Snapshots from Bike Week

From my slog up Baltimore on Wednesday morning


45 good reasons to commute by bike. My birthday is next Thursday and I'm taking a five-day weekend that will wrap up with Memorial Day. we are planning on heading out to the lake to go camping. That means it's time to fill up the Explorer's gas tank before the gas prices get even more outrageous. It was $2.09 just a few hours before and under $2.00 last week. I know, these prices aren't too terrible when you consider that many other places never dipped below $2.00 in the first place.


It's been a rainy, windy week.


I took the bus several times. The weather has been more finicky for Bike Week 2009 than in any previous Bike Week I've been through.


No, I didn't hit 78 MPH on my bike. I had my bike inverted to fix it up earlier this week. I also cleaned and lubed the chain. For giggles (and because I like the sound my aero spokes make) I put my bike into high gear and cranked the pedals as fast as I could by hand. This was the end result of that.


Downtown KC scenery.






My camera's wrist strap got in the way here. This is Lorin, following me down 12th street.


He noticed his bike wasn't riding quite right. The sidewall had blown out and the inner tube was bulging through it. This was taken after deflating the tube.


I cut up a juice box with my Gerber multi-tool, and we used the plastic-laminated cardboard as a "boot" insert for his tire. You can use almost anything as a tire boot as long as it doesn't easily stretch or tear. Other good choices are plastic packaging from granola bars or other nutriment items you might be carrying, or even dollar-bills. US Currency is made of woven fabric that can handle these kinds of strains for a short while.


I cleaned up with a Zogics CitraWipe after that. I got to thinking that this package would have been even better as a boot for Lorin's tire, but it was already fixed.


Homeward trip last night: bliss!


Another bike commuter showed up on this at the CCCKC meeting last night. It's definitely a major step up from the toy-aisle bikes at retail stores. I don't know much about the components but it doesn't look like a bad deal for $600. I'm just not sure I'd buy any dual-suspension bike new for under $1,000, though. That said, I would probably be very hard on a DS bike and I'd be hitting the trails a lot more often than I do with The Goat. At least this Motobecane has suspension lockouts.