Bicycle Safety Rodeo, Financial/Health Fair this weekend

Budd Park (St. John Avenue and Brighton Avenue), April 25th, 11:00 am - 3:00 pm.

This is an annual tradition that keeps getting better each year. Originally billed as a bicycle safety event for Northeast KC, this year, the annual bicycle safety rodeo will also be offering a health and financial fair for adults. My buddy JR has played a vital role in this event for the last 4 years. Also, I believe Lorin and his daughter Bailey will be volunteering. The Consulate of Mexico plays a big role in this event every year as well as they try to reach out to the Hispanic community in northeast. Several sponsors from the bicycling, financial and healthcare community are also represented.

Join the Consulate of Mexico and various other sponsors in celebrating "Dia del Niño" at the 4th annual Bike Safety Rodeo/Health and Financial Fair. Kids ages 3 to 11 and their parents are invited to attend. Kids bring your bikes! If you don't have a bike, loaner bikes will be available, and during the event refurbished and new bikes will be raffled. The first 500 registered participants, will received a bike helmet and T-shirt. This free, family focused event will feature not only a bike safety rodeo for the kids, but financial and health education for the entire family.

Here are some photos from last year's event:

Helmet Give-Away


Consul Jacob Prado with rodeo participants


Vice-Consul Justiniano Menchaca helps with the bicycle raffle.


These bicycles were raffled off. Some were purchased at a discount, others donated. They were all checked out and refurbished (if needed) before hand.

Job Hunt

I'm still on the prowl for work. As some of you know, I didn't get the "Information Security Incident Handler" (a.k.a. "hunting bad guys") dream job I was initially holding out for. I made it very far into the interview process, but was edged out by someone with more computer forensics experience. The entire time, I've been applying for pretty much anything I qualify for here in Kansas City, and even a few gigs outside the area.

Things have been looking up this last week, though. There's a job similar to my "dream" job that's starting to look very promising. Unfortunately, it's near a Detroit suburb named Romulus -- which, by the way, is basically the best name for a town, ever. There are also a few other potential jobs NOT related to information security which seem to be progressing quite well, and they're still right here in the Greater Kansas City area. One of them would send me to Wisconsin for a month of training. No solid job offers yet, but like I said, things are looking up for a change.

In the mean time, I've been keeping my skills sharp, learning new things and keeping stress at bay with some great bike rides. I've been bartering skilled labor to make ends meet: Tuning up bicycles, fixing cars (replacing clutches and starter solenoid type stuff), fixing office phone systems, and fixing... well... pretty much anything that's broken in exchange for the things we need. It's a shame I don't have any "on the job" experience for many of the cool things I've learned how to do in my lifetime, not that "Auto Technician" or "Lineman" would pay the bills around here.

Security is still one of my biggest passions in life, right up there with bicycling. If you know of any local companies that could use an Information Security guy, let me know. There's still time to hire me.

p.s. I know you guys gave me hell for turning down a job a while ago. I am still, to this day, glad I did what I did. No regrets there. It simply would not have worked for me, or for them.

Photo Above:
Crate full of BrickArms ordnance by Dunechaser

Random Tunage:
Burn In Noise - Transparent
Setherian - Patch This
(Yes, I've been on a Goa/PsyTrance kick lately)

Impromptu Dark-Side-Ride

I tried to rally some troops together for a night ride. Things are stressful and I just needed to get out and decompress. The sun was already setting when I decided I had to get out and ride. I had one taker: Chris. We decided to ride out to Mill Creek Trail and head out to Kaw River and back. Distance was ~24 Miles. A little shorter than most "official" Dark-Side-Rides. The trail was pitch black in most spots, with nothing visible outside the glow of our lights.











Random Tunage:
K's Choice - Not An Addict
Primitive Radio Gods - Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth with Money in My Hand

Paint

I woke up at 5-something this morning. That used to be part of my routine, but it's highly unusual these days. Eggs, an apple and a few slices of turkey bacon for breakfast. Filled the water bottle. Go through the old routine, kind of like waking up to do my old commute. I got out a few minutes after 6 and rode to the corner. I waited, eying the southern horizon at daybreak. A few minutes later, the familiar, conspicuous flashing pattern of a DiNotte headlight crested the viaduct, quickly distinguishing a distant bicycle from within a small swarm of silhouetted motor vehicles.

I rolled out, and a minute or so later, Chris pulled up alongside me on the very same bike he'd flogged when we hit the singletrack at Shawnee Mission Park last weekend. I still have a really soft spot in my heart for the Long Haul Trucker. Or at least the frame. Chris' Ultegra Hollowtech triple crank is a drool-worthy piece of flair as well. I'm not sure I'd ever get used to bar-ends. I'm in love with my brifters, thank you very much.

