for my goal of 5,000 miles.

June Week Five (okay, just yesterday and today): An electric Scooter.


Other stuff worth mentioning:
I made a radio appearance, and it sounds like a BBC radio appearance might also be in the works for next month. I don't go out seeking media attention, but I'm pretty easy to find if you're looking for a cyclist in Kansas City or a blogging bike commuter anywhere in the world. I'm also a so-called "expert" or "pioneer" according to some local advocacy gurus. I'm actually just a regular guy that's kind of nerdy. I have a way with words and I have a passion for bicycling. The truth is I'd rather be well known for my geek knowledge than my bicycle riding, but if what I know can help and inspire others, I'm all for it. It just so happens that bikes are more popular than cryptography, electronics, and UNIX.

To all who stick around, read my ramblings and leave comments: Thanks. I'm glad someone other than I can get some enjoyment from my goofball adventures.

Rolling 7-day miles (as opposed to only week-to-week miles): I don't know why I get so obsessed with this statistic, but it seems to be a good measure of how I'm doing from an endurance standpoint. Take the last 7 days and total them up. Last year about this time, 175 miles in any 7-day period would have me feeling worn down. My average week was 198 miles this month, or about 28.25 miles per day all month long. This means I'm obviously getting more endurance as I pack on the miles. I don't really feel any stronger on the sprints or while climbing hills. If I were training for a race or something, I may feel inclined to work on that. I'm not, however; and I don't really care if I slog up steep grades at 3MPH.

The last order of business is my weight. I failed this goal for June. I ducked briefly below 200 pounds for just a fleeting moment. As of right now, I'm right at 200 and can't seem to shake it. It always seems I can never lose weight if I'm watching it and trying to lose it.

As far as July goals are concerned, I don't really have any. I'm just going to ride and enjoy it, while trying to bring the other two 2008 goals to fruition. Mostly, that means riding a lot and driving very little.

Lunch and the Monday Recovery Ride

Snagged some lunch and took some pics. It's amazing how many bikes are around downtown. Here are the ones in my work garage today:




A fountain outside of Black Coffee


A NEXT bike and an e-GO electric scooter.









Then, at the Monday ride, we had a helper! IIRC, his name is Felix. What a champ. Dad kept telling him to ease up on the pedals. This kid's a masher.


Dad was piloting this unique but awesome folding road bike from Slingshot.


Group ride.


Merriam is ready to rock for Independence Day.








After the ride, I hammered it to Cinzetti's to meet my wife for Supper. Moar carb load plz!


Saw this bizarre sculpture at The New Theatre.


From another angle, this guy is staring at me. Creepy.

Candid Photography - Lots of bike commuters!

Today's photos are pretty raw and craptastic. Took quite a few from the hip or with a lot of zoom (and thus increased f/ and slower shutter speeds).
I was up really, really late last night. Crazy late. I probably would have had the legs for the full bike commute today but I was tired and feeling quite lazy. I slept in a bit and rode to the bus in my work clothes with the exception of my clipless shoes since my dress shoes are at the office. Just call me Fred.


This dumpster-destined Roadmaster bike was joined by a NEXT Power Climber last night, of nearly identical design to my first bike as a bike commuter. The Power Climber is gone this morning. This Roadmaster had absolutely nothing of use on it. I would have parted it out, otherwise. I just left it for someone else to mess with. It's repairable but it'd cost more than buying a brand new one unless somebody had brakes, cables, shifters, a new FD and a chain laying around.


The crazy bus ride. Here's a ridiculous story. This bus is pretty much packed to capacity although it's not standing room only. TheJO is actually sending around a second bus to follow this one for its entire route. If this one gets to standing room only, the standers can board the second bus.


Pardon my rant, but WHAT IN THE HELL?! First and foremost, almost half of the riders of this bus board at its last stop in Johnson County: Oak Pork Maul. This bus is never, EVER full before it gets to The Maul. Ever. Further, what is the matter with having to stand up for twenty minutes? 30% of the riders get off the bus at its first downtown stop, leaving ample seating room 20-25 minutes after boarding at The Maul. I have three suggestions:

1. Just send one bus. If people have to stand, call the waaaaambulance while playing Wintermärchen (a.k.a. Hearts And Flowers) on the world's smallest violin.
2. Send one bus straight downtown from the stop before Oak Pork Maul. Send a separate one specifically for the riders at Oak Pork Maul. At least you're not wasting twice the fuel following one bus with the other for the entire route.
3. Send the second bus straight to Oak Pork Maul and have it on standby if needed, while running the earlier part of the route with just one bus.

Come on, people. How hard is this?I took candid shots of only perhaps a third of the bizarre urban bike commuting creatures I saw while imbibing my caffeinated yumminess. This one was walking his bike while talking to a woman when he stopped to roll a cigarette.


A few seconds later, he was lit up and walking some more. Positively fascinating.


This one, in full office attire, was also walking his bike.


There is a fourth bike commuter in my building now. I saw him unloading an old Trek road bike from the back of a minivan, then locking up to the fence I used to lock to when I first started riding. He must not know there's a bike rack over where the motorcycles park. I've heard about this bike before from other cow-orkers but this morning is the first time I've seen it. I'm guessing he gets a ride with someone who works downtown but has a different homeward schedule, then rides home -- wherever that might be. I didn't get a chance to talk to him.

Tons of bikes on the buses, and a great many cyclists out riding on Main Street this morning sporting trunk bags, panniers, messenger bags, backpacks, and almost every kind of non-bike-specific clothing imaginable. People are either getting very smart or very, very desperate. I'll let you decide, but I think I know which one is prevailing.
Random Tunage:
Vanessa Carlton - A Thousand Miles
Robert Miles - Children

200k Permanent Ride Report - Part 1 - Photos

I've finally gotten a little bit of sleep, but I still feel a bit hazy. I'm not going to jump to conclusions about the Randonneuring Lifestyle just yet. If you backed me into a corner right now and made me comment on it, I'd probably say "What was I thinking?! How do Rando's get any kind of a kick out of this suffering?!" - All natural reactions when you consider my current physical conditions:

• Sunburned to hell
• Knees aching
• Feet cramping
• Left hand still partially numb six hours after riding
• Butt still sore
• Nips are raw from shirt buffeting
  
• Arms, legs, abs, neck and back are stiff
• Still tired. Very Tired.

I do, however, have the clarity of mind to make a few suggestions to myself if I choose to embark on another ride that's a century or longer:

• SLEEP MOAR, Newbtard. For real.
• Wear. Sunscreen.
• Multiple hand positions: good idea. Flat bars are not your friend.
• Chafing sucks. Pick up some chamois butt'r and/or something for the nips.
  

Oh, and for the record, no one should ever mutter phrases out loud such as the following while on a distance ride (we were both guilty):

• The wind is calm
• We're making pretty good time
• It's nice that there's not much traffic out here
• etc...

Interesting things seen:

• A squished armadillo 5 miles south of Pleasanton, KS
• A 2-cent increase in fuel prices at Casey's between our two visits (only a few hours apart)
  
• The La Cygne, KS Coal-fired power plant
• An old man who thought c'Dude and I were just about the strangest humanoids in existance
  
• A trailer hauling crushed cars that lost TWO trailer tires at the same time

Without further delay, here's a Photo dump. Check out the whole album for more. I uploaded some 60 photos or so of today's adventures. There's no way I'm posting them all here.


3:30 AM at the first control checkpoint.


Awesome, hazy, foggy sunrise


La Cygne Power plant


Foggy, twisty descent


3.91 per gallon at Casey's


... a few hours later on the return trip...


Old steel bridge


The Dude


Riding on the shoulder of US-69 for a few miles.



Check out the rear driver's side wheels on this trailer.


Parked at the Pleasanton Control checkpoint


Steep grades are fun! When descending...


See?


Blue Skies.


137.0 miles.



Random Tunage:
Paul Van Dyk - Out There And Back
Flobots - Handlebars (I'm not one for much rap or R&B but the lyrics are geeky and catchy)

200k Permanent - Success

Before I go into details, I need a shower and sleep. Here's the stats, though:

First Control Departure Time: 3:30 AM
Last Control Arrival Time: 3:50 PM
Total Distance: 137 miles
Avg Speed (Rolling): 13.7 MPH
Max Speed: 41.1
Miles for June So far: 828.4

200k - here I come!

Jeff tagged me on GTalk today, he's back in town from helping a friend move halfway across the country, so we snagged some lunch at Antonio's Pizza in the City Market area. Definitely not worth a repeat. Not the worst I've had, but there are far better pies in KC for the price.

I just got home a bit ago. I decided to save my legs for the 200k and took it easy. A gnarly headwind would have worn me out this afternoon, so I also took the bus home. This was pretty hard because aside from the wind, it's a really nice day!

It looks like we'll have to contend with rain for a portion of the 200k tomorrow. Fortunately, I really don't mind getting wet if the temperature cooperates. I've got most of my stuff together for the ride. Now, I just need to get some sleep and be up at 2:00 to be out of here by 2:30.

Look for a ride report and hopefully some great pics in the next few days. I'll probably be too wiped out to write about it Saturday. Maybe Sunday or Monday.

Figures...

Lots of lightning out there again this morning. I guess I take the bus again. I suppose I'll still get plenty of miles this month once you count my attempt of the 200k brevet about 21 hours from now...

Maybe giving my legs another rest will be a good thing. I'm getting ready to head out to the express "L" bus. Hopefully this bad weather means a few less riders -- thus, a seat available so I don't have to stand up, freezing and wet on the way to work.

Random Tunage:
Laurent Wolf - Happy TV
Brother Brown - Under The Water (Faithless Remix)

Helpful links for bicycle commuters

This is being posted in advance of my appearance on KCUR's Up To Date radio show in a little more than an hour. I may add more stuff here over the next couple of hours.

Shameless Plugs:
While I mostly use this place to share my pictures and carry on and on about my personal adventures in getting around the Greater Kansas City Area, I do actually have some useful information for bicycle commuters here:

• Tricks Of The Trade - Helpful tricks and tips for bike commuters
• Product Reviews - Things I've tried and liked... or didn't like!

Multi-Mode commuting using your bicycle and transit

• Google Transit maps - get transit schedules and route suggestions. In Kansas City, only works with KCATA's Metro and MAX buses.
• KCATA - Kansas City Metro and MAX information, schedules and route maps.
• The JO - Johnson County Transit bus information, schedules and route maps.
• TARC Bike Rack Rap - Humorous informational video of how to put your bike on the bus. The racks shown in the video are the same used on all MAX, Metro and The JO buses.
• MARC Guaranteed Ride Home - Bus riders, bicycle commuters and car-poolers can sign up for RideShare, which entitles you two two free taxi rides home in certain emergency situations. This alleviates the "what if" worry for many car-free commuters.
  

