How did I miss this one?!

This was my favorite photo from my trip. It's the train bridge again. At 5:00 PM, the waxing moon was visible. I love when you can see the moon in daylight. I can't believe I forgot to post it!

May 2009 S24O Part 2: Camping, Return, and Lessons

I pulled into Hillsdale State Park at about 6:30 PM.




First order of business was to find a site and get set up. Here you see my bike, cooking setup, and tent.


My grandmother gave me this tent for my 14th birthday. It kind of disturbs me that means that I've had this tent more than half my life. It was really a "kid's tent" but since I'm a relatively stout guy at 5'6", I can still lay down in this thing if I do it just right. The blessing is that it is light, packs small, and by all rights holds its own as a solid backpacking tent. Even though there was no rain in the forecast, I went ahead and waterproofed it yesterday morning (forgot to mention that in my "prep"


I guess I also forgot to mention that I brought my camera. That should be obvious by now. I also brought a handheld GPS. I decided since I had nothing else to do, I'd take photos of interesting things near my camp site. This is a small stage for performances and concerts.




From the stage area, I could see the shower houses for the swimming beach.


Volleyball (kinda)


This is Leo from Tulsa, OK. And that's a seriously awesome Vee-Dub. Leo said I was the fourth person to ask to take pictures of this classic. Easy-going, he travels all over the place. He's in town to see a family member's Confirmation. From the time I showed up until I finally called it a night at 10:00 PM, I don't think Leo stopped noodling on that guitar. His riffs and my dad's soun a lot alike. I'm sure they'd have jammed well together.




Darkness is creeping in.


Boiling water for supper


After it got dark, I tried experimenting with the CHDK tools on my Canon PS A530. This is a 15-second exposure through the mesh top of my tent, with a relatively high ISO and then further enhancement to bring out the stars. Unfortunately, it also brough out the CCD noise. One of these days I'll be able to pony up for a decent DSLR.


At about 12:30 AM I was woken up by the bright flashes of lightning and clamorous thunder. Rain wasn't in the forecast, but sure enough, we had storms pop up out of nowhere. This is another long exposure which caught cloud-to-cloud lightning. Without a tripod, I just set the camera in the grass. That's why it looks like it was taken from the grass.


I gathered up most of the stuff (aside from the bike) and brought it into the tent. I put the rain fly on, and then a few minutes later it started pouring. Wave after wave of low-intensity thunderstorms rolled through, each lasting about 30 minutes with 10-30 minutes of quiet between them. I drifted in and out of sleep all night.

By 5:30 or so, the sun was coming back up. I made a quick breakfast (two eggs)


I then cleaned everything up, packed and left. I filled up my water bottles and rolled out at about 6:20.








I obviously took a different route back. I stayed on Old KC Road until 223rd, then darted across K-7's overpass and continued north on Webster to 199th. I took 199th to Woodland, and rode a mix of chip-seal, oiled dirt, oiled gravel and loose gravel to 175th, where this image sealed my camera's fate, completely filling my memory card.


The homeward ride took more than an hour longer than it took me to get out to my camp site. Part of this is due to the wind, which was a tailwind going out and a headwind returning. I was also just plain tired. I set myself on autopilot and let the legs mill the miles out.

Lessons Learned
All in all, this was a huge success. I havent been backpacking in ages. I didn't take anything that I ended up not using. The bedroll was a little off. I slept on the sleeping bag most of the night, and got inside when it got chilly in the tent. I really should have packed a little pillow, though. As far as food goes: Ramen sucks, but it's light and small. Eggs rock, but they're hard to keep safe on a journey like mine was. I wish I'd have brought something awith a little more substance than Ramen. Maybe some canned soup next time. Also, next time I plan on making a long ride like this, I'll see if anyone else has some suggestions of their own. I was glad that I took the time to water-seal the tent, and everything worked out great.

