The Serendipitous Convoy

I had a pretty rough night without much sleep. As expected, no one was waiting for me at the convoy meet-up point by the gas station. Karen was just pulling out onto Quivira as I passed 79th. Then, we just pedaled along at about a 17 MPH pace average. We hovered around 27 on the downhills, 20 on the flats, and pretty slow on the uphills. I'm definitely not a hill climber.

Passing through Rosedale, I saw a cyclist far up ahead, past the railroad tracks next to I-35. The cyclist turned into a parking lot and I lost sight of him. As we approached the tracks, the arms started to come down just as we passed through. There the cyclist was, airing up his rear tire.

Meet Tim. We've never seen him before. The bike's pretty nice, but the shifters and brakes need some love. Well, okay. Everything aside from the frame needs some love. But it's a decent frame.


Karen and I stopped to help (obviously, as you saw our bikes in the photo). His inner tube was patched with old tractor inner tube patches and they weren't holding air. The valve stem was hosed. Karen provided him her spare tube, and we got his tire aired back up. I noticed he was running his front tire at about 30 PSI as well. Karen and I schooled him in the art of 100-PSI goodness and sent him on his way with firm, skinny tires while we packed up our flat kits.

Meanwhile, yet another unrecognized guy passed the scene on bike.

Tim actually took off on the wrong side of the road at first, but saw the error of his ways after seeing both the guy who passed us, Karen and I all on the other side of the road. He fell in place behind us.


Karen and I caught up to and overtook the other guy without a lot of effort. Eventually, the both of them fell off the back. Both of us were in a bit more of a hurry than usual after having burned about 10 minutes helping Tim. We didn't maliciously "drop" any of them, but we moved on through after exchanging brief greetings with the other new guy.


Our Bike Commuter Karma banks are filling up a little today.

Photos from the Lenexa Midnight Bike Ride

I'll start with people I know who I got photos that were at least usable. This event shocked me a little bit, as it's kind of crazy how many cyclists I actually know. I probably saw 50 people or more who I have either ridden with before or met off the bike at one time or another.

This is my co-worker, known here as Benneplex. He recently got back into bicycling after a long break. He was concerned whether or not he'd be able to do the whole 12.5 mile long loop as he's only been riding a few weeks. He didn't have any problems, though, aside from a little trouble with his shifting. I stuck with him the whole ride to make sure he could do it.


Benneplex, as we call him, actually lives too far out to commute by bike, but he car pools with another popular Kansas City geek (Techmonkey from The AlternaGeek Podcast, who also is getting back into bicycling)

Amber and a guy whose name escapes me, both come to the Monday Night rides.


ThatGuy from DDRKC and his girlfriend. I know TG from KC PHP User's Group.


Lorin (one of my morning bike commuting coffee buddies) and his daughter, Bailey.


Eric, also from KC PHP User's Group. His dad's off to the left (sorry I didn't capture all of him. I was holding the camera above my head). The woman off to the right (whose name also escapes me) also shows up to the Monday night rides almost every week.


The Man. The Myth. The c'Dude.


A little abstract high-contrast stuff.


Long exposure of a train and two bicyclists passing. You can't see the cyclists but their flashing tail lights left a cool pattern.


Ye-olde-school Trek road bike.


c'Dude's Sweet ground effects.


Nearly 1,300 cyclists are chomping at the bit to get rolling. It's almost time.






... AND We're off!




Some long exposures from the straightaway after the second big downhill.








This guy had my favorite rig out of anyone there.






In the Meritex Caves.


Some of the KCPUG guys met Benneplex and I over at Denny's.


A lot of SUV's were pulling up with bikes on the back, but this family knew how to roll. Denny's was less than 2 miles from the end point of the ride.


It was almost 3:00AM by the time I got done at Denny's. I saw this baby robin on my way home.


It was either really tired, really tame or very stupid. It didn't mind an up-close and personal macro shot with flash.

Getting ready for the Midnight Ride!

The wind and humidity made both Karen and I cave, we took the A bus home. Near the bus stop, I saw this relatively large tire. I'm assuming it's from a tractor. My access badge (slightly larger than a credit card) is there for scale. I can has West Nile?!


I had to go to Sports Authority to pick up the Lenexa Midnight Ride stuff for c'Dude and I. Another bike commuter was there on a BikesDirect Windsor Tourist. He was looking for a steel roadie with integrated levers and braze-ons for a rack. He's been pretty happy with it. I always wondered how those BikesDirect bikes held up, but most of them probably all roll off the same assembly line that big-name bikes do.