Bicycle Commuting Information

• kcbike.info: Commuting information - Links to many other great bike commuting tips for anyone, and some Kansas City-specific information.
• Commute By Bike - A portal with articles written by bicycle commuters, myself included.
• BikeCommuters.com - A bike commuting portal with a little more fun and casual feel to it.

Local Clubs and Advocacy

• Mid America Regional Council
• Missouri Bicycle Federation
• Kansas City Bicycle Club
• Johnson County Bicycle Club

Hammer. *gasp* Fest. *pant* - new personal best

The skies were overcast this morning, and I was having trouble getting my shutter speed low enough to snap many non-blurry photos. So I hammered it.

My personal best average speed on Hybridzilla is 18.8 MPH by the time I hit Boulevard Brewery, but that time I had a backpack instead of panniers. My personal best to the brewery on The Twelve was 19.2 MPH average. After slogging into downtown, my PB was 17.3, which I've hit a few times on both bikes.

About halfway into my ride today, I'd gotten up to 18.2 MPH average.


By the time I reached Boulevard Brewery (where my route begins a general trend of climbing into downtown) I had gotten to 19.6 - almost half a mile per hour over my personal best average speed by this point in my commute.


Even after the slog, I was doing alright at 17.9 MPH average. That's again, about half a mile per hour faster.


Now, I had a great tune-up ride on the June Moon ride, and I had a rest day yesterday. This was basically a perfect storm for a record-breaker hammerfest. I had to take it.

Random Tunage:
Pole Folder - Waxxx
Kelly Clarkson - Since U Been Gone (Jason Nevins Club Mix)

The Brevet Bug Bites me...

Earlier today, I got a casual, last-second (okay, few days' notice) invite from c'Dude to come along on a 200k Brevet -- technically 217 km, a 135 mile event. I just kind of sat there, rubbing my goatee-covered chin for a few minutes. Then I replied. I really want to give this a shot.

I've done three full moon rides, all of them with commuterDude. Every time, I end up talking about Randonneuring a little. And it's always fascinated me a little bit. The truth is, I'd heard of the Paris-Brest-Paris and knew it was a 700+ mile endurance cycling event but I figured it was basically TdF for people who weren't professional racers. It wasn't until I started reading commuterDude's scattered observations from the saddle that I came to even know the words "Brevet" and "Randonneur", or that there were even events like this.

Also, much like commuting, touring and randonneuring have very few hard and fast rules on equipment. Brevets have strict time controls in place, and significant safety rules. Other than that, whether commuting, touring, or randonneuring, you ride whatever bike you want to ride, take along whatever you think you'll need to complete the task at hand, and do it.

Logic tells me that once you've ridden for two solid hours, it's just a matter of staying hydrated, fueled and focused. I've ridden for plenty longer than two hours at a time, but never more than 70 miles in a single chunk (with a few breaks of perhaps 5-10 minutes). Hybridzilla's certainly no touring bike, but she's got everything I need and most of what I want in a bike. I'd like some more hand positions, I guess. Other than that, I don't see why I couldn't pilot this machine for that kind of distance, versus my road bike. It can handle the miles. Now, do I have the chops for this? I don't know, but I know how to figure it out.

Noah On The Air tomorrow (Thurs. Jun 26 11AM)

FYI, I'll be a guest on tomorrow's Up To Date radio show as we discuss bicycle commuting. The show will be at 11:00AM Central Time. If you miss it, you'll be able to find it for a few days in their Podcast.

If you don't have a radio handy or you're outside the area you can use the following links to listen to the live MP3 stream of KCUR 89.3

Low 24k
Med 40k
High 128k

I plan on discussing a few challenges I've managed to conquer, pass along some tips, and sing the praises of multi-modal bike commuting using the region's two most prominent bus transit systems.

Sigh...

It's just not fair.


After finally finding I-35 northbound (it took me a while, I never drive this way) I'm still stuck at this God-forsaken stop light and the bike commuter I've never seen before is way ahead. He didn't run that red, by the way, he squeaked through yellow, but only just.


On top of all that, feeding a parking meter?!


And seeing a picture of the bike one of the sbux guys just got from JR, hanging among other things on the bulletin board...


Dude, where's my bike?!


And then these two...


I even slept in this morning, getting a bit more rest, but I feel like my ass is dragging this morning. People ask me if riding my bike 14-15 miles to work in the morning wears me out. No, it truthfully energizes me and kicks off the day nicely. I miss my bike already. I'm also not looking forward to shelling out a $10 bill for the privileges of lethargy and jealousy.

Random Tunage:
Third Eye Blind - Jumper
Kate Ryan - Only If I (Hiver & Hammer Remix)

Kate Ryan's stuff is typically dancefloor cheesiness, but she's an awesome vocalist and to top it of, she does this multi-track stuff where she pulls off spine-tingling harmonies. This track, in particular, is worth a listen if you like stuff with a bit of a thumpy drive to it.

Out by the stadiums...

My wife gets to come home tomorrow! I left work early to go out to the hospital she's been staying at since Thursday (near the Kauffman stadium complex). Looks like the lady who's been biking in took one of her kids' bikes or got an upgrade. This Trek 820 has a lot better components, although the front QR was tightened incorrectly. I fixed it for her, without permission. Hopefully the bike gods forgive me.


I wasn't sure how to get out to the stadiums by bike from downtown KC, so I bussed it with the help of Google Transit.


People in KC know where "The K" is in relationship to Lenexa, where I live. I did have an idea how to get home. Blue Ridge Cutoff connects to 63rd street, which I'm familiar with when I have to ride home from a Data Center that I occasionally have to visit. I wasn't counting on a huge death slog, though. It wasn't so much steep as it was two miles of obdurate 8% climbing.


You just don't take pictures on 63rd street. It was insane, and I usually feel pretty confident in traffic. You also don't take pictures slogging through Swope Park, either. Meyer Blvd, however, is beautiful. I love riding this road. It's one lane that's more than 20 feet wide. Even when I pass parked cars, it's like having my own lane down the center of the road. To make it better, there's a long downhill stretch that's not too hard to climb going the other way, but homeward offers me 20 miles per hour coasting with no hands, just chilling on the bike.


Further along, Meyer becomes Tomahawk and you start to see some pretty nice homes. I can't remember if I took this on Meyer or Tomahawk. It doesn't matter. I was just along for the ride.


With my wife being discharged tomorrow, I'll have to drive to work. This will be my first car commute of 2008 -- my first car commute, in fact, since September 14, 2007. That's okay. This is sooo worth it. Bringing my wife is one of the few things that will make me drive to work. I've missed her greatly these past few days.

Random Tunage:
INOJ - Time After Time
Way Out West - Don't Forget Me

I can beat this storm... or not! Bonus: Lego Bicycle

I woke up this morning to find ominous skies to the west. The radar was showing storms passing through Topeka headed roughly toward Kansas City. I figured if I got my act together and hit the road a bit early, I should be okay.

As you might imagine, I was wrong. The intersection of Merriam Lane and Johnson Drive marks the last place I can catch a Johnson County bus without deviating from my usual workbound route. With lightning growing ever closer (some strikes were within 3/4 mile), I decided to stop here and check the bus schedule (which I keep stored in my phone's photos). I was about 5 minutes ahead of the Dreaded bus. I threw the raincovers on the panniers and waited.


With my wife gone this week, I'm getting pretty bored. After the Monday night ride, I finished working on a Lego bicycle I'd started the night before. The end result is a full-suspension fixed-gear mountain bike with a kickstand.


The "chainring" is actually on the inside of the frame. Not terribly realistic.


The rear "cogs" - The rubber "chain" has enough stretch that I can use either of these two "gears"


The fully functional rear suspension actually works quite well. It borrows from the suspension design used in some of the Lego RoboRider kits. I wish I could say I was clever enough to have engineered it myself.

It uses a worm gear inside the housing. The housing has lots of slack for the worm gear to move back and forth. A rod is placed through the housing, the worm gear, and another bracket. The bracket is then held with a rubber band to supply tension. Finally, a round gear meshes with the worm and the rear stay assembly is mounted to the gear. When pressure is applied, the stays rotate the gear, which pushes the worm gear forward, and it springs back thanks to the rubber band.


The front "suspension" is just for looks and does not actually work. It's just some LEGO tubing threaded over a bar that's been beefed up by wide pulleys.


A kickstand on the back looks pretty ridiculous, but this baby won't stand up in my cubicle at work all by itself, so it stays.


Bike inverted with me "pedaling"


Another angle of the finished product.


This evening, I've got some serious running around to do. I'll probably do it by bus and bike. Should be fun.

Random Tunage:
Orbital - Impact USA (The Earth Is Burning)
Dynamix II - Begin Bombing

Begin Bombing is a techno track built around a quote by Ronald Reagan that was meant to be humorous. Unfortunately, the microphone was on, and the sound byte was captured forever.

Dogstacle Course and photo ops

It was a nonstop dog-dodging homeward commute. Yikes! It's a miracle I even made it, what with all the canines on half-mile long strands of nearly invisible yarn. Luckily, the XC Wheels I put on Hybridzilla make the brakes squeal something horrid (just ask the June Moon Riders) so I have an improvised "out of my f'n way!" horn, which blasts automagically upon slowing.


The workers were busy continuing their destruction of the grain silo. I calmly rode up and asked a few workers if I could photograph things from where they were standing, which I assumed was a safe distance. They granted me permission.


One cool thing about my cheapo point-n-shoot camera is that between having 4x optical zoom and running 5 megapixels (not really that high res), I can still manage to zoom in and use cropping to get decent zoom shots at web-friendly sizes. This was cropped from the above image:






Meanwhile, back on the MUP, I couldn't resist taking a few photo ops.

Man-made concrete waterfall:




My bike, parked while I hike around.


Thorny vine with cottonwood strands tangled up in it.


A fallen tree.




A spider's web catches cottonwood seeds as well


This firefly landed on my hand


And took off, just as quick as it landed. I can't believe this shot turned out.


Cottonwood.


What a knotty, knotty tree.


This is the kind of tree every kid wishes for in the backyard.



Oh, and I took a lunch break to grab some Lulu's Thai Noodles. I can't stress enough how practical this bike is, whether I'm hammering out 80 miles with padded bike shorts, making my 30-mile round trip to and from work, or just making a two-mile jaunt for lunch in my work clothes -- shoes included.


Well, I'm off to the Monday night recovery ride. I'll see you all tomorrow.

June Moon Ride Report Round-up

Some others that went on the June Moon Ride had things to say as well.

• Jason
• Dave
• c'Dude
• My own

Also, welcome Jason to my blogroll. I hadn't seen his blog before. His missives are often quite clever. Check it out.