For those who don't know, Chris is returning to full-route bike commuting, at least some days. I told him that this route is his baby now, and let him blaze the trail. We headed out, mostly the old route I used to take every day, except we stayed on Quivira all the way to 67th. The last time I rode that way, I was en-route to the Cave Ride.

I didn't bother to check my pace at all, but I felt like I was slower than normal, and I know I was lagging behind a bit. I really need to get out and ride more, although part of it was that I was still feeling yesterday's surprise mile-fest as well.

I got to hang out with Lorin and JR over coffee, then rode around KCMO waiting until 9 to take care of some paper work, and then it was slow going homeward bound into a stiff and gusty headwind. All in all, another beautiful day for a ride.

Directly adjacent to where I took the picture above, I saw something else that made me chuckle just a little.


Random Tunage:
Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
Green Day - Longview

Fools' errands

I had some errands to run today. I had an appointment with someone at the library. I showed up right as they opened and there were no other bikes on the rack. Just an old razor scooter that looks like it's been locked up and forgotten for the past 5 years. It turns out my appointment wouldn't likely be until after noon, so I snagged a bite to eat on the ride home.

I went back around noon, only to be told that I needed some paperwork from home. It'd have been nice if I'd been told this the first time. I went home. I couldn't find some of the paperwork I needed. So I rode to a government office to get that paperwork, which involved a half-hour wait, not too bad. Then, I finally got back to the library, confident I had everything I needed, at around 2:00 PM. And there were STILL 4 people ahead of me. So I renewed my library card, poked around a bit, and waited for my appointment. But hey, I got good news out of the deal. Still, it felt like I was being sent on a wild goose chase for a while.

Most of the bikes I was locked up with were of the toy-store variety. The "nicest" bike aside from my Trek 1200 was an e-Zip battery assisted bike. Still, all of them looked like they were well used for getting around town, including decent locks and a few equipped with headlights. On my way to the government office, I ran across an older gentleman who also seemed to be getting around town more than just out for a ride, as well as a recumbent rider. Who could blame anyone for riding on a beautiful day like this?!




Tomorrow, it sounds like my buddy Chris is going to start biking the whole way in to work (downtown) again, so I'll probably join him in the morning, with whomever else he decides to rally for the convoy. I have some paperwork to drop off downtown in the next few days, anyway. I mean, I could fax or snail-mail it, but why bother, when it'll be a great morning for a 30 or 40 mile ride?

Random Tunage:
Sixpence None The Richer - Breathe
Jimmy Eat World - The Middle

Trails

A few weeks ago, I got rejected when I rode to the mountain bike trails at Shawnee Mission Park. Well, I guess the parks department finally decided the trails were dry enough to let people loose on the singletrack this weekend. I can say that the trails were far from dry in many places, though. I did my best not to rut the trail out too badly, going around the mud where I could.

Shortly after I arrived, Chris showed up with his Long Haul Trucker. It must have looked somewhat interesting. A big, heavy urban bike and a steel road touring bike, tooling around on the mountain bike trails. I believe the term for this is "underbiking."


Mostly, I just wanted to wring the Urbana out one last time before I write my final review. The huge tires almost act like a suspension fork. I even managed to get a little air in a few spots.


I haven't ridden singletrack in a very long time. I had forgotten the serene beauty of the trails, and how much work it is to constantly maneuver the bike around obstacles and tackle hills. I'll probably feel the burn in the morning.



Random Tunage:
Amber - Anyway (Steve Porter Remix)
B-Movie - Nowhere Girl (Adam Freeland Remix)

Grass is supposed to be purple.

Sorry, I just figured I would partake in "Quick, everyone tell a lie on the Internet"-Day before April 2nd.

Pics.

Little bit of a family reunion at my youngest cousin's confirmation in Nebraska over the weekend:


Not far from where I grew up, this looks like a scene from Storm Chasers. Where my MCSes at?!


Somewhere in Iowa.


A great Monday night ride with some friends I've not seen in a while. Gray's new bike is far left and I wish I had gotten some better photos of it. We hammered it on Santa Fe Drive/87th on the way home. Damn near killed me. I am not a racer. Gray is.


Random Tunage:
Coldplay - Talk (Junkie XL Remix)
Hybrid - Dreaming Your Dreams

Blackburn USB/Solar Flea Review

Last year, I reviewed the Blackburn Flea headlight. I recently got the tail light, complete with the new USB charger and solar power adapter, too. Again, there's good money to be saved buying this one online. The bike shops sell it at MSRP.

You can see the whole Blackburn USB/Solar Flea review over on BikeCommuters.com. Bonus: the solar panel can (slowly) charge my phone, too.


