BUT it is you my cycling brothers and sisters that shouldn't give up the fight. Under the shadow of the mountains your going to have to ride like a mailman.
Ride on.
27 March 2008
Old Man Winter Must Be Listening to Heather Small
The Next Long Ride?
I've been thinking on the next ride. While this weekend is out, the April 5th weekend is in the works. Email me and let me know if you would be "in"...
View Larger Map
26 March 2008
Skid Patch, Fixed Gears and 17
Spring is here and I'm seeing multiplicity of wonderful things. More bikes on campus and even some bike racks that have been under snow for months and months.
The only thing that has got my goat... is.. Fixed Gear Bikes without breaks....AND 48X16 gear ratio.
Dumb
Dumb
Dumb
Ok, lets say you figure how to stop that in the first day or two -GREAT! but unless you are taking the chain off and rotating the wheel you are skidding on the same patch of rubber. A 48 tooth chainring [front; attached to the crank arm] with a 16 tooth cog [back; on the rear wheel]. Don't ask me why but this is stock on may "track bikes" Worst yet, it gives you only one skid patch.
Look at this skid patch table
By just increasing the rear tooth count by ONE.... your rear tire would have 17 skid patches and last about 17 times longer!
And the difference between 48x16 vs. 48x17 in gear inches?
See Gear Inches Chart
It is 81.0 inches vs. 76.4... a bit different but not really for around town fixie fun. Oh, if you just have to have as near as possible to 80 inches... 50X17.. 79.4 gear inches with 17 skid patches.
Cool, eh?
In fact, if you look at that Skid Patch chart again you might notice that a 17tooth cog will have 17 skid patches on all but the 51 tooth chain ring. Yep, with the purchase of a 17 tooth cog your in for one of the greats joys of fixed gears - very low maintenance. Otherwise, have fun replacing those nicely colored 700x18 or 23 race tires!
So.. get out there with you new 17cog and ask around for a 51 tooth Chain Ring. Just about everyone has a 51tooth chain ring that they have been dying to put on their new bike.....and you now have a wonderful 17tooth cog... come on everyone has got ONE[skidpatch]! and on that very last note - Nekid group Ride! April 1st. 8am. Meet at Ibis Cafe on Church Street.
25 March 2008
Upcoming Wednesday Ride
The Healthy Planet Rally
The Healthy Planet Rally
April 5, 2008
Noon till 2:30 p.m.
451 South State Street/SLC Government Center
Cyclists in Salt Lake City will lead the pack on April 5th at a downtown march and rally to promote a healthy planet. Riders will take to the streets to call for peace, health care and healthy air. Walkers and cyclists will kick off the event at noon, followed by live music, speakers and slam poets at the SLC Government Center. We need 350 cyclists dressed for high visibility to bring the message home: 350 parts per million of CO2 is all our atmosphere can sustain. The current CO2 number is 383 ppm. Grab your bike and ten friends and come join Rocky Anderson in the fight for peace, health care and healthy air. The April 5th march and rally start at noon, 451 South State Street. The time to act is now.
contact:
Barbara Richardson
http://agenda08.org
barbarakayrich@gmail.com
24 March 2008
Yehuda Moon
If you haven't seen Yehuda Moon well check it out.. this is one of the better ones: http://www.yehudamoon.com/index.php?date=2008-02-03
Another Great Sunday Ride
WE road until the payment wore out and the signs of spring turn to snow. The batteries in the GPS went out and the cycle computer turned off at around mile 21.0023695. Events couldn't have aligned themselves any better. The ride was not anything more than just that.... a wonderful ride. 
The peaks circled the dirty city below in a brilliantly white halo and what we thought was a "bad day" was just the inability to realize we had been riding uphill since breakfast. While I knew I was having to stand up to get to that last vista, I didn't remember the effort that it took to get me to that last hill.
Minds. The fickle trickster of the body...every one's own inner coyote. No other organ plays such cruel jokes. Eagles turned to Red Tail hawks and quite rides in the mountainous halo of the city turned in to a 200+ rmp spin. Sandhill Cranes dances above while gravity took it's second toll of the day. The feet spun as wind rocketed into my ears and the noise of the past week became instantly quiet. Nothing but the descent mattered and all was good - the ride just was.
Robert only grinned, he seemed to lose the cold that had been pestering him over the past weeks. I gasped for air feeling like a top losing its momentum; losing its spin; starting to wobble. The cranes still danced and looking up at them made me feel motionless. Another gasp, I looked at the fields around me. Time progressed again and the fields rushed past the hubs and spokes. I was lost somewhere in between.
Conversations began again yet even after all the wind stop its constant barrage on my ears, I faded in and out of the discussions.