Solo

Solo in more than one way. First and foremost, my wife is -- for all intents and purposes -- out of town. This weekend was lonely and somewhat boring, alleviated only by the fact that the apartment's a bit of a mess (so I have some cleaning up to do before my wife comes home) and that I had quite a few miles planned for the weekend.

This morning, I was riding solo because no one joined me on the Commuter Convoy. This was expected. Chris landed a part time job that makes bike commuting on Mondays a non-option and Karen's on vacation. As for where John and Lorin are? No idea. I didn't even see Lorin this morning, so I have no idea if he even took the bus. He might still be at home. I had a nice talk with JR over coffee once I got downtown.

On my way in, I totally dropped this street sweeper. Who's awesome now? Huh?!


Shortly thereafter, I got what might possibly be my second most interesting road find EVER. A hand-made slim jim -- used for unlocking automobile doors without keys (as if I need to explain a slim jim to my readers, but just in case). Finder's keepers! My most interesting is still The Nintendo DS (with Spongebob cartridge... ugh).


Dark skies overhead ended abruptly just above the horizon. For a while, the sun was glaring straight at me, but it didn't last long, as the sun rose into the clouds. I couldn't get a clear shot of the sky before the sun came up, but it looked quite splendid.


"Urban" tennis shoes flung over the power line where Southwest Blvd ends and turns into 19th St.


My buddies over a BikeCommuters.com hooked me up with some of their sweet new stickers. If you've ever thought of writing about a tip or trick that you discovered while bike commuting but don't want to commit to starting your own blog and writing something several times per week, they are looking for guest writers. If your post gets published, they'll send you stickers, too! Same thing goes for commuter profiles.


Random Tunage:
Orbital - Lush 3-3 (Underworld Mix)
16B - Inbetween Your Choice

Fun weekend

I have gotten back into the habit of weighing in weekly on Saturday mornings. I'm not riding specifically to lose weight anymore, but I am losing it again and I finally slipped back out of the clydesdale club. Barely.



I had to drive out to Kansas City yesterday morning, but after that, it was all bike.


I pedaled through Santa Fe Trail Drive to Pflumm, one of the few bike-friendly arterials around. It's quite hilly, but it lacks any highway access, reaching pretty far north and south way into the boonies. Very few places of interest are located alongside Pflumm save for a few little strip malls here and there. Mostly, it's surrounded by residential land and farmland as you travel further south.

I rode through some roadblocks and through a yet-to-be-built development of some kind. I haven't looked at the zoning, but my money is that apartments will go in. There are already 3 substantial shopping centers within a one-mile radius.


Wind, construction machinery or perhaps a rogue car has already knocked one streetlight over.


First stop on the list: Lunch at Fortune Wok -- one of the tastiest westernized Chinese joints in town that I've found.

... in bed! Eeh. It works better with some fortunes than others.


z0mg 1337n355!!1! - It was 1:37PM when I got done fooding.

Sorry, I had to.

Next was the KC PHP User's Group at Daily Dose. While there, I saw the sun reflecting some light off of a windshield in the parking lot, projecting Daily Dose's address onto the wall. I thought it was cool.


Also, while on the topic of 1337n355 I saw this, which I took in December 2005 -- 10 months before I started bike commuting. I thought I was awesome, making sure that the trip meter would read 133.7 miles at the same time that I turned over 100,000.


Why'd I upload a photo of my car's dash? Because, I just looked at it today, and I've only put 18,000 miles on it in two and a half years. Consider the fact that I was still driving the car daily for my 24-mile round trip commute at the start-up company, then daily for a month or so when I started working downtown (45 mile round trip) before I finally started driving to the bus stop instead, which led into my bike/bus commuting days. I could only wish I made note of my odometer more often. It would be interesting to put my two vehicles together and see how many miles my wife and I collectively drive. I'm betting it's somewhere between 5,000 and 8,000 miles per year (mostly my wife's driving to work), if that.

Today, I'm paying for about 100 miles in two days. I know, people who do MS-150, RAGBRAI, Biking Across Kansas not to mention those crazy Randonneur types have no problem with this. I broke a new personal record this week, piling on 248 miles in one seven-day period, and I'm more than on-target for a 750-mile month assuming I ride the full round trip for the remainder of my work days.

Forecasts are varying much between meteorologists, but it doesn't look like this coming week will present many reasons to take the bus, aside from an errand I'll be running Wednesday after work. Depending how I feel, that errand just may be an excuse to pile more miles on. Should I shoot for 800 miles this month? I know I can do it, but I don't know if I want to. I just need 237 more miles, and I have 8 days ahead of me... That would get me within 320 miles of being back on target for 5,000 miles this year, a big chunk taken from the 520-mile deficit I carried into June from miles missed in early Spring. I may actually hit 5,000 miles like I wanted to; it was looking pretty bleak 3 months ago.

Random Tunage:
POB - Boiler (Humate Remix)
Ben Folds Five - Brick

June Moon Ride

Chris arrives (by car) to ride with Dave and I to the ride.


Chris and Dave


At the start point. Badger is mooning us?


Amnee and Jason showed up. I know both of them. Jason through classes at JCCC and Amnee through the Monday Night rides.


C'Dude's Sweet vintage Trek.


Left to right: C'Dude (almost out of frame), Dave, Al, Jason, Crowbar, Chris, Amnee (hiding behind Chris) and Badger (almost out of frame too). Counting myself, we had a crowd of nine. Awesome!


Abstractness.


Rest stop in De Soto, KS.










C'Dude needs wipers for his glasses. This is a bug splat.


It wouldn't be a June Full Moon Ride if it wasn't june or close to being a full moon, would it? Here, the moon is rising over the highway and between some trees.


More abstractness


A quick regroup before the death slog. One of many slogs, actually.


Even more abstractness.


All in all, I put 81 miles on since I woke up...errm yesterday at 5:00. Now, it's almost 1:30 and time for me to go to sleep.

Hi, Dave!

I got the Dave wave (or was that the commute salute?) on 79th street. He was on his way home. Me? I passed by home, went to a sporting goods store to pick up a new pair of bike shorts (much needed) and CO2 Carts ($.48 each instead of $3.75 each at the LBS)


Then to Best Buy for more rechargeables before grabbing some food on my way home. I'm a bit more than 33 miles deep in today's stygian mile-fest of doom.


Surprisingly, I feel quite fresh and ready to rock. Chris and Dave are rolling through my apartment complex on the way to the June Full Moon Ride. We'll convoy out there, ride around a bit and head on back.

I'm cleaning up, recharging batteries, eating, and replenishing my seat wedge pack (flat kit). Can't wait to ride around in the dark some more. The sun is coming up pretty early, so it's been a few months since I needed to use headlights TO SEE WITH.

Off topic. My computer kept doing this all day after a graphics driver upgrade:

If you can't tell, the image is rotated 90 degrees. I spent a good chunk of my day fixing it. I hate Windows.

Easy riding

Thanks for the thoughts, prayers and kind words yesterday, in the comments and via e-mail. When I got home last night, my wife had been doing some research and found some stuff that will likely help us both. For the first time in quite a while, there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel for her wellness and my anxiety.

I couldn't find my speedometer as I left work. I rode home in regression mode without any instrumentation, including the wrist watch which I left at home. Mostly, on my homeward commute I pay attention to time. I'm not terribly concerned about getting the distance accurate, because I've taken this particular route enough to know it's 15.2 miles every single time.


Yesterday was also my last commute with Karen for a while. She's going on vacation with her husband for a few weeks. Also, as her job downtown is a seasonal one, she probably won't be working for too long after they get back from vacation.

Oddly enough, my lack of appetite yesterday really caught up to me. I started hitting the wall on Turkey Creek Trail. I didn't full-on bonk but I started to get numbness in the legs, tunnel vision, nausea and cold sweats. All that good stuff. I made it home just fine but had trouble hauling the bike up the stairs. A trip to BWW with some Spicy Garlic Wings, Jalapeno Cheese chips and an ice cold Killians fixed that pretty quickly.

Saw a nice sunset.



This morning, I rode at an easy pace to save my legs for later. There were two downhill exceptions. The first was on 67th. I took this as I crested the second downhill part:


And this as I coasted at 36 MPH. Notice the complete lack of spokes.


The second downhill exception was going north from Rainbow on Southwest Boulevard. I was zipping along at a nice 30 MPH pace, when I looked back and saw a guy on a mountain bike catching up with me. As he got closer, I saw he wasn't pedaling. Closer still, I heard the distinct whine of a 49cc gasoline engine being strained to the point of valve float. A small-displacement engine floating its valves makes a distinct noise, which sounds kind of like an overgrown mosquito on meth. Not that I know what that really sounds like. The mountain bike passed me at about 35 MPH, which wasn't too much faster than I was going. I dropped the hammer and latched on for a while, but let him go as the ground leveled out. I have to save SOME energy for the moon ride.

It's worth mentioning that engines do not last very long when you run them the way this guy was. I'd bet the thing would last darn near forever at 25 MPH, but wringing it out like this is a sure way to end up with a burned valve or a broken connecting rod. And if the con-rod breaks, this dude could end up with chunks of red-hot cylinder head in his crotch, if not getting maimed or killed by engine shrapnel. It's also worth mentioning that v-brakes on a 26" aluminum rim mountain bike wheel are not designed to make sustained, frequent stops from 35 MPH. He had trouble getting slowed down to make a turn up the road a ways. The guy is probably getting 20 MPG out of that thing the way he was riding it. Valve float kills an engine's efficiency. He'd be better off in a small SUV, really.

As Thursday seems to be severe weather day (for the last several weeks!), Fridays usually bring great sunrises.


It's that time of year again. A few more minutes and I'll be riding straight into the sun. As you know, this really sucks as traffic behind you is driving straight into the sun, and motorists are too busy squinting to see bicyclists.


... kinda like this.


Bazooka's is, as you could perhaps guess, a "Gentlemen's Club." The company I worked for some 8 years ago has an office directly out of frame to the right, and recently expanded to take up a few floors of the 12-story Mainmark building hiding behind Bazooka's. The building itself has been around since 1920 or so.


There are still a lot of miles to be ridden today. I'm just getting warmed up!

I'll keep my batteries charged and try to get some photos of the June Full Moon ride.

Random Tunage:
Lisa Loeb - Stay (acoustic)
Way Out West - UB Devoid

Jinxed?

I was already having an off morning. Things just aren't going right today. Long story short, the commute that I often use to clear my mind and ease my frustrations provided me with yet another reason to be crabby. Yesterday, I dwelled with grandiose verbosity on the way my commutes are seldom boring. Today was no exception, however what little diversion it offered was not what I'd call fun. It was the single most common cycle commuting woe: A shard of glass had infiltrated my inner tube.

