Barely Works Bag

I dropped by Rickshaw today and John was nice enough to make some repairs and subtle upgrades to my Bailey Works bag:



Man, riding around SF today, wearing my old messenger outfit - cut off Ben Davis with u-lock holster over bike shorts - cutting through traffic - rush hour downtown traffic.

Riding through that city felt so god damned good today.

I'm ridng my bicycle drunk

And this is my one hundred and fiftieth post.

Punkin' Out

I was planning on doing the POO ride tonight, but I have a pimple on my left ass cheek and my legs are sore from mashing down College at 30 mph trying (and succeeding I might add) to beat automobiles two days ago on my way to Cole Coffee (my favorite place to buy beans in the East Bay). Plus I don't have any clean bibs. And a few more excuses I will think up later.

Got some cool Japanese sock drying hangers last week from my girlfriend. Stoked to use them on this hot, sunny Berkeley day. Yes, you heard me, I'm stoked to dry my socks. This is rockstar living here, people.

I've never been a huge fan of folding bikes - too much compromise - but I got an email about this one from a friend the other day:



Then ran into a nice French dude on BART the following day who was sporting one. If I had to buy one, I'd be tempted to go with one of these. I think the kevlar belt drive is a neat idea and I like the minimalist, functional geometry. The green brakes are pimp, too.

Monday

Caught up to Jimbo from Godspeed this morning around Civic Center on my way into work then saw Frank Chan of the SFBC a few mintues later heading the opposite direction on Polk Street. Caught a little skitch for half a block after that. Made it to work in under 10 minutes. Hate to break a sweat before work, but it felt good.



On my way back home, riding down Columbus to BART. These days it is getting dark earlier. Not a fan.

Riding home, for whatever reason, felt especially good this evening. Sometimes it's nothing more than a commute, while other times just riding through the city on a bike is enough to make me euphoric.

criterium race

Last week I watched a crit that was held around the corner from the bike shop where I work. Dudes were riding very, very fast.










It was difficult photographing such fast moving objects.

video from first DFL race

Didn't do race 2 and can't do the finale this Saturday. Might race in the Box Dog Bikes 100km alleycat on Sunday though.

I'm the radicality at 4:14.

DFL

Did my first DFL race earlier this evening. Jesus Christ. It was also my first time riding on dirt, rocks, pine cones, etc. I did go off road once in jr. high to be fair.

Lot's of fun, crashed four times, nothing serious. Saw a lot of people taking pictures. Waiting for them to appear on flickr.



The dirt line, taken on the way back to the Beast in Blake's truck.

3rd Poo

Finally did another Tuesday night Port of Oakland ride. I made it to 8:20 pm, ten minutes short of the last lap. Averaged 26.2 mph for 45 minutes and hit a top speed of 34.3. I mean, I still didn't finish, but damn, that was some hard riding. Hopefully I'll be able to hold on to the end next time.



As for transporting my bike, I'm still experimenting. If only a device existed that would somehow attach to the back of my car and hold a it...

I've been doing some great rides recently. Had an epic day climbing up Mt. Hamilton two weeks ago. Did "The Bears" last Sunday. Hit 54.2 on Southpark. Goal is now 55mph.

I'm selling a helmet, a Lazer Genesis, size L, as seen below. $80. Just not big enough for my massive, complex head. Used five times. Four by me, once by Raineer last Sunday:

Beef Jerkey Fix / Dreams of Polo Tattoos

I was riding back to BART from work last week, trying for the life of me to identify a tic-ing sound coming from somewhere on my bike. I first removed the springs from my skewers and greased them which was goggles*. I tightened the chainring bolts, seatpost collar, and some other screws. By the time I got to the gas station at Filbert and Van Ness I realized it was coming from the bolts on my saddle clamp.

I started tightening them - I have a KCNC scandium seatpost with titanium hardware that is a bitch to adjust - then suddenly PING!!! The titanium bolt head snapped off ejecting the seat into the sky and onto the pavement four feet away.

Astonishlingly, I happened to have a spare seatpost in my bag that day. I walked over to the attendent and asked to borrow a measuring tape but the only one he had was broken - why they kept it I do not know.

So I bought a stick of beef jerkey, oddly Nacho flavored, and bit it down to the correct size. While I like beef jerkey as much as the next man, I find it hard to fathom how nasty yet popular Slim Jims manage to be.





On a completely unrelated note, I dreamt I had two tattoos last night. One I forget, but the other was a two foot long outline of the Ralph Lauren polo guy on my right arm. Most of the dream was me looking at it and thinking "damn, why did I do this? If I get lazer removal, how will that turn out? Etc... "

*it did nothing

53 / Four days a week

Due to foreseen circumstances, my hours have been cut back at bike nut. Now I'm back to my part time schedule which was cool when I was messengering as my primary job, but now it's like damn, I only have to work three days a week? I need to figure something out, but for now, wow, four days off a week? I'll take it!




Today I rode up Tunnel and down "Botanical" in Tilden and hit 53.7 mph. I averaged 12.2 climbing up - first time I've had a computer. Now I have a baseline for how fast I can do it out of shape. Hope to get better. Didn't feel like doing the POO Ride this evening. Want to be in better shape.

drying

I really went a long while before washing my bike clothes this time. Was down to wearing, gasp, regular bike shorts as opposed to bibs.

Note: blogger keeps cutting off the right side of my photos. If anybody, or Lydia, knows how to fix this, please let me know. #wrap2 { width:800px;}
#main-wrapper { width:510px !important;}
#header-wrapper { width:800px;}