Don Henley still echoing around in the grey matter today [Monday; not Sunday]much like "Yellow Submarine" that can be passed from field crew to field crew throughout a season in the back country. Infectious. Insidious. "Robert, may your cold linger!"..... but alas, I never passed my voodoo classes.
Road 1 Class Completion
Just finished the League of American Bicyclists Road I class on Saturday. This was done in preparation for the League Cycling Instructor qualification next weekend. Much of what I'm trying to accomplish with this is speaking with one voice[more on this later].
First look at this! It is the inside of the Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective... they even have the test video on their website as well! Who would have thunk?! 
Hey, this is only 1/3rd of the shop!!! 6 Work stands with complete sets of tools and truing stands.
There is a plethora of reason to stop at the shop but today I did it for the Road 1 class.
I keep seeing so many many reasons to cycle and even more ways to express awareness and advocacy to others. Yet, even the best information gets muddled very very quickly. After reading and listening to Richard Burke, Chairman, Trek Bicycle. I started to see a definite advantage to consolidating the message. Although Burk just recently passed away [15 march 2008], I believe he has set into motion one of the most powerful bicycling advocacy campaigns - One World, Two Wheels. Regardless of what you may think about Trek bikes they are setting a stage for the "Got Milk" of the transportation industry. It makes sense to me. Just get out there and ride.
Yet, when I encourage/finagle/bribe/coerce... others to 'just ride', I had a deep desire to do it so that they were safe and knew what they were doing. The two seem to go together:Safety and knowledge. Publication after publication became just stats and chatter when compared to my goal and message 'just ride'....every day. Thus, the synonymous voice of the League of American Bicyclist started to have appeal to me while in the past it had not.
I will be posting on this topic again after I compete the LCI cert this coming weekend. Right now I'm ecstatic about visiting the Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective Shop again!
18 March 2008
LDS ... and more [St. Patties Day Recap]
Hey, Folks thanks for a great ride and sorry for the very very tardy post. Robert and Lukas have already written
up the ride but I still feel that a few things need to be said.
We road for Spring, Russel Burger, Hot Chocolate, Green Beer, Corn Beef, Cabbage...for fixed gears, liberation, gearly bikes and "red flashies". We road for fun.
For me it was a Christmas like experience. Maybe, just maybe, it was because of the multitude of blinking red lights heading south on 89 back to Logan or the satiated feeling that is forever linked to the holiday experience. 
Regardless, is was good. Let there be rejoicing! "So long, and thanks for all the fish!"
There will be another ride very very soon along with some longer ones designed to resurrect the 'BONK' form the most gluttonous racer-x out there... Basically, I would like to have a chatty, fun ride once a month with the destinations all about food. It should be viewed as a chance to get everyone out: friends, family, your Bishop, and even a town heathen or two.
Then, on a weekend day have a more challenging self supported 200k+ ride in the same month. A brief note on the longer rides planned here. These are going to be set up to simulate actual Brevets and Permanents. While not actually RUSA [http://www.rusa.org/index.html] events I do have plans on hosting these as actual routes and events in the future as well as setting up rides[permanents] to qualify for the R-12.
Notices, Maps, and destinations will follow!
Same Bat-Time. Same Bat-Channel. Rubber side down!
15 March 2008
On the lighter side - He Must Have Been Riding a Fixie
Polish police are baffled after a cyclist was badly burned when his trousers burst into flames.
Mieczyslaw Jasinski, 55, told doctors he smelt burning and looked down to see his trousers had caught fire.
He jumped off his bike and rolled on the ground trying to douse the flames but suffered second degree burns to his legs, back and stomach.
Passers-by spotted him lying at the side of the road in Koroszczyn, still smoking from the tattered remains of his trousers and groaning in pain.
A police spokesman said: "Witnesses said he was like a flaming human torch cycling along the road.
"We do not know how it happened but we have heard that it could have been caused by a reaction between friction as he cycled, sweat and the material of his trousers."
Take from Ananova.com
14 March 2008
News
It has been a busy week in the news for cyclist this week. Since I like to end on a good note let me start with this:
Condolences to the families of Kristy Gough, 30, of San Leandro and Matt Peterson, 29, of San Francisco. Kristy and Matt died last weekend after being hit by a car. I have nothing to add to or any comments on the events leading up to this accident. More details can be found here.
This is just one of those tragedies that makes me rethink my trips up Logan Canyon or vacations down the coast of California on Hwy 1. I feel the suck of a 18 wheeler passing to close down in my bones, in my marrow and my skin crawls. I can been mad later....