That will make my bike camping adventures a little more luxurious, I suppose. Who's ready for the next S24O? I know am!

Skinny tire dreams

I often tell people that I don't dream. I mean, I sleep. And I can get by with surprisingly little sleep. Obviously, I reach REM. I just don't remember my dreams very often. And when I do, they quickly fall apart in my memory as I snap out of my groggy haze. Kind of like one of my favorite xkcd cartoons.

Anyhow, last night, I had a dream that I finally got back out on The Twelve, and for some reason, I remembered it. And I was fast. Like 45 MPH fast. So for today's errands which didn't involve much hauling at all, just getting around to a few places, I took The Twelve. I'm still slow, but the road bike certainly was a nice change of pace. It accelerates better. It has much tighter gear ratios, not to mention three times as many gears to choose from. It's more responsive, and I feel much more in touch with the road. It's more graceful. I've missed it.

Also, Bill interviewed me for Carfree American (even though I'm technically car-lite). You can see his post here.

Hauling

ALDI down the street sells these gigantic re-usable grocery sacks. They're almost too big to be useful, sometimes. I could probably fit two or three paper sacks of groceries in here.


I also have my Apple schwag bag, which is the same size as the more traditional re-usable grocery bags. Of course, both of these were made in a sweat-shop overseas out of highly processed petroleum, then sent here, likely on a huge cargo ship that burns a few gallons of diesel per engine rotation, but whatever. As you can see, the custom RNR Rack for the Urbana is designed to carry these style of bags. I generally throw panniers on for trips to the grocery, but I tried the bags today.


The unique top plate of the rack is easier to see in my first photo of the bike before unboxing (cropped):


So how does it work? First, you hold the bag so that the top of it is even with the rack, then you tuck the handle into the two top-facing holes on the opposite side.



Lastly, you reach your fingers into the holes on the side of the rack, and you push the handles under the screws that protrude downward, to hold the bag firmly into place.




I really should have taken both large bags, but wanted to show how you can use a more traditional sized bag as well.


I actually did groceries yesterday, but was in too much of a hurry to take photos. I staged it today for the pictures. I took the Urbana to Hen House, rushed home, dropped off groceries and took it out to the Tienda Casa Paloma Monday night ride. I haven't seen those guys in ages, and it was a fun trip. All told, I put about 25 miles on this bike yesterday. Today, I am feeling it.

While it's perfect for running errands and going to nearby places, the riding position doesn't lend itself well to longer distances, such as riding 4 miles each way to a 10-mile recreation ride. I think next time, I'll switch over to my road bike for the Monday night ride.

Surprise! It's snowing again!

I was hoping I'd get a chance to test the Urbana's 2.6" wide tires on the snow. While Fritz may have sand, I jumped at the opportunity to goof off in 3" of snow. This stuff had a thin layer of ice on the pavement, with slush in some spots, and a thick, wet snowpack on top of that. It's the stuff that I love riding my mountain bike in.

I was a tad apprehensive about the Urbana's tires, because they're very lightly treaded, an attribute that really helps keep the rolling resistance low.


Let me make myself clear. This is bar none the best handling bike I've ever ridden on snow. You want to stay seated to get moving, but once you're up and running, these tires are very confidence-inspiring.


The fenders did their job, and didn't get terribly clogged, either. There's still a lot of snow all over the place, but it kept the slush off my pants and out of my face.


While trying to slide sideways, the tires grip hard again as soon as you let off the brake. It's hard to actually wipe out in the snow. It's not impossible, though. This blurry mess is a still frame from a video clip where I found myself sliding on my ass in slushy snow after laying it down.

Double Dose

You guys get a double dose of my insanity today. It was a busy day all the way around, with a whole lot of riding. I couldn't imagine a more perfect day than this. Too bad it's supposed to drop back down below freezing again and perhaps snow on us this weekend. I had to soak it up while it lasted.

UFO Attack! Actually, these were light fixtures at City Center Square, with some mirrors behind them.


Contrail Redux.


MAX. JR wasn't feeling too great today, so we took MAX down to Waldo instead of biking the whole way. By the way, the MAX buses now play advertisements over the PA system whilst displaying a scrolling text ad inside the bus. Mega annoying.


Theresa at Family Bicycles took the Urbana for a spin, and she likes it.


I hadn't been to Family Bicycles this year. They are almost entirely devoted to utility and commuting bikes. This battery-assist Torker Trike caught my eye. It uses a 3-speed Nexus in the back, and a motor hub in the front. The new Breezers are also really nice. I was in utility bike heaven this afternoon!


I also saw some of Axiom's new saddle-bag style panniers. They're sewn together as one piece that drapes over your cargo rack.