I was back on the road in a mere 5 minutes, using Park Tool glueless patches to perform an in-situ repair without even removing the wheel or unseating more than a small area of the tire bead.

If you're the praying type, pray for my wisdom, sanity and focus. Pray for my wife's health. If you're not, just think happy thoughts. Because I'm seriously about to lose my mind. This morning's commute did little to placate my angst.

Random Tunage:
Steve Porter - Drama Queen
Nine Inch Nails - Closer

You'd think things would get boring after a while...

But really, my commute never seems to get old. Since I started writing here in December 2006, I can count on my hands the number of uneventful days in the saddle. This includes back when I was purely multi-modal riding a few miles each day to the bus and over winter when I revert to that same paradigm. There's always something kind of fascinating.

I started off photographing things of interest almost right from the get-go. I kind of strayed away from that for a while, and got bit by the shutter bug again a few months back. Getting off the bike and taking pictures of things doesn't force me to stop and smell the proverbial roses. It's a product of stopping to take a moment and reflect on the sights, smells, sounds, and feels of the commute. And occasionally, I get to experience the taste of a gnat or mosquito, too.

I don't shoot for perfection when I write here. I use slang and wordplay that would be unacceptable in a novel or biography. There are many reasons the stuff I write here simply wouldn't fly in print, but this is my turf and I can get away with crimes against English as I see fit, despite being the spawn of a mechanical engineer and an English professor. I'd like to think this gives me a witty, edgy ability to use myriad adjectives and adverbs to salt what would otherwise be a rather prosaic daily ride report. Sometimes, people see it differently. Fortunately, most of those people fail at primary-level spelling. Good times.

While any given two of my back-to-back commutes are rarely the same, the grain elevator carnage was worth a repeat. Let's face it, very few things in America's heartland are more mystical than a history-packed 20-story edifice that's straddling the line between ripe for exploration and failure to exist. Apparently -- and without so many words -- a frequent reader and commenter named Sally (a.k.a. Sallymander) felt the same way. It turns out that one of her friends lives directly across the street from the blighted barley bins. I agreed to join them in their exploits. The mission was simple: Get inside the facility and get a ton of photos. My tertiary objective which was perhaps not shared with Sally and Barb was to carefully ascend to the pinnacle of the doomed structure if it appeared safe.

This is a lot easier if the demolition crew isn't there watching you do it. Interior access was not an option today. Neither was hiking up the elaborate network of fire escapes and safety ladders. With that, we hiked to the far side to examine the erstwhile partially pulverized office area, far away from the watchful eye of the orange-vested havoc-wreakers.


I allowed the workers to observe me photographing seemingly innocuous objects such as some flowers and a high-voltage power pole.




Then, it was on. Barb kept watch. We started photographing.






There's still a bunch of asbestos in the rubble. I'm not terribly concerned about it while on this adventure, as it takes quite a bit of exposure to cause permanent lung damage. Inside, I'd probably wear something over my mouth and nose, but we didn't get that far.


The gauge read "full" but my attempt to discharge this relic of a fire extinguisher failed miserably.


Supposedly, this elevator suffered from an explosion. Details are elusive, and I'm usually quite skilled at digging up bits of history.


Some time after Rosedale Milling Company quit using the elevator, Clorox took the facility over. The last date I can find evidence of Clorox's occupation was 1986.


Sally rescued a piece of grate material to use on her patio.


It was cool to run into Sally, who's occasionally thrown her two cents in since last September or so. I wish those pesky demolition guys would have left. I wouldn't dare putz around inside this facility without someone spotting me. That, my friends, is rule number one of urban exploration. Well, when I'm making the rules.

Random Tunage:
Suicide Commando - Hell Raiser
Frankie Bones - All The Way Home

Zilla wants a new pair of shoes

Word of the day: Arduous (adj): characterized by toilsome effort to the point of exhaustion.

And what an arduous day, indeed. I'm not two hours into my work day yet, and epic battles are already beginning. Mortars of policy, bombs of politics, missiles of blame and grenades of revolt are being exchanged liberally this morning. Commuting, though, is about getting to and from work (and other places, ostensibly), not about bewailing the current state of affairs between bike rides.

With that, I suppose you're expecting me to bewail yet another arduous ride to work on crappy hybrid tires. You won't find it today, because Hybridzilla was hauling ass this morning. I also got to see an amazing sunrise on my way out the door.


Some mornings, I feel like I'm just another commuter. I didn't have time to finish my cream cheese bagel before it was time to shove off for work. I ate and rode for the first 3/4 mile of my trip. Neither hand on the controls, and not paying attention to the road. Yep, I fit right in with everyone else this morning.


I threw the Forte Slick City tires back on last night. They're designed for 85 PSI but blew them up to 120 PSI to test the beads and make sure they would hold. They gladly took the excess pressure, so I guess I'll keep using them. 'Zilla still wants a new pair of shoes, but people in hell will certainly want ice water and The Twelve still wants a rear wheel. We can't always get what we want right away. These tires will suffice for now.

I put forth about the same amount of effort as I had put in the past few days. The result was a boost of 3 MPH to my average speed. Karen was nowhere to be seen this morning, but she'd mentioned being a bike buddy escort for a co-worker who's just getting into it.

I did, however, see a few more bikes out this morning, probably due to gas prices creeping back up again. Are the prices elevating in anticipation of the 4th of July? Or maybe a gnat farted in the middle east. One of the people I saw riding is the lady who has been piloting the green mountain bike that's been parked next to me lately. She's got some teenage kids and bought the bike from a thrift store a few months ago so she could ride on MUPs with her kids. Monday, she decided to start commuting by bike. It's now Wednesday and she says she's starting to feel the pain. I'm not sure how far she rides, and I don't think she really knows, either. She says she's from Kansas City Kansas but that could be 3 miles each way or more like 15. I'm betting it's probably 5-8 miles each way, though. I reassured her that the pain that comes with riding usually subsides a lot after 2 weeks. Maybe she'll have the chops to keep it up.

Here's something funny. I bought this watch probably about 5 years ago. It's got a solar power array around the watch bezel under the glass, which recharges the built-in battery. I shelved it after about 6 months of use because it kept dying on me and I'd have to leave it sit under a lamp for a few days to bring it back to life. I was spending all of my time indoors, and I liked my office dark. I was only out and about 30 minutes per day or so, which wasn't enough to charge it. I stumbled across it last week and have been wearing it for a while. It only took two good days of riding home from work in the sun to lift its battery meter to full power. I've missed this watch. I have a feeling it's going to stay charged these days.


Random Tunage:
Orbital - Know Where To Run
Fluke - Kitten Moon

Bike, Blight and Light.

Here's the fog light setup. 10W NiteRider Evolution running a 15W bulb. Puts out approximately 300 lumens for 90 minutes, then dies pretty soon after that.


From the other side.


And from the front. I ran it this morning instead of my DiNotte. It's great for pot-holes and it's easy to see from ahead, although once oncoming cars get too close the wheel blocks the beam. This doesn't concern me a whole lot, as I don't plan on running this light as a primary headlight. I just want a good backup for the June Moon ride.


I found what appears to be a car key on the ground. I kept it.


The mountain bike has been locked up next to me two days in a row. I'd make fun of the huge seat but my own mountain bike has a similar one.


Ah, grain elevator carnage! From the looks of things, this grain elevator in Kansas City, Kansas has been out of operation for a very, very long time. Demolition started less than two weeks ago, although it doesn't look like much progress has been made.


Literally tons of not-so-fresh wheat.


The gaping rectangular hole, however, appears to be quite old judging from the stuff within.











More carnage.












This area on the far end of the silo appears to have been used for loading trucks and railcars as well as some office space. I saw evidence that it's very recently been used for shelter and/or home.











This building, perhaps a mere two miles away from the grain elevator, is almost all the way gone, too. The semi tractor is being loaded up to haul off debris.






Mmm. Skeeter pit. This swampy water's been stagnating way too long.


Can you say West Nile Virus?


It wasn't terribly hot today, but it was really humid. Karen tops off her bottle at one of the faucets in Chatlain Park.


All in all, a nice day for a bike ride. Now, I need to get crack-a-lackin' on this tire situation.

Random Tunage:
Tul - Pepperoni Machine
Shakta - Lepton Head

Chilly? Really!

Of course, my perception of chilly has been drastically skewed what with morning temperatures often in the 70s and evening heat indexes (indices?) in the 90s. It was a clammy 57°F out this morning. The cotton t-shirt and cut-off jeans didn't feel so great for the first minute or two of my ride. My sluggish tires made sure I warmed up pretty quickly, though. And this brings me to TWO quandaries.

The first one is about my cut-off jeans. Why is it that I hear EVERY SINGLE snobby cyclist use the phrase "he was wearing cut-off jeans" when dismissing someone they saw riding? Are cut-off jeans the difference between "guy on a bike" and "cyclist?" I actually ride with cutoff jeans over an innershort chamois. Why? Because my outershorts that came with the innershorts bit the dust and I'm too broke to buy more shorts so I just cut the legs off a pair of jeans that had the knees blown out of them. Okay, and I kind of do it so that people will cringe in pain at the things that those huge seams could possibly be causing. (link not for the faint of heart. AND cycledog mentions cut-off jeans, too!)

The next one is about these tires. Seriously. Something's gotta give. I'm honestly thinking about giving my apparently compromised Forte's a try. What the worst that could happen? A front blow-out at 25 MPH? That actually sounds pleasant compared to the death slog that has become my 30 mile round trip commute. I honestly think my mountain bike's 1.95" knobbies pumped up to 70 PSI (their max pressure) would roll better than these semi-slicks at their max pressure of 40 PSI. Too bad the knobbies won't fit under these fenders. Believe me, I tried.

What else?
Oh yeah, I found my camera. It was in the bag of miscellaneous cables and gadgetry that I always bring with me when I have my laptop around. Not only did I have my camera with me on my homeward commute last night, but I had it with me this morning as well, and never knew it. This saddens me even more, because there's some seriously fascinating demolition going on in Kansas City, Kansas right now. Last night, I noticed that one of the shops in the Rosedale district had been reduced to a pile of rubble upon which a steam shovel had been perched to complete the demo job.

Also, a grain elevator is either being torn down or it blew out. Regardless, there are a pair of hundred-foot-tall reinforced concrete cylinders that are sitting there on the end of a grain elevator, missing a bunch of material. In fact, last week on one of my bus rides of shame, I managed to get a photo of the carnage from the highway. I'd love to get up close, though. I love photographing blight, and I'm not sure why.