One final note: We're in the midst of an unstable economy, fuel prices are hiking on both increased AND decreased demand and all sorts of freaky signs are pointing to the apocalypse. Example: the people who normally hold signs reading 'The End is Near!' are now holding signs reading 'CLEARANCE! 70% OFF! EVERYTHING MUST GO!' It's pretty surreal to be traveling the countryside on your own seeing no cars for over an hour (on Woodland this morning) while not only carrying all three essentials of life (food, water, shelter) but doing so while averaging 12 MPH over the course of almost 70 miles in 24 hours while using an engine that can convert a staggering variety of raw organic mass into kinetic energy without much fanfare.

Doom-sayers, take note: you should be riding a bicycle.

May 2009 S24O Part 1: Prep and getting there

Note: since there's so much photo content, I'm splitting this into two parts. (Part 2)

Sometime last year, I put together a route to get to Hillsdale Lake by bike.


My wife was heading out to see her sister this weekend, so I decided it would be the perfect excuse to go on my first S24O. More has been written about these than I could ever hope to digest, but I decided I'd treat it kind of like a backpacking trip.

Itemized manifest for the journey
Comestibles
2 packs of ramen noodles
2 eggs
Pat of butter
Salt and pepper packets
3 slices of whole-wheat bread folded in half with peanut butter
6 marshmallows for roasting. Just because.
2x 24oz water bottles
32oz water bottle

Cookware
folding mess kit (almost identical to this one)
plastic knife, spoon, fork
Folding spatula (from this kit, I left the rest at home)
Propane burner
half-empty 16oz propane cylinder (left over from Memorial Day Weekend)
Waterproof matches

Clothing
chamois (for the ride home)
cargo shorts (so I'm not walking around in chamois all night)
underwear (so I'm not freeballing)
2 pair of socks
Sun/Fishing hat

Tools
Gerber Evolution
Mini Mag-Lite
Plus my usual commuter tools:
Park MTB-3
Inner Tube
Patches
Levers
CO2 Inflater and spare cartridges

Shelter
Small dome tent with stakes
Medium-weight sleeping bag (the only one I have)

This is how that looks all loaded up:


This one is for PM Summer, who has me thinking more and more about how stupid bike lanes are... especially in Olathe Kansas, where no stretch of bike lane is more than maybe one mile long before coming abruptly to an end and re-starting a ways later. Also, all bike lanes in this area seem to attract trash, glass, or fall to disrepair with pot-holes and huge gaps in road seams.


It's hard to tell here, but this is some chunky chip-seal pavement. On my journey, I would ride on asphalt, chip-seal, gravel, washboard dirt, oil-sealed dirt, oiled gravel, concrete, and even about 1/4 mile on rail bed, which uses large chunk gravel for filler.


An out-of-the way watering hole in Spring Hill


Opposed: Farm Co-Op


Here's the source of the washboard dirt I was telling you about. Woodland Road comes to an abrupt end near southern Spring Hill. I was planning on taking Woodland to 239th St. What did I do? I pushed onward, of course!


I needed both hands firmly at the helm for what came next, so I don't have any photos. What lay beyond those roadblocks was a washboard dirt trail where Woodland used to be, which goes down to a riverbed and looks to be making way for some kind of bridge. I ended up riding about a mile worth of no-man's-land where there wasn't anything actually resembling a trail or a road, and took that over to the rail bed. From there, I rode north again for about 1/4 mile to the torn-up crossing that will eventually connect two parts of 231st street together where they're currently cut off. I took 231st to Victory Road, which is gravel. I really don't mind gravel.


Back when I designed the route, cDude told me that there would be something "interesting" on my route and left it at that. I'd found out that he meant this old railroad bridge that was built in 1922.










If it weren't for that bridge, I'd be kicking myself. I should have taken 231st a bit further to Old KC Road, a fully paved paradise. That's okay, though. I wasn't on this ride to make good time. I just wanted an adventure, and I was getting one!

Old KC Road is mostly downhill going southwest. Combined with the slight northeast breeze, I was finally making some good time again, until it was time to slog the hills on 255th St.


Of course, there's always the wicked descent on the other side that makes the climb worthwhile!