As many of you can tell, this blog has departed from the traditional, "Here is my ride..." or "I really bonked today..." I'm looking forward to getting out under the sun and on top of some hot asphalt... Uh.. scratch that asphalt bit unless it is taking me to some red dirt. Yep, I'm stir-crazy with spring! Yet, Monday wasn't particularly great. I was in Ohio for a funeral and was sent a few notices about the crash that I've already mentioned. Cleveland was still recovering from a blizzard.Unable to ride or do much else... I started reading.
After receiving a few emails back from the Cascade Bike Club and James Malone, Dist. 12A (Maryland), I was starting to get a bit down. Starting a 3Feet campaign in Logan is just not happening. Add to the fact and my personal realization of how little 3 feet really is. I'm wanting to spend time and energy to only fight for three stinking feet of road? It is ridiculous! How about 4 or even 6 feet? By Tuesday I was ready to quite. What good was 3 feet anyway.
Then I read this! A driver is acutely being taken to court in Utah for violating the "Give Cyclists 3 Feet" law and the prosecutor Sim Gill is being pro-active. Sim is going after a bad guy because the rights of a cyclist were violated.
Let me say that again, "Cyclists Rights". I'm starting to feel better now...
When I first heard about the Salt Lake case while riding I thought it was hearsay. Wow, how great it feels to be wrong. Then came some more uplifting news. The City Councils of Chicago, New York City, and Washington D.C.have just beef up existing laws to protect cyclist. These laws also include fines between $150 and $500 but only if a crash results.
Here are the additions:
Then I got to read a Business Wire on AAA - yep that is AAA as in automotive help and hotel discount:
“This proposed ordinance clearly defines the rules and responsibilities and will increase the safety of everyone who shares the roadways in Chicago,” said Beth Mosher, spokesperson for AAA Chicago. “Chicago has become a terrific multimodal city, and now pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists alike need to do a better job of sharing the roads safely.”
Mosher then follow that by saying, “This ordinance underscores rules that motorists should already be following for the sake of their fellow travelers."
And what is Richard Daley saying? Well he has chimed in with, "We are committed to making Chicago the most bicycle-friendly city in the country, and safety is a very critical part of the plan."
Words and works of HOPE...
YET the best part of today was an email form Nicole Freedman (Director of Bicycle Programs; Boston, MA). Ideas for a zero budget and big impact... and another post....
Friends,
All the best and rubber side down!
13 March 2008
Set Your Calenders, Wheels North 4-17July2009
The Big Fix Crew [Big Fix 2006: The Movie] is getting together again in 2009 to fight Histiocytosis.
Arms linked to support each other, looking forward with hope for adventures to come, Vic and Ray [see picture above] capture the spirit of fixed gear adventure that awaits you in 2009 as a part of the Wheels North ride to Fight Histiocytosis (what is Histio?). The book 'Two Wheels North' is based on the true story....
of Vic McDaniel and Ray Francisco, two teenagers from Santa Rosa, California, who in 1909 rode fixed-gear bikes to the Alaska-Pacific-Yukon Exposition in Seattle, Washington. Their story was told by Vic's daughter, Evelyn McDaniel Gibb, in Two Wheels North, published by Oregon State University Press. The 2009 Wheels North is recreating the epic 1909 adventure of two young cyclists by riding from Santa Rosa, California to Seattle, Washington.
Want to be Part of Wheels North?
Send an email to Eric Norris, director of Wheels North. Click here for basic information about what it takes to be a Wheels North rider. It took Vic and Ray several months to reach Seattle. We'll do the ride in two weeks. Click here for a calendar, and to find out when we will reach each town along the route.Click here to learn about fundraising requirements to take part in Wheels North!
More?
How about visiting the Wheels North Blog!
Click here to visit our blog.
Stay in touch with preparations for the ride, and join us in 2009 as we retrace Vic and Ray's ride. Our blog is located at http://wheelsnorth.blogspot.com
Want to be Part of Wheels North?
Send an email to Eric Norris, director of Wheels North. Click here for basic information about what it takes to be a Wheels North rider. It took Vic and Ray several months to reach Seattle. We'll do the ride in two weeks. Click here for a calendar, and to find out when we will reach each town along the route.Click here to learn about fundraising requirements to take part in Wheels North!
More?
How about visiting the Wheels North Blog!
Click here to visit our blog.
Stay in touch with preparations for the ride, and join us in 2009 as we retrace Vic and Ray's ride. Our blog is located at http://wheelsnorth.blogspot.com
Saint Patrick's Day Ride: Update
Just a simple ride form Logan to Richmond with the sole purpose of eating corn beef and cabbage. I've added a lot of information on this ride that was not in the original post.
So, on the 17th of March 2008 be ready to ride at 5:30pm!!
Simple Directions:
Meet at in the parking lot across form Cafe Ibis on Church Street Logan, Utah.
The ride will stop for dinner at:
L D'S Cafe
39 W Main St
Richmond, UT 84333
435-258-5135
And then...Back again!