Would you NOT love to see that bad boy up close? I would. Tonight will be the night, I think. This morning, I could have walked almost right up to the facility. We'll see how barricaded it is this afternoon. I'll stay safe. Nothing stupid like going into the damaged silos or anything like that. I just want to stand at the foot of it, or get within a hundred yards or so.

I kept up an even better pace this morning, but my legs and glutes are simply on fire right now. I don't think I've felt this sore since March. Have I mentioned I have to do something about the tires on 'zilla yet?! Egad.

Random Tunage:
Cardigans - Lovefool
Way Out West - Melt

Such a dweeb

I left my camera at work today, apparently.

That kind of sucks, because I forgot to show off the new low-mounted halogen setup. Okay, it's my old NiteRider setup, but positioned on the fork as a "fog" light for bad weather and/or backup. Why's it down there? I'd love to hoodwink you with some scientific mumbo-jumbo about how light from down low cuts back on glare from fog and rain because of the reflection angle or something, but the truth is that I, Captain Dashboard, have no more room on the handlebars amd stem for both the NiteRider's lamp and battery pack.

Oh well, maybe I'll show you tomorrow.

The semi-slick tires gave me a bit of a surprise today on the way home, but I was also dealing with a tailwind. I'm notably more tuckered than usual but I actually kept up a good speed on both legs of the commute after going over my numbers. They just FEEL slow, and likely require more effort than the narrower, high-pressure tires I'm used to.

I noticed two more brand new bike commuters this afternoon (and one bike ninja this morning I hadn't seen before) and there was a really old but freshly tuned-up mountain bike locked up next to Hybridzilla at work when I left. This one looked to be hanging upside down in a garage for at least a decade, then taken to a shop over the weekend for an overhaul. New cables, chain, tires, brakes, all installed on a bike with old everything else. Along with the red nu-classic Schwinn Point Beach from May 7th (and a few days after that), this makes the second bike other than my own to lock up here. Or, the third vehicle other than my own if you count the Buddy 125 scooter, which no longer locks to the bike rack, but now to a concrete pillar a few dozen yards away.

What a perfect Segway into Scooterville (pun intended, it's not a typo), has anyone else noticed the scooter phenomenon? I swear, every time I turn around I see 2-3 new bicyclists on the road, adorned with backpacks or cheap seatpost racks loaded with stuff. But for every new bicyclist I see on the road, I see more than five scooters! The entire motorcycle lot at work (perhaps 30 spaces or so) was, for the most part, full. And there were maybe 4 actual motorcycles there. The rest were 50-200cc scooters. This mirrors what I'm seeing on the road as well. I can't go anywhere without hearing a weed eater engine sneaking up behind me then zipping around.

You'd almost think people are getting it. The little petite chick driving the 12-foot-wide black Hummer H1 all by herself and parking it in front of Town Topic for breakfast every morning? How about the 1980's Caddy doing burnouts and donuts in the middle of Southwest Blvd to do a U-turn? Yeah, they restore my faith in the ever-present IQ deficit of Kansas City motorists.

The Monday night ride was a blast. We went cyclo-X style complete with a running dismount to go up some stairs, around a corner, and into some neighborhood. Then, we later did some off-roading. Mark's rides are always a blast.

I wound up with a little under 50 miles for the day. I still haven't caught up to Dave, what with his little 90-mile training adventures and century club rides. I'm looking forward to riding with him again for Friday's June Full Moon ride.

Random Tunage:
The Chemical Brothers - Out Of Control
Nikki French - Total Eclipse Of The Heart

I remember back to 1995 when I loved this version of Total Eclipse. It got some major radio play.

June Full Moon Ride - Just a few days away!

It's hard to tell what Friday night will bring weather-wise, but as far as I'm concerned, the night-time ride is still on. It looks like we have about 8 people interested so far. Read the safety/lighting requirements and sign up if you want to join us.

The actual route map and directions will only be sent out over e-mail. I'm not posting the intricate details publicly. I'll just tell you these tidbits to help you decide:

• 35-40 mile out-and-back route
• Starts at 9pm somewhere in Lenexa, KS
  
• Turn-around somewhere near DeSoto, KS
  
• We will have regroup checkpoints
• You should have enough lighting (or spare batteries) for at least 4 hours of night riding

Badger came up with the route, so I don't know if there are convenience stores along the way. You may consider bringing a little extra nourishment and hydration along.

Needless to say, this ride has the potential to go into the wee hours of Saturday morning depending on how fast or slow the riders are. At this rate it looks like I'll be piloting Hybridzilla on soft, squishy tires. I will definitely be slow.

I've been relatively quiet lately...

Not that I've heard any complaints. But now it's time to catch up. This will be wordy. Eeh.

I actually found two broken spokes on Hybridzilla last Thursday, but had managed to twist some spoke nipples around (that just sounds kinky!) to get it to roll somewhat true. I took the bus Friday morning due to more storms, then rode back home all the way. On 62 spokes instead of 64.

At the brewery, I ran into Karen and just ahead of her was a brand-new bike commuter who's riding from northern Johnson County to summer classes up on Independence Ave. I talked to him for a while, and Friday was his first day. It's a nice 18-mile round trip. Unlike most "new" bike commuters I've seen lately, this one seemed much more in his element on a bicycle than average, but also seemed to be a bit out of his element commuting, wearing what had to be 30 pounds or more worth of books and gear in a backpack, and having trouble going up steeper hills with the setup.




I don't think this guy is a racer, but he's probably an experienced weekend recreational rider that's giving bike commuting a try. He looked at my rack and panniers with an expression that was either "what the heck is that stuff?" or "I gotta get me some of those" but never being one to tell someone that they're doing it wrong (unless it's plain illegal, like riding against traffic!), I figured I would let him ask me if he wanted more info on my setup. He never did. He either knows where to get the stuff, or he doesn't care. He followed Karen and I to Merriam and Lamar, where he said he lives. Maybe we'll see him again soon.

Later down the road (or MUP as it were), I spotted this tree that had almost all of its bark blown off. There were signs of insect infestation under the bark, but I'm inclined to think this tree was struck by lightning, as we'd just had a batch of ferocious thunderstorms. Days before, the tree wasn't in this condition. No other trees around it had the bark blown off, either.



Saturday, I picked up some reading material that'll keep me busy for a while. I'm almost done reading Bruce Schneier's latest book (and almost 5 years old): Beyond Fear -- a book that my buddy Dave is also reading. How odd. It's a great book. No Tech Hacking is going to be epic. I've taken a peek already, but I won't actually read it until I'm done with Beyond Fear. And Make Magazine is always a blast.


At the grocery store, I spotted this bag. They're starting to become really popular. There are several problems. First off, someone at the factory was color-blind, because this bag is most certainly not the color green.


And furthermore, this bag was manufactured from petroleum byproducts, then sent halfway around the world on an elaborate network of gas-guzzling cargo ships, road-rutting semi-tractors and perhaps a railcar or two. The railcars are probably the closest thing to "Green" that these bags have known.


Meanwhile, I had to drive to my parents' place for Father's Day. I say it like it was a chore, when in fact it was not. I love kicking it with the parents. But my thirsty Focus takes 91 Octane, which set me back close to $50. On a positive note, gasoline prices fell about a dime lately, maybe a bit more in some places. This was my first fill up in over a month. Maybe two. I don't remember nor do I care, really. I use gasoline like I use beer: so infrequently that I can afford to really splurge when I want some.


I further contributed to the fuel dependency and carbon pollution problem by grilling up some kebobs for Father's Day. Nom nom nom.


The balance of yesterday's daylight was spent wrenching, wrenching, and wrenching some more. I took the rolling stock off of The Goat which includes the cheap but apparently decent double-wall XC wheels I bought from JR. I took the knobbies off and replaced them with the Kenda All-Terrain-Bike tires that came with the wheels originally (also provided by JR). When Kenda calls these "All-Terrain-Bike" tires, what they mean is "Stay on the pavement, but these tires will get you through gravel spots, maybe".


I also went ahead and did the fender thing. Hybridzilla's bottom bracket is still smooth as butter after all the rain and grime I rode in last weekend, so the hefty application of boat-trailer axle grease in the BB must have done the trick.


The shakedown run was a pretty big load of groceries. I usually don't need to strap stuff to the top. I got some strange looks. At this point, the new tires felt pretty good. The fenders worked well, as we'd gotten a few quick showers and the pavement was soaked.


I'm considering the new tires a downgrade compared to the Forte Slick City ST tires I was using. The beads of those tires are worn to heck and the wire is showing in some places. I essentially went from an 85-PSI, 1.25"-wide 100% slick tire to a 45-PSI, 1.75" tire with light tread and a smooth center. A so-called "hybrid" mountain bike tire if you will. They were slow as hell this morning. I don't know how much longer I'll keep them around, but Hybridzilla's my only really functional bike right now.

I saw a torn-open trash bag of confetti-shredded paper right before my uphill slog into Downtown KCMO. I laughed.


This Graffiti has been present for at least six months. I'm betting that the minimum-wage grunts who are paid to paint over graffiti are in no hurry to cover it up.


All geared up at Starbucks. Whee.


So there you have it. You're in the loop once again. Hopefully your brain doesn't hurt now the way mine does. Oh, wait. That's from getting 3 hours of sleep last night.

Random Tunage:
A-Ha - Take On Me
Fat Boy Slim - Rockafeller Skank

Live to ride another day

I've made it clear that I don't take pleasure in riding in the rain. Fenders on The Twelve (which is still out of commission) made rain riding a little more tolerable, and downright removed any reservations I had about riding with wet pavement after the rain was gone. Hybridzilla, however, still lacks fenders. Monday's commute was completely soggy. I didn't really post anything about yesterday's commutes, but the morning was made of road grime. You can understand my frustration, then, when I awoke to the sound of pouring rain this morning. I'd pretty much made up my mind that this morning would be a bus morning.

Then, the ominous roll of nearby thunder set in and sealed the deal. I don't care what your opinion of rain is, riding an hour or more in a thunderstorm is just a bad idea, particularly when you've got a 20-pound lightning rod between your legs. Hey perverts! I'm talking about the bicycle! Jeesh!

I wish I could say that the lightning was the only factor that made me wimp out this morning, but the truth is that I'm getting sick of scrubbing piles of road grime off of my legs before I change into my work clothes. The fenders would keep this grime to a minimum, allowing me to soak in the (relatively) clean rain-water without having to deal with the splashes from the tires. That might make rain riding more enjoyable. I just didn't feel like it this morning. Riding a few miles to the bus stop was more than enough excitement for me. Lightning was hitting close enough to make me wonder if that short trip was going to be a regrettable one. Fortunately, I lived to ride another day.