At this point, you can see just a sliver of Hillsdale Lake. I'd arrived!


Continue to part 2

A taste of bike touring

Perfect weather tempted me to try my first S24o and Apertome always makes this look so fun. Hillsdale Lake is about 35 miles away by bike so a big part of the excitement is getting there and back. I miss backpacking and this is similar enough. More photos and a list of goodies tomorrow.

Avenue of the Arts

I had to go pick up my bus pass from the HR office today and finally started looking at the exhibits for Avenue Of The Arts. Sorry for the crappy camera-phone pics. It's all I had with me.


Basically, I think a lot of this looks like trash, especially the middle one on the bottom row which is a canopy made of thousands of plastic bottles. It reminds me of this disaster I spotted last year:


I guess my definition of "art" differs from other peoples. I love art, but I just have a hard time calling scrap metal glued to the ground or a pile of trash arranged just so "art". I suppose that's what makes art what it is.

I can say that taking a few minutes to walk downtown was a nice break in my day, and I enjoyed catching some fresh air. The homeward commute was warm but refreshing, and it looks like we've got a nice weekend lined up. I might have something fun lined up, too. We'll see how that works.

Drenched

As I left home this morning, the weather was yet again straddling the line between misty and foggy. As I pulled up to the bus stop, I felt an actual rain drop. I was a little early, but only by a few minutes. Right before the bus is supposed to show up, I felt another drop. Then another. A minute or so later, there was a pleasant and tolerable pitter-patter of rain.

The bus was running late at this point. I felt the rain pick up its intensity ever so slightly, then I heard it: A wall of water approaching me. Looking into the distance, I could see my visibility getting shorter and shorter as the horizon became enshrouded by torrential downpour. A line was rushing toward me. Ahead of that line, the parking lot was speckled with little drops. Behind that line, a sheet of water engulfed everything. Within a minute, I was soaked through, as if I'd been cast into the swimming pool at a kegger. A nice man offered me a seat in his Saturn. I obliged, but it didn't help much.

Six minutes later, the bus would finally roll through. Scurrying as if their lives depended on it, the transit denizens stormed the bus, holding anything and everything above their heads in a futile attempt to remain dry. It didn't work.

It's now my lunch time. The collar of my shirt and my waistband are still damp.

The kicker? I had a poncho with me yesterday. I forgot to put it back in my panniers after making a grocery run last night.

Protip: Check the radar, newbie.

Metric Century, Interrupted

By noon on Sunday, I was ready for a vacation from my vacation. The skies were partly cloudy, temps were in the 80s and a pleasant breeze was coming out of the East. Without a solid destination on my mind, I decided I'd go out for a ride, and it didn't take me long to decide that I'd like to make a Metric out of it.

I took Santa Fe Trail Drive through Old Town Lenexa to get to Pflumm, then headed due south to 175th. At that point, I decided to let the breeze push me along.

175th St just West of Pflumm.


Many cyclists were out and about. I saw at least two dozen bikes on the road, and aside from two couples enjoying the day, the rest of them were loners in various states of discipline, from plain-clothes guys on cheap mountain bikes to time-trial-equipped Triathletes getting some training.


When you get down to 175th St, most of what you see is farmland, especially once you get away from the Eastern border of Johnson County (which is mostly cookie-cutter suburban sprawl)






With a tailwind, I was staying close to the speed limit along 175th. Too bad I got stopped by the train. 175th is known for its spacious, well-kept shoulders. This is a popular road for cyclists and is a stretch used very often on our Dark Side Rides.




Just a few hundred yards from Gardner city limit, I saw a dead armadillo on the shoulder. cDude and I saw one just north of Pleasanton on the 200k permanent last year, and fellow Great-Plains cyclist Dan Schmatz was taken out of commission by one on the inaugural Tour of Missouri. This is the farthest north I've ever seen one, though. I don't get all worked up about climate change, but this might be enough to make me think there might be more than meets the eye...

Another guy pulled over while I was taking a picture, and we talked for a while. He'd never seen one before, and he's lived in the area all his life.