More Details/Route/Map.....all are here! Click below to read more.
Details:
Cut, past, and print these directions so that you have your own route sheet!!
What to bring?:
* Money for dinner
* Head and Tail lights for the ride home
* Touring gear for a 50mile ride
* Hunger
* Happy Face because your riding and it is almost spring
* Something green
Directions and Route Sheet:
Start address: Church St Logan, UT 84321
Midpoint/Dinner address: 39 W Main St Richmond, UT 84333
End address: Church St Logan, UT 84321
Start at: Church St Logan, UT 84321
1. Head north on Church Ave toward 200 No - 404 ft
2. Turn left at 200 No - 0.2 mi
3. Continue on W 200 N/UT-30 - 3.9 mi
4. Turn right at Water Trough Rd - 3.1 mi
5. Turn left at Blackrock Rd - 1.0 mi
6. Turn right at N 4000 W - 1.0 mi
7. Continue on N 3800 W/Sam Fellow Rd Continue to follow Sam Fellow Rd - 2.9 mi
8. Turn right at N 4800 W - 5.7 mi
9. Turn right at W Main St/UT-142 Continue to follow 39 W Main St - 7.8 mi
The ride will stop for dinner at:
L D'S Cafe
39 W Main St
Richmond, UT 84333
435-258-5135
then we will ride home.
NOTE! If you want to arrange a carpool or sag wagon, feel free to leave a comment with your email<--- This is the extent of any arranging of this type that I'm going to do. Map:
View Larger Map
Take the Test
Hey, give this a shot - I bet you fail. It will take 30 seconds....
The Test
Please leave a comment after taking the test and don't read the comments until you take the test.
10 March 2008
St Patrick's Day
Hey, we are not doing anything radical here like dying the Chicago River green! We are just going a ride with a little corn beef and cabbage at the mid-way point!
So, on the 17th of March 2008 be ready to ride at 5:30pm!!
Ride routes, times, start location and other details have been updated-
Full details are HERE!!!
06 March 2008
Logan, Utah Alley Cat
About 6 hours after my ride to Hypo I set out for another fun filled night in Logan. Thanks to the MCA it was just that!
Lukas showing off mad skids in the falling snow.
While the HJ did cover the prior month's ride, I have to say,"Folks, If you weren't there you missed out!"
05 March 2008
Logan to Wellsville to Hypothermia
Now, when you find road trash like this at about the half way point...one might expect a great ride. Let me go on to define great....
"Great" is all in the eye of the beholder and sometimes that eye needs to have hindsight. This was the first and only picture that I took while riding that day although I did take one more when I got home...:
It is horrible. Right? The picture is out of focus and not of really anything. Look closely... just to the right of the rider in yellow. You might be able to just make out part of a mountain side. Now, the impetus of the effort that it took to turn on the camera with cold 'stubby' fingers was the clouds that are covering the mouth of that canyon. Yes, 'that canyon' is the one that you can not see for the wall of grey. The wind told me it was Blacksmith.
~Yet, already that day had been a blast. At times we had cruised along at 20mph and hey I was keeping up with the gearly folks. Yes, Regan and Reed had soft peddled at times but all in all I was having a blast! These types of thoughts were shortly prior to the picture you just saw...20mph!!
Needless to say - After years and years of backpacking and almost 22 months of living out of a tent in the Sierras, I have never made such a series of mistakes and poor judgment. I also have never gotten even near hypothermia. That day was a turning point in things that I hadn't "accomplished" in my life.
~Cold and cruising along...10 to 14mph
Soon after taking this picture, I felt a bonk coming on. I ate some snacks and some how managed to keep control of the wrappers with my nub like fingers. The truth of the matter was that my bonk wasn't really a bonk but the start of hypo.
~We entered the Nibley road that I like so much... The 2 man pace-line at 18mph just to catch up with Regan.
This is a picture from a prior ride of the Nibley road:...will upload later....
~The storm started to really let loose...we had slowed to 12 mph...MAX
About 10 miles later Reed and I stumbled into a service station and started downing hot fluids, donuts, and even more hot fluids. At that time, I didn't really think I had any thing near Hypo just a back case of bonks. It felt like a six pack of bonks! We got back on the bikes.
~Riding, unable to see... I'm still going... 0+mph
3 miles later I was home...
~Standing in shower with all my clothes on...0.00MPH...well, 0.01mph when the hot water started to fail.
~Sitting here thinking about what a great time I had along parts of the ride and how lucky I am... 97bpm
29 February 2008
Leap Day 2008!!!
Yes I've been holding this picture just for Today!
I would also like to note that this post is also in honor of Mark Twain and was taken during the Calaveras County Fair and Jumping Frog Jubilee
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