To boot, I've also managed to bust a spoke on Hybridzilla. I'm pretty sure that my spoke woes have a lot to do with my clydesdale weight problem combined with my choice of chintzy wheels. I think I need a tandem wheel for my road bike and a beefy mountain bike wheel for my hybrid.

I've said it before: Rain and electronics don't mix. No photos this morning.

Random Tunage:
Fluke - Atom Bomb (Straight 6 Instrumental Mix) [from Wipeout XL Soundtrack]
Nine Inch Nails - March Of The Pigs

Why me? The Dreaded Viral Page 123 Post.

I guess Mike just likes to tag me every time he gets a blog tag. Or this time may just be karma for ignoring his last tag because I was on "vacation" -- and by "vacation" I mean "accompanying my wife to the hospital or to doctors visits on a daily basis while having zero time for real vacationing" -- although she was a real sweetie and did let me go on some nice bike rides to clear my head. Not that I haven't tagged Mike before. Because I have.

The rules state such:
1) Pick up the nearest book
2) Open it to page 123
3) Find the fifth sentence.
4) Post in your blog the next three sentences after that fifth one you have identified(that is to say sentences 6, 7 and 8)
5) Tag five or more people, And acknowledge the person who tagged you.

And what a delightfully funny coincidence, as I sit here in my cube farm and crack open the spine of AIX 5L Administration (the closest book at hand) and flip through the pages to find those three mysterious sentences. I'm greeted with the following incarnation of one, two and three thustly:

The init process executes three phases of the boot process by invoking the rc.boot command with 1, 2, and 3 as command arguments. Each of these three phases takes on certain responsibilities. The first phase initializes the hardware to get the system booted.

This book drags on like this for the entirety of it's 689-page girth. Read cover-to-cover, it's quite possibly the most tedious reading of the entire catalog of printed work in my possession. Taken in a bit at a time as needed when used for reference, this book is a life-saver to nerds the way an instruction manual for electronics is a life-saver to people (like Mike, for example) who could potentially get themselves a little confused when dealing with these newfangled gadgets.

As luck would have it, there are some blogs I've recently taken a liking to, relative neophytes to the blogosphere if you will.

I don't think my buddy Dave has been properly introduced to the world of viral blog posts yet. He's my first victim torch-bearer.

Bryan? You might be biking to live right now, but it's time for your virtually viral vernal blogger hazing. You're next.

Clem. Buddy. You've been around for a while and have accompanied me on many on-and-offroad exploits. Your blog has existed without much exposure and as such not enough writing. We're going to change that. :) Baptism by fire, pal.

Then, of course, there are my many standby bloggers, whom have been cranking out enjoyable content for as long as I've been around these corridors and have managed to entrap my intrigue for quite a while. It's hard to pick only two, so I've let a Debian SSL-inspired pseudo-random-number-generator handle the task. That is to say the two bike blogs I've most recently read.

Warren and JDoubleP. Tag. Muwhahahahahahaaaa!

How's that minivan working out for ya?

More on the minivan in a bit.

I went out for lunch. There was either a fire or a drill that summoned the Fire Department to a neighboring building.


Some effects with GIMP on the fountain. This was shot in RAW and tweaked from there. Original image available.


Folger's is actually roasted and packaged right here, mere blocks from my office. The building in the background is not actually part of the Folger's plant. The heat exchanger setup is.


The Broadway Bridge Interchange. It's kind of a mess, but once you're under it, you've got access to some little-known roads that are pretty bike-friendly.


Ice on the heat exchanger has grown so far out of control that it's engulfed part of the fence around it.


This kid actually had some decent skills. This was the middle of a transition from a very long curb grind to a perfect landing.


People were just nuts this afternoon. Tires squealing, road rage and all kinds of automotive madness. Not against us, just cagers in a huge hurry to be the first to the scene of the accident.

A while later, Karen and I noticed this van come to a stop up the road a bit. It just stopped right there like you see it in the middle of Southwest Boulevard. Several other cars stopped behind it and eventually took the shoulder or the (no passing zone) oncoming lane to get around it. As we approached, the driver got out, opened the back, and pulled out a gas can to start walking down the road. This guy ran out of gas in his minivan. This has been in the news lately. Mounting fuel prices have forced (what? at gunpoint?) drivers to put less fuel in their tanks. As such, incidents like this are becoming a lot more common.

It's my guess that this is mostly due to people who pay attention only to how much money (not gallons) they pump at a time. Think about the comment "$10 will get me to work for 2 more days." Now, think how $10 used to buy 3.3 gallons when gas was $3 per gallon not long ago. Now it only buys 2.5 gallons. This guy just got served:


This building's address is 2600! w00t!


This is Karen's rigged-up derailleur.


The cable pull on this thing is insane. Karen told me she has to move her shifter as far back as she can if she wants to get into the granny gears. For reference, top gear is up the other direction much the same way as the front shifter's position (found on the opposite side of the top tube)


What else does this field need? It's got trees, clover, grass, and all kinds of wild plants.


It also has some office space just across the street. What more could you ask for?


How about getting re-zoned to accommodate some "Warehouse/Manufacturing" say bye-bye to one of the few swaths of barely-developed land in Lenexa, KS.


I could do without the thistles though. Ugh. They do look pretty, though.


Random Tunage:
Orbital - Remind
Tri Bowl Nuts - Trapped

Hazy Morning

I didn't mention it yesterday, but I saw a lit-up, fast-riding mountain bike commuter last night, and didn't even make the connection that it was Dave. I guess he wasn't quite as oblivious, as he actually recognized me. Well, nice to see you again, Dave! It's worth mentioning that seeing Dave (even without knowing who he was) didn't take me by surprise. There have been a lot more cyclists out and about these days. More and more of them are plain-clothes riders with bags on their back or stuff bungeed to racks. Unless the look of recreational riding has done a complete 180 over the last year, almost all of these are likely riding for transportation, not just out for a summer bike ride.

As I departed this morning, the skies were overcast with broken cloud cover to the west. I ran into Karen on the way, and we pedaled along. She had derailleur problems last week, and this week she's using a mountain bike derailleur on her road bike. She also switched freewheels. Something isn't quite working right, because it's skipping a lot. I imagine either the chain is worn and had conformed the original freewheel, or the freewheel she's using now is excessively worn. Something isn't jiving though. It's got a friction shifter, so I know it's not the indexing of the MTB derailleur. Hopefully she gets it squared away soon.

As we rode, the overcast skies started to burn off a bit, leaving a hazy sky and ridiculously humid atmosphere in its wake -- 94% RH by the National Weather Service's data.


My morning Mocha at Starbucks.


JR's bike is out of frame, but it wasn't long before Bob showed up - I haven't seen him in about a month. He has Tuesdays off and sometimes joins us.


And then there was Lorin. Sorry for the crappy shots this morning.


We chewed the fat about pop culture (ugh) this morning. As if I don't get enough of that at the office.

Random Tunage:
Nine Inch Nails - All The Love In The World
Bryan Adams - Heaven

Packed a few miles on

Nothing major, but between my commute, some errands and the Monday Night Recovery ride, I squeaked out a smidge over 50 miles -- not quite enough to catch up to Dave's Miles, because he sandbagged June 1st by riding the Lone Star Century (108 miles). Ever since then, it's been a game of catch-up for me. You know, just because I feel like competing, and he's having fun with it too.

For those keeping count - That would basically be Dave and Myself:
I'm at 229.6 for June and 1,841 miles for 2008 right now.
Dave's got 236.17 miles for june and 2172.13 miles for 2008.

It's still on. My goal is 600 miles but current projections point to between 700 and 800 miles this month, as I'm averaging 25.5 miles per day right now and have at least one "pretty big ride" coming up this month. Granted, Dave will likely be there too. Remember, though, that in competing with each other, We're really just pushing ourselves to our goals. This friendly competition -- to me, is more like holding myself accountable by knowing someone else is checking my stats.

With that bit of primal chest-beating out of the way, the homeward cruise was pleasant if not jocular with the exception of my quaggy shoes and socks. I considered leaving them in my office to dry overnight and riding home in my dress shoes (gotta love the get-out-and-ride bike!) but in the end I decided not to scourge my feet with awkward dress shoes nor ruin my good shoes with 15 miles of ambiguously dank pavement.

I caught some pictures at Turkey Creek on my way home. My DiNotte is really bright, even in the daylight.


Waterfall


More Turkey Creek


Drat. Got soaked again!


This one is for Revrunner, who has a bit of a Smart fondness lately. I found Kansas City's super-secret, barbed-wire secured stash of Smarts on my way home. There were about a dozen scattered around. These were all localized.


Had some fun getting to and from the Monday Night Recovery ride as usual. Wasn't in much of a picture-taking mood, but I managed to snap a few. These are the only two worth showing.





Anyhow, I have mounds of laundry to do tonight. All of my riding gear is absolutely squalid from the day's adventures. It needs a thorough cleaning if I plan on riding in tomorrow -- and I do!

Random Tunage:
Sinesweeper - Eyes Wide Shut
Lange - Red October

About the most massively useful thing...

Sorry. Douglas Adams Reference. I couldn't resist. I really, really needed the towel this morning.

This is really my first full-on rain commute ever. I mean, I've ridden in the rain before. But usually if it's raining when I leave and the radar looks like it will stay raining for my whole ride in, I ride to the bus. This morning, the radar showed light precip over Lenexa, with moderate precip moving in quickly. There was no question on if it would rain. It was only a question of how much.

I knew this was coming last night. I had my panniers' raincovers out already. I packed my clothes pannier last night, and my laptop pannier had most of my cables tucked away already. In minutes, I was on the road this morning.

Hybridzilla doesn't have fenders yet, and even after this morning, I'm not 100% sure if I'll fender it or not. It's just my backup commuter and a great bike in its own right. Still, she's given me problems when ridden even short distances in the rain. How well she does in the next few days (particularly the bottom bracket) will determine if she'll see more rain duty or if today was a big mistake. Last time I rebuilt the bottom bracket I used a heavy amount of marine-grade waterproof axle grease meant for boat trailers. If it survives this morning's rainfest, I might fender it and keep using it in the rain. The Twelve is still in pieces. I'm not sure when I'll get around to rebuilding it. I'm not in much of a hurry. I'm broke and hybridzilla's been a pleasure to ride with the exception of flinging road goo all over me this morning.

So, with this being my first genuine ride where I left the apartment with an "I am actively seeking to get completely and totally drenched on my way to work" attitude, I learned a few lessons about my new panniers and the rain covers. For light rain, they keep everything nice and dry except for a circle on the back of the pannier facing the wheel. In heavy rain, water gets into the rain cover through the back. This is supposed to be okay because there's a grommet riveted to the bottom of the covers that acts as a drain hole. Since I had raincovers, I didn't bother plastic-wrapping all of my stuff the way I used to with the old Banjo Brothers Saddlebags.