On a bizarre tangent, my wife had me zoom into the armadillo to full resolution and whilst panning around the image, I saw a tattoo on the guy's leg. Below is a tight crop of the above photo.

It kind of freaked me out. "Kampf" is German for "Struggle" and I am guessing his whole tattoo says "Mein Kampf" -- the title of Adolf Hitler's semi-autobiography/manifesto which happens to be the calling of neo-nazism around the world. Therefore, I am deducing that the guy who stopped to admire the armadillo with me is likely some kind of extremist.

I'm not judging, because he seemed like a nice enough guy there talking to me, but I did find it interesting to catch it only much later. It's amazing the things you see in photos.


I had determined that I'd try to find a good impromptu route down to Hillsdale lake, so I turned south on Clare Road, just a ways after finding the armadillo. I'd eventually like to pack a night's worth of stuff onto my bike (tent, a light bedroll, some nourishment) and do a S24O at Hillsdale.

My "Metric" got cut to about half the length I was shooting for due to something back on the home-front, so I didn't find my way to the lake. That's okay, though. I don't get to go on many solo recreation rides just for the sake of riding, and this was a great way to decompress and free my spirit for a while on a beautiful Sunday afternoon.

This morning, my eyes popped open at 04:30 and I couldn't get back to sleep. Knowing I'd need it later on, I whipped up a pot of coffee. This mug was sent to me from two nice chaps in England who were working together on VNC at the time. Variants of VNC are still used today for remotely-controlling computers with a graphical interface.


In other geeky news: I finally got my MacBook back up to par thanks to my fellow bike fiend, The Clemonator, who's sadly laid up recovering from knee surgery. He upgraded his MacBook Pro's hard drive and gave me the sloppy seconds, a 200GBer that's more than ample for my needs. I'm finally back in action with all my photo editing goodies again!

100% relative humidity and a thick, misty fog made for sweaty pavement and a damp, yet not quite rainy ride this morning. I love mist. I hate road grime. Fenders rock my bike commuting world!

Memorial Day Weekend

I had a really short work week. Thursday was my birthday, and Wednesday night, we headed out to go camping. I spent most of my evenings earlier this week figuring out where all our camping gear was.


First off, let me explain something. When we go camping, it's usually an ordeal. This isn't a backpacking trip. It's kind of like a party but with tents. I have a feeling we would fit right in at Burning Man or Toorcamp. In fact, a few years back, some hacker friends of mine did camp with us. Maybe we should try that again sometime soon.

Our site was very close to a nest of Grackles. Grackles are interesting creatures. They remind me of little Crows. They'll eat darn near anything (such as the pancake I burned Friday morning). They have an interesting shrill call that reminds me a little bit of a modem handshake from back in the day.


There were at least 3 different Grackles feeding the babies in the nest. The nest was built into a thorny Locust tree, and the Grackles' ability to make very precise flight patterns made for some fascinating entertainment. On several occasions, I saw them apparently hover in mid-air. This one was gliding over to the nest from an adjacent tree.


Yeah, I was really "roughing it", with coffee and Internet access...




And yes, we had to recharge our gear on Thursday.


My dad took Friday off, so my parents joined us at the camp site on Thursday.


I wish I could have gotten a better photo of this. An old rickety pickup was hauling this huge pontoon boat to the ramp. There were about 6 guys with fishing poles riding in the pontoon boat and drinking beer while the thing was still on the trailer.


Long exposure of our tent. It's a modified dome tent that's bigger than it needs to be for just my wife and I, but it's a cinch to set up, packs small and we've actually had 5 people crash in this thing all at the same time with a surprising amount of room left over.


Long exposure of thesky Thursday night. This shot makes it look brighter than it was. I didn't feel like setting up for HDR, though.


Near our camp site, we saw a Robin's nest (with a few babies) built atop a lamp.


Stag Beetle.


We saw this toad near the parking lot every night we were there. He reminds me of Hypno Toad from Futurama. ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNO TOAD!