One of the customers showed up on this beauty. Longbikes are hand-built in Colorado and this particular specimen was one of the slickest LWB Bents I've seen, ever.

Miscellaneous Downtown-ness

JR's Folder


Lorin tries the Urbana.


Hanging out in the Mexican Consulate meeting room


Gratuitous stair descent


Graffiti 1


Graffiti 2

Bicycle Swap Meet: April 10th/11th

Mark Rainey alerted me to this one:

With the previous "big" bike swap meet venue closing up shop last year, it looks like Bike America picked up the slack. Looks like a perfect opportunity to offload some of your extra stuff or score some sweet deals.

Bicycle Swap Meet

Saturday, April 10th from 7:00 a.m. to 5: p.m.
Sunday, April 11th from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Free to the Public

Buy! Trade! Sell!

Bike America of Overland Park, KS has leased space adjacent to our 95th & Nall location for this 2 day event. Bring your merchandise, bring your tables, bring your cash. This will be a bike bargain hunter's paradise. With 20 years worth of accumulated bikes and bike parts, merchandise from half a dozen stores that closed their doors! Expect great deals on new and used bike-related goods, from complete bikes to small parts. You never know exactly what vendors will bring to sell and what treasures you will find. Don't miss this two-day-only sale!

BIKE AMERICA
9514 Nall Avenue, Overland Park, KS
(913) 381-5431

Bike America merchandise is cash & carry, all sales final, no returns, no exchanges

Google: Bike There

I know the entire blogosphere is abuzz about Google Bicycle Directions, but let's put it to the test.

I've ridden many, many places a bicycle can legally go in Johnson County over the past 3 years. From the busiest, unfriendliest roadways to the rarely-seen unmarked shortcuts, aqueducts, and un-intentional paths. I know how to get around. I won't claim to know all the routes, but I can usually find a cozy course to nearby destinations. I believe this makes me qualified to judge a proposed route.

Let's start with a route I drew up a few weeks ago. Normally, one would hop straight onto the Interstate. I used Veloroutes to draw the route I had in mind. I later rode it, and I'm very pleased with it, even during rush hour.


Let's see what Google Maps did. A bonus is that all the bike routes, bike lanes and paths appear to be highlighted in "Bike mode," at least for here in Greater Kansas City.


I see kind of what Google was trying to do. They exploit some diagonal route choices to cut a little distance from the ride: about .3 mile worth. Here is an overlay merging the two to see the differences:


They also offered an alternative route that looked almost identical to my route from the point where they join just west of Antioch. The diagonal section east of 69 highway actually does make some sense from a distance and traffic perspective, but it's less than a quarter mile shorter with the disadvantage of technical navigation. The proposed stretch on 103rd street to get across Metcalf is a disaster. The optional route that crosses Metcalf at 99th Terrace is much safer.

I mapped some other destinations as well. My old commute, for example. Here, I noticed that Google Maps seems to give extremely high priority to multi-use paths, roads with bike lanes, and city-designated bicycle routes, sometimes even when they don't make much sense to those who know the area. Case and point in the second map above: Quivira Road is a "Bike route" - yeah, right. At rush hour, you'd be best to take Pflumm (a mile west) or very carefully stick to the sidewalks while preparing to be hooked by inattentive motorists. The outer lane is not wide enough to share with cars, and construction detours in the area have Quivira even more overloaded than usual. This has less to do with Google, and is more of a problem with the cities misrepresenting Quivira as a bicycle-friendly road, even without using it as a detour for highway-bound traffic.

All in all, though, I'm satisfied with the route choices that it comes up with. As a programmer, I'd like to see their algorithm. Pro-tip: you can drag the route to comply with your personal whims. Using the "My Maps" feature, you can save, print, and share your refined routes easily.

And, as always, you can feel free to ask me for input on getting from point-A to point-B in greater KC, using bikes and buses, although my experience really is best around downtown and JoCo. There's also the KC Bike Commuters list.

In tribute to Tron Legacy

If you haven't seen the trailer for Tron Legacy yet, WHY NOT?



Tron was one of my absolute favorites as a kid. And what was my favorite part? The light cycle arena, of course!

A flash photo and a little editing for color.

No trails for me

The trails are still too wet to ride on without leaving damaging ruts and erosion. I was looking forward to some off-roading. That's okay, I suppose. I had a very hilly 10-mile round trip to the park and back.


Also, I think this is the most I've ever put on a cargo rack. All told, it was about 50 pounds, or about 1/3 of its rated capacity! I had some refrigerated stuff in my backpack as well. The grocery store is only a mile and a half away via parking lots and lightly-trafficked residential streets, so I didn't have to ride too far. The bike was surprisingly stable, and as you can see, the kickstand even holds it upright when loaded in a top-heavy manner.