Lesson #1: Plastic wrapping stuff in the panniers isn't a bad idea.

Lesson #2: Make sure that the drain hole is positioned at the absolute lowest hanging area of the panniers, or you'll end up with an inch-deep puddle of road grime in the rain covers (and a similar puddle will eventually seep through the panniers' seams and permeate the contents of the panniers. See Lesson #1.

They failed to keep my clothes completely dry, and even my padded neoprene laptop sleeve got wet but thankfully the laptop stayed dry. Neoprene is water resistant, and that's part of why I chose that laptop sleeve.

Fortunately, The clothes that were stuffed into the bottom (and wet) part of my clothes pannier were the spare shorts, socks and t-shirt I brought along for the ride home in case the clothes I wore this morning were too wet or nasty to wear a second time. My work clothes were up higher and stayed dry.

The ride itself wasn't too bad, I just got soaked. Karen was out as well, and she was similarly drenched. Neither of us had fenders this morning. With temps in the mid-60s, it actually felt good.

I hope I can get all this stuff dried out by quittin' time. Ugh.

Random Tunage:
Prodigy - Smack My Bitch Up
Armin Van Buuren & DJ Shah - Going Wrong (a newish spine-tingling track, check it out)

Some weekend fun

Yesterday, my wife and I went to a new sushi joint that just opened up a few miles away in Olathe. This is part of a smallish upscale shopping center in part of Olathe that's been undergoing a lot of upper-middle class development lately. I've got mixed feelings on development in the suburbs, but the way I see it, adding more local amenities near existing residential zones is often a good thing. Within one mile of this shopping center, there are dozens of dining establishments from McDonald's and Long John's to Panera and Olive Garden and several places that are considerably more upscale than that. Super Target isn't a real grocery store, but it's got the basics. Best Buy, Home Depot, Dick's Sporting Goods, several book stores, Old Navy and other clothing stores. You name it, it's all pretty close. The population is just as diverse, with HUD Section 8 housing, $250,000 homes and $850/Month apartments directly adjacent to all of this.

The main thing that took me by surprise is SPIN Neapolitan Pizza's plot, which is still under construction. They installed a TON of bicycle parking. Easily 20 bike's worth. And then, their whole outdoor patio is fenced in with modified wave racks. that you couldn't really park a bike on (due to shrubbery and the modifications made) but it's still cool looking. As much as I hate wave racks, they're better than having nowhere to park. Plus, they actually made the racks usable instead of mounting them 5 inches away from a concrete wall.




I have a feeling these racks will be used by patrons of all the little shops in this new development. This includes a Tae Kwon Do Gymnasium, mexican restaurant, and a few yet-to-be-occupied sites. They appear to be the only bicycle racks around.

This morning, I rode through the balmy headwind to church, and somehow got a headwind on my way home, too. Temperatures were already in the 80s when I got out the door this morning. Combined with 75% RH, it was a sticky and sweaty ride to church, and even worse on my way home.


I'm not sure what tomorrow will bring. We're supposed to have storms all night long. If there's thunder and lightning at 5:00, I probably will take the bus. Otherwise, the convoy's still on, wet or dry.

The "get out and ride" bike

I really do like Hybridzilla. A lot. All I want for it now is a set of fenders, and perhaps a new rear cassette, chain, and to get the shift indexing dialed in perfectly. She's kind of finicky, but all in all a great bike.

One thing I get a little flack for is the fact that I never took the test platforms off of the cheap Shimano SPD clipless pedals. The test platforms natually stay facing down thanks to gravity. What I end up with is pedal reflectors under my clipless shoes, or with the tap of a foot, I get a small but usable platform pedal for my everyday kicks or my dress shoes. It truly is a "get out and ride" bike. One that will happily carry me on a 5-mile round trip in cut-off jeans and tennis shoes.

On my road bike and hybrid, I love my clipless pedals for the nearly 30-mile round trip commute. Shoes stay planted. Climbing hills feels easier, and the stronger sole on the clipless shoes supports my whole foot. My clipless mountain bike shoes are quite comfy and easy to walk around in, but more often than not, when I'm sitting around at home barefoot and need to run out really quickly, it's easier to slip into a pair of tennies than it is to lace up the clipless shoes. Straight clipless pedals are a bit of a pain for the utility cyclist. It's why rat-traps, powergrip straps and plain old platform pedals are still immensely popular for people who are living the bicycle lifestyle.

There are quite a few other pedal options that offer platform convenience with clipless performance, but the cheapo plastic test platforms work really well on hybridzilla.

I have some stuff to do after work tonight, and with the windy homeward commute yesterday I was burned out pretty well. I took the bus this morning, and I'll take it home this evening as well. With just a few miles to ride, my attire was simple this morning: My helmet, plain old tennis shoes, shorts and a t-shirt. No chamois, no clipless shoes. It's great to have a bike that's easy to just hop on for short errands or some fresh air. Sometimes, it seems bicycles are more complicated than they need to be.

Random Tunage:
Paul Van Dyk - Another Sunday
Sasha - Coma (Slam Soma Coma Mix)

It seemed like a good idea at the time...

Chris hit me up online at about 1:30, telling me he was contemplating riding all the way home.

Keep in mind that the impressive wind we had this morning was not only going to make for a stiff headwind, but it'd been getting a little stronger as the day wore on. My first reaction was "are you nuts?!" but hey, I like miles. I have goals. I decided to give it a shot.

I got out a little early and went to Crown Center, near where Chris works, to scout for photo ops. Crown Center has this little fountain plaza that's been a treat for kids for as long as I can remember.






There are several other fountains around the commons area at Crown Center, too.





















Then there are some fixtures of Kansas City. The Buses.


The buildings making up the Crown Center Skyline just a few miles south of the towering buildings people think of in the downtown loop.




And The Link, an elevated walkway that joins several, if not all of the main buildings in Crown Center.


The Ice Chateau, lacking ice, obviously. I was tempted to take my bike out on it, that's some smooth cement.


The Valley Forge Statue of George Washington.


We saw these kids were riding in the creek. This area has been massively flooded very recently but I restrained myself from "educating" them. They seemed to think Chris and I were cool on our bikes.


Chris on Turkey Creek Trail.


I took Chris on a little off-road detour. He didn't come out and say it, but he was NOT amused.


After that, we spent a few minutes picking underbrush and clover vine out of our drivetrains.


Random Tunage:
Way Out West - Stealth (Nubreed Remix)
Fat Boy Slim - Santa Cruz

A new personal best average speed!

... But I was cheating. South winds at 18 MPH gusting to 29 MPH made up my morning commute. It's no wonder I was moving along at a good clip on my northeasterly commute.

I loaded up Hybridzilla a little after 5:00 AM and headed out to meet Chris. Chris and I waited at 79th for Karen this morning.




I took this as we made our way into Kansas City, KS. I've never held a 19.6 MPH average before. It fluctuated a bit with a few stops and hills, but I held 19.6 all the way to the brewery.


We got stopped by a train. Chris stands arms akimbo while Karen packs her reflective vest away. It's not needed with the sun rising, and she doesn't like pulling up to the office wearing it. :)


Dark skies are prevailing this morning. It looks like another bus ride home tonight.


This frankenbike was sitting at 17th and Main. It's got a nice saddle and a larger rear wheel than front wheel. I got a chuckle out of it.


Misc. Photos of Hybridzilla at Starbucks downtown.






Climbing up Main Street, my average dropped to 18.0, still a personal best for the whole trip.


I was doing 40+ going down the hill on 67th this morning!


A welder is doing some construction on the new grocery store downtown. We're finally getting a grocery store!


These 2650mAh batteries lasted two days plus half-way to work today in the DiNotte before dropping over to warning mode. It never went into power saving mode. That's about 5 hours of run time. I'm charging them under my desk in this photo.


Random Tunage:
Chris Fortier - Losing Wait
Jan Johnston - Superstar Bill

The Twelve is back in the Dog House

Well, when I tried to fix the broken spoke, The Twelve went to hell in a handbasket. While re-mounting the tire after installing the new spoke, I popped the inner tube. I patched it and got it all back together and noticed the hub cones were a little loose. I fixed those up and put the wheel back on the bike.

As would be expected after a spoke replacement, the wheel was out of true. While truing it, I managed to get the whole wheel dish way off. This wouldn't be a huge deal, but then my brake wasn't working right.

Frankly, I'm disgusted with my road bike right now. It's all my own fault, really. I'm not a professional bike tech nor do I pretend to be, but I spent 2 hours on it only to find I've boogered the bike up to the point where it's going to take a trip to the bike shop or a whole Saturday up to my knees in bike parts to get things right.

Given the fact that this is the third spoke on this wheel that's broken, I think the wheel's probably a write-off. That means it's likely time to once again buy a new rear wheel, or have one built up.

I spent what was left of the daylight putting the rack onto Hybridzilla. The backup commuter is stepping into the limelight for as long as it takes to get The Twelve back up and running properly.

The homeward commute was extremely windy. I took the bus home. Tomorrow will be worse, but it should be a tailwind in the morning. I might ride in, but I'm almost certainly going to take the bus again in the evening.

Commuting And Weather

So, yesterday, I was out and about over lunch and saw this atrocity hanging from the side of my office.


All I can think is that it's some huge rapper necklace that's supposed to slightly resemble the KC Skyline, mirrored four ways. Check out the massive chains, yo.


Taking a closer look, the chains are fake and made of plastic. Lame. I was going to steal some of it and use it to lock my bike up with, but I guess that's a bad idea.


This police officer actually made eye contact with us. Although his door was cracked open a bit, he let us pass without giving us the door prize. Personally, I still took a wide berth.


It was brutally humid and windy last night. I stopped under a tree and leaned my bike against a lamp post for a bit to let the wind cool me down while I sipped from my Polar Bottle.



Warning: Animated .GIF might take a while to load.

I woke up this morning to this:


I used CHDK with an intervalometer script to snap a 4 second-long exposure every 15 seconds while I went back up to my apartment to get stuff together. You can see some of last night's clouds rolling in with a longer animation here.

I didn't need the rain covers this morning but the skies were ominous enough that I used them just in case.


I broke a spoke about a mile from home. I'm not 100% convinced that it's from riding it around the parking lot last night with 50 pounds of extra weight on the back. I just bent the broken spoke around another spoke to hold it out of the way. I'll replace it when I get home. I think this is the first non-drive-side spoke I've ever broken. I won't even need to remove the cassette to fix this one.


After bending the spoke out of the way, I was off to work again.


It's hard to see here, but the smoke from KC's newest BBQ pit is visible here.