Our camp neighbors had the oddest arrangement I've ever seen. They set up a huge mobile car-port, one you could easily park a short school bus under. They then proceeded to pitch two tents beneath it. After nightfall, they had some obsession with dumping flammable liquids on their fire by the gallon. This made for tall licks of flame followed by a "Whooosh" noise and a mix of laughter and "oooh!" sounds from nearby campers.


Meanwhile, we were making smores over a reasonable-sized camp fire that I must say I'm quite proud of. It's probably the best campfire I've ever made. It lasted many hours and provided an even, hot coal bed while keeping a pleasing flame all the while.


Dad and I kicking it by the fire before calling it a night. My mom and my wife were around the fire, too, but out of frame.


We only stayed out 3 days and 2 nights. I'm spending the rest of the weekend working on the honey-do list and geeking out.


I just realized a week before my birthday that my drivers' license was going to expire. I'm officially not legal to drive until I find the time to get around to renewing it. That's okay by me, though. I don't have a care in the world!


CommuterDude posted a photo of some tasty stuff in the trunk of his car (on Facebook, not his site, at least not yet). This was in response to his photo. I'm really liking Goose Island 312 Urban Wheat. I first tried it at Flying Saucer downtown a few months ago. I finally got around to buying a sixer of 312 today. It's a great beer for a hot summer afternoon! Roasterie Nitro is my go-to coffee. I used the last of my Nitro making coffee at the campsite Friday morning, so I had to buy more.

Crazy Weekend

Friday started nice, but it didn't take long to turn dark. Very dark.


As the storm rolled in, my wife and I swung by the nursery to pick up stuff to start a balcony veggie garden. I haven't tried my hand at gardening in more than a decade. We'll see how this plays out.


Saturday: a cool day that made for a beautiful ride to the PHP User Group meeting. Taken with my phone's camera, this shot makes old-town Lenexa look... old! Okay, the rusting motor city boat helps, too.




A not-quite-perfect panorama of Old-Town Lenexa. I used Hugin's default settings. Click for big.


Sunday was the family's combined belated Mother's Day / Noah Birthday party. I'm days away from losing my twenty-something status and not quite sure how I feel about that.

Mom and dad found a baby Great Horned Owl with a broken wing. Mom has some experience dealing with hawks, so she's helping the owl out. This is a baby. Fully grown, they can end up more than two feet tall perched and with an eight-foot wingspan. Note the use of heavy leather gloves and eye protection.


Dumpster score: recycling some ATM machine parts. Don't ask.


Trying to wake up this morning. Caffeine. It's what's for breakfast.


... and for supper ... Not sure if I like it better than "High Fructose Corn Syrup Dew" or not. It's different. It's good. I just don't know if it's better.


Sally went on a road trip over the weekend and brought us back a treat from Eastern Missouri. We didn't have to drive there this time. We did have to stay up really late to meet up with her, but it was worth it. White Castle's one of those things that you either love or hate, but even if you love it, you usually just crave it for a bit, then you're pretty much done with it for a few months. Or maybe that's just me.


I also got a pair of two-cycle weed trimmers working over the weekend. Both of them actually fired right up but needed a tune-up badly. This Toro engine has a centrifugal clutch built in. That's fairly uncommon. While I love my bikes, I have a fascination with mechanical things and a knack for hackery. I have something interesting in store for this one. I just need to acquire some parts first.

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.

Why it's important to sign up for the Car-Free Challenge

I got this note from Laurie Chipman this morning, and I thought I'd share. She makes some valid points for signing up if you ride your bike, car pool, use transit, or walk to get around the greater KC area -- Even if it's part of your daily routine and you aren't changing a thing during Bike Week!

Hi all, I just want to point up something that even I had hardly thought about.

We may just think the Car-free Challenge is just a pleasant diversion for those who participate but it can have serious beneficial consequences for those of us who want a better walking, biking and transit environment.

http://kcbike.info/bikeweek/

We can use these numbers to justify asking for biking, walking/running and transit improvement funding.