Midnight Ride! Two XL shirts, two bib numbers, and a pile of coupons. Awesome!


I decided to time-shift my sleep schedule and rode my bike to Daily Dose Bar & Coffee for my usual Friday Night Geek-Out. On the way home, I took this closed-off road (which I've posted many photos of before). Without any street lights, you can really get a feel for how bright the DiNotte 200L is. I still love this light. I used it on its lowest setting all night but flipped it to high for this photo. Unless you're scorching along at 20 MPH or faster, there's not much need for this kind of illumination.


I got done at Daily Dose around 1:00 AM. I continued on my way and swung by to wish my wife's friend happy b-day. My wife was still partying it up over there.

Along the way, I saw something humorous. This is Apria Healthcare.


... and I am trying to figure out if the burned-out flourescent letters on their building are intentional or just very fortunate:


The signs were already up for the Lenexa Midnight ride. What you don't see is that this sign alternates to say "Saturday 8:00PM".


If you're in the area, I hope to maybe run into you (not literally) at the Midnight Ride tonight. I'll be eschewing the Chris Cakes and heading to Denny's instead. Also, I have a freshly re-indoctrinated co-worker who will be there on his bike. He's back into mountain biking after a long break. I know quite a few others who will be there as well.

Random Tunage:
Nine Inch Nails - Discipline
The Cure - Prayers For Rain

Kinda busy

Between work, family life, and other hobbies, I've been kind of busy lately. I don't have time to write as much or take as many photos as I'd like.

I got this funny fortune with my lunch yesterday:


I found a pair of crushed wiper blades on my way home, which is strange, because I was actually in NEED of a few old wiper blades and had planned on rummaging through some trashcans at car parts stores to find them. Don't ask.


Today, we had Lorin, Bob, JR and I at coffee again.


I had the WarCycle setup going, too. It's always fun to look for wireless networks when you're going somewhere.


Random Tunage:
Corona - Baby Baby
Gorillaz - Feel Good, Inc.

Freedom To Travel

Last night, I had to stick around downtown for a geeky nerd meeting at the library. I watched as all of the Johnson County-bound buses filtered through Kansas City, and eventually disappeared entirely.


Once 6:00PM comes, TheJO pretty much leaves Johnson County residents stranded downtown. When I first started using the bus, before I got my bike, getting stuck downtown was a pretty major concern of mine. It's still a concern for others as well. As I seem to be the go-to guy around the office for all those who are considering transit, I try to alleviate fears by mentioning MARC's Guaranteed Ride Home program. I've never had to use it myself, and won't likely use it in the future, but I am signed up.

Commerce Bank Building:


Instead, I relish in the fact that I can get pretty much anywhere in the greater KC area I would possibly need to be in 90 minutes or less from anywhere else in the greater KC area without spending one red cent on gasoline. All the while, I'm enjoying the breeze on my skin, the smell of freshly cut grass, and the ability to exchange greetings with other cyclists and pedestrians -- a constituent of people that's becoming seemingly larger with each passing day.

Homeward bound on Main Street. Two Tallbike riders are present down the road a ways.


I've zoomed in on them. Notice their feet are not much lower than the roofline of nearby cars. Looks like fun.


This black car was parked (yes, parked!) two feet from the curb and 30 feet from the liquor store. I'm just taking a wild guess, but the driver's probably already had more than plenty to drink.


I had to run some other errands on my way home, too. This took me on a delightful stretch of Blackfish Parkway just as the sun was setting. This is where 75th Street "ends" and gets all curvy and hilly.






I also had to slog up and down the hills on Pflumm between Blackfish and 95th Street. That just killed my legs. I know Dave was using these hills occasionally for training. Wish him luck on the Triple Bypass!

I strolled through old town Lenexa. The Lenexa Midnight Bike Ride is this weekend, and it starts right here. If you're in the area, be sure to sign up! Be sure to check out my review of last year's ride, and look at the photo album.


Lots and lots of Lenexa and Shawnee cops out along Quivira today. Looked like they were on a manhunt. This long exposure shows yet another wrong-way bike ninja and a car approaching the police cruiser. The lady driving this cruiser gawked at me like I had just killed someone as she turned onto 79th, then pulled over with the rollers going. She sat there for a good two minutes while I waited for Karen. Look, if I was trying to hide from the cops, I wouldn't be on a bicycle with lots of reflective stuff and flashing lights.


Sunrise on 67th street:


This semi tractor was blackstacking and choking us, going all of five miles per hour on Merriam Drive. We all got around it quickly.


Random Tunage:
Sarah McLachlan - Possession
Vertical Horizon - When You Cry