I rode up Summit again (UGH!) to get some better photos of the carnage.


Looks like dark storm clouds, doesn't it?


Until you see that there's a fire...


What you're seeing is the end result of lightning hitting a container that was holding 1.2 Million gallons of unleaded gasoline at a local refinery. 1.2 million gallons. Retail cost on that is about $5M at 3.93 per gallon (current price of regular 87 octane I saw on the ride in this morning).


Oh, and Praise Beef!


I saw this bike outside Starbucks today, too.


Random Tunage:
Way Out West - Mindcircus (You've GOT to give this a listen if you haven't heard it)
Quivver - One Last Tim

Fake Bicycle Camping

Partially jealous and inspired by Apertome's Bike Camping S24O adventure, and partially just curious as to how much CRAP I could load onto The Twelve and into the new Axiom Panniers, I decided to do the logistics of my own S24O trip.

Now, you should all realize that I will likely never go on an S240 trip on my own. My wife loves camping too much to let me have all the fun without her. You've gotta love a girl that digs the outdoors. Also, you should realize that her and I will not be doing a couples' S24O this year due to the obvious medical concerns. This is entirely a "Pie In The Sky" deal. A practice in quick planning, packing and unpacking, for all intents and purposes.

The result?









Fully loaded, she weighs in at 67 pounds. The bike itself with the rack and lighting on it is 19 pounds. Therefore, I've managed to shoe-horn almost 50 pounds of stuff onto The Twelve. And it's still ridable. Actually, I've had more weight than this on the bike when getting groceries, but it was only ridden for a little more than a mile. Taking it for a spin in the parking lot, I think I could manage to get out to my favorite campground that's within riding distance without a problem. Hillsdale Lake, by the route I mapped out, is about 30 miles away.

Just how much do the panniers hold, and what all would I load into them? Let's do a Fritz Style Bag Audit. On the rack is just my bed roll: A sleeping bag and a small 2-person dome tent. I wish the tent poles were shorter.


In the non-drive side, There's a pair of propane tanks, a lantern, a portable burner, mess kit, utensils and other cookware. The clothing bundle contains a complete change of clothes with two spare pairs of socks and underwear wrapped in a hoodie, because my upper body's usually chilly when I get up in the morning.


In the drive-side pannier, there's my shoes, 3 Liters of water, two cans of soup, peanut butter, a tupper with two slices of bread, my bike multi-tool, bike lock, and gerber multi-tool with matches and a magnesium/flint fire starter.

While putting things away, I got to thinking how bright my DiNotte 200L is, even on its lowest setting. The second propane canister and the lantern could easily be replaced by packing some spare batteries for the DiNotte. This would shave 3 pounds or so off of my bike's weight, or (more likely) provide room for something else like a travel pillow, even though I don't require one when backpacking. It's also worth noting that my drive-side pannier wasn't loaded to capacity, either. There was sufficient room for the equivalent of one of those propane tanks left over in the drive side.

My edibles would likely be substantially different than this, but it's all I had in the cabinet at the time and it would likely be enough to get me there, back and through the night. I'd likely pick up some fresh fruit as well. Nourishment chosen wisely, I could get away without cooking at all, but it's one of the things I really savor about camping. There are a plethora of other options I could consider regarding logistics. I could trim down other stuff, too. This is how I'd roll the first time, though.

Who else has dreams of bike camping? What all would you pack? What do you think I'm missing?

Muggy, Rainy, and Fast

I woke up this morning to find the sky overcast. The radar showed scattered storms, but a really strong wind out of the south. I figured it'd be a nice morning to ride all the way in. In the summer, pretty much any morning is a nice morning to ride all the way in. I don't really feel brutally hot until the heat index hits 90 degrees. It's never that warm in the morning around here.

The threat of rain kept my camera tucked away for the trip, but it was a nice, quick ride in with Karen this morning.

I forgot to mention yesterday that Chris hooked me up with a Shimano 105 brake caliper yesterday morning. My cheapo Tiagra front brake has been giving me problems for a few months. I threw it on the bike last night before the Monday Night Ride, and gave it a good shakedown. I put the finishing adjustments on it last night, and this morning it performed flawlessly. This brake is seriously beefy compared to my original calipers, and seems to clamp a lot harder. I may in the future replace my rear caliper with 105 as well. Not to get terribly cheesy, but this was an out-of-the-blue thing that was more or less an answer to prayer. I've been mulling over whether to replace, tweak, bend, or modify my crappy front brake caliper for a month or two now. Then Chris just asks if I want a slightly used brake caliper. Awesome!

I ran the WarCycle 3.0 setup again this morning just for gits and shiggles. It discovered about 1200 networks. WiFi coverage is getting pretty dense these days. Part way through the ride, it started raining, so I threw the rain covers over my panniers. They did their job quite well, but I'm more interested in seeing how well they work in a genuine torrential downpour instead of just a 10-minute-long rain shower. Here's the WarCycle gear all nicely arranged on my desk:


If the wind keeps up all day the way it was this morning, my homeward commute is going to suck pretty badly. I might cave in and use a bus.

Random Tunage:
Red Nex - Cotton Eye Jo
Alanis Morissette - Head Over Feet

June 2, 2008 in photos

Took a short walk for lunch. It was dreary out, with light rain.

Cathedral


A worker grinding on an iron fence


Inside the Folger's plant (through a window)


Someone finally figured out how to lock to these seemingly useless bike racks.


A little puddle on the homeward commute.


Lots of wind, of the head-on variety.


Off-roading


Some kids in an aquaduct, seen on the Monday Night Ride


Tim's new Surly Long Haul Trucker. Everyone is getting these! Friday, Tim takes off for the Colorado/Kansas Border and will ride this bike back here to KC for Biking Across Kansas.


I took a photo of Tim taking a photo of some of the other riders. But who's taking a picture of me? I think I gave Tim the Thumbs-Up on camera. Maybe he'll email it to me.


The Monday night riders cruising along.


I logged a solid 48 miles tonight. Looking forward to warm temperatures and a tailwind in the morning.

Random Tunage:
Nine Inch Nails - 6 Ghosts I
Hybrid - True To Form (Featuring Peter Hook on 6-string Bass Guitar)

Evening errands and morning commuter convoy

Jet contrail at twilight on my way to get groceries


14LB bag of cat food, 5 pounds of potatoes, some cheese, and a bunch of other stuff. 12 rolls of Shi... err "Poop Tickets" Tied to the rack with an old inner-tube. I couldn't find any of my large bungees, but inner tubes that are trashed beyond repair work great. I never throw one away.


These people still have Christmas lights up.


Human Detected.


This railroad crossing is blocked off pretty much without any warning. Chris (background) already carried his bike over. Karen and I are doing the same. Cars, however, had no choice but to turn around and get on I-35 via 18th street Expressway to get downtown. That's basically a 4-mile detour. I wonder how many people are late for work this morning because of this?


Convoy of three.


Random Tunage:
Dave Matthews Band - Ants Marching
Nine Inch Nails - Ring Finger

ANNOUNCEMENT: Monday Bike Commuter Convoy June 2nd

The temperatures should be somewhere in the Mid-60's tomorrow, but there's a pretty good chance of Thunderstorms. Here's the deal:

I'm riding in all the way tomorrow pretty much no matter what. I'm a dork and forgot to pick up my June bus pass. Unless there's a lot of lightning or a pretty severe weather threat that I don't think we can beat, I'll still go by the usual Monday Commuter Convoy Schedule.

If you feel like chickening out, TheJO has a Quivira (D) route bus that barrels through just about 10 minutes after our scheduled departure time. There are bicycle racks on board. Bus fare to downtown is $1.75. Drop-off at 11th and Central is about 6:40 AM.

See you in the morning (probably)

The WarCycle v. 3.0

Wardriving: The act of driving around with scanning equipment, searching for wireless networks (usually of the 802.11 variety). The "War" part of the name comes from the age-old practice of setting up a computer to aggressively dial thousands of phone numbers in a row, looking for other computers or fax machines, or "War Dialing". In and of itself, wardriving is not a malevolent practice. Wardriving, done passively, is totally legal in the US.

WarCycling, then, is the same tactic applied while riding a bicycle. WarCycle 1.0 was set up as follows.

Hardware:
Diamondback Outlook (Hybridzilla)
HP Jornada 680e
Garmin eTrex
EnGenius 200mw 802.11b/g high-power card
Two 19dBi Antennae

Software:
Windows CE HPC 2000
MiniStumbler

WarCycle 2.0 used my newer Jornada 720 which was more stable, and was installed onto a metal plate on my DB Sorrento (The Goat). Still powered by WinCE and MiniStumbler, though.

This time, though, I have made significant changes. For the price, you really can't beat the Wireless card that I've got, and the antennae are superb omni-directional antennae. Sure, better hardware exists, but this stuff is better than you'd find built-in on any laptop. Here's the new digs:

Hardware:
Trek 1200 (The Twelve)
HP Jornada 720
EnGenius 200mw 802.11b/g high-power card
Garmin GPS12
Two 19dBi Antennae

Software:
JLime Linux
Kismet

Of note are a different bike, different GPS, and vastly different software. The GPS12 isn't any more accurate than my (currently destroyed) eTrex but it runs quite a bit longer on a set of batteries. The software is where this rig really shines. You can see a review of this scanning setup (off the bike) on one the the other blogs I occasionaly write for.

What's it look like? Well, when I'm riding, it's pretty stealthy. You can just see a pair of antennae lashed to the top of the panniers, but laying flat. I could get more networks with them mounted upright, but I didn't have anything to mount them on and my aluminum rack isn't magnetic.


Unpack the gadgets and it looks like this:



I rode to church today, too. I only scanned for networks on the way home. Here are the obligatory photos du jour.

Getting ready to roll out. I didn't realize my panniers were on backwards. Whoops.


Lenexa Fire Department on Pflumm Rd.


At church. The green thing is a "Buy one get one free" for Mountain Dew.


As usual, I played sound engineer today. I actually had to re-wire a significant portion of our sound system before church. When we stopped using the subwoofer (we didn't need it really), someone botched the wiring and hooked stuff up all wrong. This is why I wish people wouldn't mess with it unless they fully understand it first.


My Dad and Christie's guitars. Kinda blurry, oh well.


Loaded up for the trip home. I just carried my bottles out in the panniers. I needed the mesh pockets for something else on my way home...


Tasty mountain dew! My favorite bike fuel. With my BOGOF Bottle Cap, this stuff set me back about $3.15 per gallon. Cheaper AND tastier than gasoline.


Miscellaneous Railroad Photography:


A train brake.


Me, being a trespasser. Oh noes!


Random Tunage:
Casting Crowns - Voice Of Truth
Plumb - Stranded