Here are the statistics as of today, Wednesday.

* Total Miles: 9,738

* People Registered: 554

* People who have logged trips: 354

* Teams: 50

* Solo Commuters: 69

* First-timers: 21

* Carbon Dioxide saved: 9,231 pounds

* Gasoline saved: 541 gallons, $1,028

The numbers are down from last year but we know there are more people walking, bicycling and using transit. Please join a team and login your miles so we can prove to officials that we are out there and need to be counted!

http://kcbike.info/bikeweek/

Laurie Chipman

Let's Go KC, Alliance for Transportation Choice, representing 26,500 people

Kansas City Bicycle Club Advocate

Tricks of the trade: Bike Repairs

My bottom bracket has been getting cranky lately. Pun intended.

Noisy bottom brackets, if you catch them in time, often just need to be taken out, cleaned up, greased and re-installed properly. This takes special tools, but they don't cost much more than having a bike shop do the job once or twice. In my case, I've got many thousands of miles on the original BB, but I've serviced the BB three times now.

Jobs like bottom bracket service might be best left to the bike shop if you're just getting started, but shops will often try to upsell you or get you to replace an otherwise functional part with a brand new one even if you don't actually need it.


It's not that I have something against bike technicians. Some of my best cycling friends are wrenches by trade or they're moonlighting at bike shops in their downtime. My frustration comes from the industry: bike repair doesn't pay the bills; selling new bikes and accessories is what brings home the bacon. The tools to install these accessories are the same ones to fix bikes, and repair is for the most part only provided as a service to keep customers coming back.

Even if bike shops are fair -- and some are much more honest than others -- this is busy season. Bike shops get backlogged. Those of us who rely on our bikes for more than leisure can't always go a week without our bike while it sits in queue to be looked at.

For these reasons, I feel that it's very important for utility cyclists, randonneurs, commuters and bike tourers to have a firm understanding of how to do some basic bike repairs. Start with easy stuff that doesn't require many fancy tools (like changing your inner tube out).

As you run into other minor problems (derailleur adjustments, chain replacement), do some research and see if it's something you can do yourself. Some good sites:

Bicycle tutor
Park Tool Repair
Sheldon Brown

As always, feel free to comment here or drop me a line via e-mail, and I can probably point you in the right direction if you feel like taking a crack at fixing your bike. They're actually pretty simple machines. They're modular, and bikes of a decent quality usually have a lot of standardized components.

In other news, I scored a bell from last night's event at Overland Park city hall. Not wanting to crowd my handlebars any more than they are (you might call me "Captain Dashboard"), I mounted it to my seatpost. It works just fine there.


Oh, and I had a spectator while I was working on the bottom bracket.

Bike Week 2009: Solo Tuesday Wrap-up

No other cyclists in sight this morning -- a shame, really. It was close to my idea of perfect commute weather.

Bombing down 67th Street


Distant KCMO Skyline


I can't say the same for this afternoon. When I got out of the office, it was already raining downtown. I'll take the bus, thanks.

Bike Week 2009: Monday Wrap-up

Refilling the ol' water bottle at Chatlain park on the way home.


This is Rich. He's a bit of a geek too.


He built a light system, including a slick voltmeter.


He cannibalized some tactical LED flashlights and heatsinks to build the lighting rig.


He's also a BMXer. Check out the one-handed wheelie. He can ride this out for a very long time. Crazy.


Red Hat Society. Old ladies, not operating systems.


Monday night recovery ride: Eric Rogers and Mark Rainey meet.


Mark Thomas gives the pre-ride speech.


Mark Rainey's Trucker has some sweet bar tape!


A pretty good crowd!






We stopped by OP City Hall


The Mayor made a proclamation for Bike Week.


Eats and drinks at Casa Paloma:

Monday Tienda Casa Paloma ride

There are quite a few group rides going on during Bike Week, and
despite some chilly mornings and soggy weather in store for this week,
this evening is going to be perfect for a bike ride!

I'll be participating in the Tienda Casa Paloma ride tonight. It
starts at Tienda Casa Paloma near 83rd and Metcalf at 6:30 PM.

You can get more info here

No Takers?

It's hard to tell the future, but Ed does a pretty good job on KCWeather most of the time. It looks like Thursday's going to be the best day of the week for riding in the morning.

I can't make any guarantees about riding in the mornings, but if it looks like the weather will be nice enough (not raining, and no major rain headed our way as of 5:00 AM), I'll be at the same corner every morning this week. Just be there and ready to go by 6:00.

Monday Commuter Convoy: It's on, BUT...

The convoy is ON for tomorrow morning , but I wouldn't blame anyone for not joining me. The conditions might seem sub-par for a bike commute.

The good:

• It won't be raining.
• There won't be much wind.

The bad:

• The roads will probably be wet in spots because it rained.
  
• Temps in the mid-40s might be a bit chilly for some.

The ugly:

• Me.

Remember: if you dress in layers and have fenders, these conditions are actually quite pleasant. Expect a crosswind and temps in the high 60s or low 70s in the afternoon.

I'll be at the Southwest corner of 85th and Quivira (one stoplight north of 87th St. Pkwy) a little before 6:00 AM. I'm shoving off at 6:00 AM SHARP (as according to USNO)

Weekend photo dump

Shawnee Mission Park
Live Action Role Players (Foam-Weapon Medieval Melee style)


Water Striders


Creek


Lookout Tower






Black Hoof Park


Fishing lessons

I don't think so.

At 5:30, I was woken up by this:


Looks like it's another morning on the Dreaded bus. It takes me more than an hour to get to work this way, but hey, I suppose I can catch up on all the stuff in my Google Reader, a service I'm quite fond of. It takes RSS feeds, collates all your favorite websites and allows you to quickly search and share articles. It also lets you get around the pesky web filter at work, sometimes.


Random Tunage:
Orbital - Crash and Carry
Jimmy Eat World - The Middle

Arthur Bryant's for lunch with the RoadTwippers

I went to lunch with some of Kansas City's Social Media Butterflies and the RoadTwip crew, who are in the midst of a two-week-long road trip of the eastern part of the US. They breezed into town dark and early this morning, crashed for a few hours of sleep, ate lunch and saw some sights around KC, then took off to Nebraska for the BIGOmaha conference.

Arthur Bryant's has some great BBQ. They have no bike parking.

Here Jonathan Dingman is beta-testing Qik, a web streaming application. It's not officially out for the iPhone yet. Here, he was uploading live video of Jolie O'Dell giving a terse update on their road trip so far. You can view that update here. You can also follow the RoadTwip via their blog, and check out a post that was made on ReadWriteWeb (which features my ugly, fat mug)

I didn't get many photos, as I left my camera in the office. Lame. After lunch, Jolie and Kurt Daradics (also on the road trip) wanted to interview me Guerrilla Web 2.0 style to talk about bicycle commuting and some other stuff. It was a good time!

I haven't aired my tires up in over a week. They were feeling squishy this afternoon. Tip: If you rely on your bike, always keep a pump or CO2 with you, even if you don't carry any other tools.

Update: The Midnight Ride alternative

I still have a plan. And it might work out. Here's where things stand:

I'm in talks with the owners of some cave space near midtown. Right now, they seem amicable, but I don't have any solid word on if we can use their cave as part of our route. We may all have to sign waivers. I'm cool with that if it means I get to ride through some caves!

There are about 10-15 people showing interest in this alternative ride and only 6 or 7 definites. I'd like more.

Right now, this looks to be a FREE event, except for the cost of food at the end. You'll have to pay for that. I don't think we'll have to pay to ride through the caves.

The route will be 15 miles or so, maybe closer to 20 by the time we include a stop by Denny's or IHOP at the end of the route (near the start/finish point)

I'll keep you posted. We will ride at midnight. Mark my words. I just hope we have caves to go through!

Bike Week '09: Morning Commuter Convoy!

The Bike Commuter Convoy is making a comeback for Bike Week.

Starting just a few blocks from I-35 and 87th St. Parkway, we will ride to downtown Kansas City, MO. At a beginner-friendly pace, this ride takes about an hour and 15 minutes with a distance of about 14 miles. A decent "commuter pace" will get us downtown in about an hour flat. The slowest rider will set the pace, and we'll stick together with re-groups if needed. Those who know the route can feel free to take off at their own pace, however.

When: All weekday mornings during bike week (Mon-Fri)
Time: We will depart at 6:00 AM SHARP
Where: Parking lot on the west side of Quivira,
between 87th St. Pkwy and Monrovia/85th.

What to bring:

• Your bike
• Anything you need for work
• At least a rear flashing light

Also recommended:

• Reflective or bright-colored clothing
• Helmet
• Hydration of some variety

Route:
North on Quivira to 79th St.
East on 79th St. to Nieman Rd.
North on Nieman Rd. to 67th St.
East on 67th St. to Carter (just east of Animal Haven and the RR Tracks)
North on Carter to Merriam Dr.
North/Northeast on Merriam Dr. / Southwest Blvd to KCMO

I will take Southwest Blvd to Main to get into the heart of Downtown KCMO

No RSVP needed, but I wouldn't mind if you drop me a line and tell me you're in or ask any questions. Otherwise, please be present and ready to ride by 6:00.

Return Trip:
Bike Week will be kind of crazy for me and my return commute schedule could get a little unpredictable. I can help you find people to ride along with if you're unsure about the homeward trip. Alternatively, TheJO will get you pretty close to the start-point and the buses have racks that can carry 2 bicycles.

D Route: Drops off at 85th and Quivira DIRECTLY AT the start point
L Route: Drops off at Oak Park Mall less than 2 miles south of the start point
A Route: Drops off at 85th and Quivira, about 3 miles east of the start point

Weather Provisions:
If rain looks imminent for the morning commute, I will call off the ride. The D bus will still barrel through at about 6:20 AM if you feel like taking the bus with your bike. It can only hold two bikes, though.

Bike Week is near!

I'm not sure who did it or when, but somehow the bike advocacy community in Kansas City pulled together and made Bike Week work! Check out the Calendar of Events, and see how many car trips you can replace with a bike ride next week (or all summer long, if it tickles your fancy!)

In 2007, bike week kind of threw the switch for me. I'd say that was probably the point where I started looking at my bike as my primary vehicle. Before then, I would ask "is it really logical to use my bike for this?" and afterward, I found myself reaching for the bike first unless there was a compelling reason to drive because in my situation, it really is more logical to ride my bike most places.

I rode home along with Karen last night, and we saw a few other cyclists on the road, including one guy in textbook commuter regalia (polo shirt, khaki pants, big backpack) riding along Southwest Boulevard. It was a bit windy out, but an excellent afternoon to be on a bike. When I got home, my wife and I took supper to Shawnee Mission Park to enjoy the evening.

That was Rage Against The Machine

First, The Twelve turned two years old yesterday! Today marks the anniversary of my first commute on it.

I had a great homeward ride yesterday, and a bit of humor when a passing driver seemed to yell at me. I was trying to replay it in my head to imagine what the driver would have yelled, but I couldn't figure it out. The driver gave me plenty of room, so I just shrugged it off.  

About 500 yards down the road, I caught up with the car at a stop light and could hear loud music as I approached.  The guy had Rage Against The Machine's 'Bulls On Parade' cranked to eleven. I happen to enjoy a bit of the RATM on occasion, but the vocalist (I won't call him a singer) pretty much just yells all the time.  That would explain the yelling.  I chuckled and enjoyed the music for a few seconds. Serendipitous tunage.  

I was in a hurry to get to my monthly first-Friday meeting.  After that, everyone came over to our place and we enjoyed one of the biggest pizzas I've ever seen. Sorry for the camera-phone photo. DVD provided for scale.

(note: I have seen pizzas much bigger than this so it's not even a contest, but It's the biggest one I've bought for a party by far)