Sloss Sunrise

I never posted this back when I took this, so in honor of my blog not being totally dead, here it is. Just like the rainbow below, this is from a few weeks ago, and I just came across it when dumping stuff off my camera. It's totally dark on my rides in these days. I have my one blinky light, but I need to get a headlight for the front of my bike. I wear the blinky on my bag. I may get a second blinky for my seatpost as well. I had a big ole hoopty blast past me yesterday in the dark on first avenue and it made me really want to be more visable. Hasta proxima.

Rainbow

I forgot about the big rainbow until I came accross the photo on my camera. It was a couple of weeks ago. I rode home in the rain and saw this rainbow. I was really wanting to get a picture, but was nervous about taking my camera out in the rain. Finally the rain eased up just as I crossed the railroad tracks, where I had a nice vantage for taking the shot.

Shoes

Shoes on 7th Avenue.

Posts seem to be coming far and few between these days. I find myself posting in clumps. As of Monday, my bike is out of commission. I've been having some derailleur problems which are annoying but not too disruptive. More recently I've realized that I really need to get my bike a full tune up - wheels trued, breaks adjusted, derailleur problem fixed, etc.. Then Monday I had a flat downtown. After I fixed it and got to work, I saw a little bulge on the sidewall of my tire, and realized that my tire is shot. These tires have been great, but they seem to be a bit small for the rims, and they are a real pain in the ass to get on in off, so I decided it's time to move on to something else. It started to sound like I was going to have to spend a fair amount of money to get my bike up and running again. Which led me to the idea that maybe it's time for a new bike. Of course, this has led to the world of options that are available. I don't need or want another mountain bike. I don't do any real long distance or racing rides. I do want something that has a little get up and go. So, I'm thinking about getting my first fixed gear. With brakes. I've thought about trying to build my own, but now I'm at the point where I need a bike, so I'm looking at just plunking down on a cheap entry level bike. Or who knows, I'm pretty indecisive.

Frances

Lucy and I recently purchased this 1975 Scotty Gaucho. We've been spending a lot of time renovating the inside. I suppose I can tie this into bike riding by saying that in all likelihood, we will end up taking the camper somewhere to go bike riding. In the meantime it's just our new baby.

A-Hole

Some A- hole has stolen all the storm drain grates from around my neighborhood leaving A-Gaping-Hole everywhere they used to sit. This person deserves something horrible. When I leave the house it's still dark. If I didn't know these holes were there, it wouldn't be to hard to end up in one. The city has since come around and placed concrete slabs over them. If you are on a bike, and you hit one of these slabs, the end result would be about the same - face meets pavement.

What an A-Hole

Running late

Running late has it's silver lining. I saw a beautiful sunrise while riding over the 21st street bridge. The photo is actually looking away from the sun. I liked the way the sun was lighting up the old smokestack as well as the tops of the inside of the train cars. I meant to work on it to bring those colors out some more. In the end, like so many other things, I just said screw it. It is what it is. I was really running behind, so I didn't have time to get my full run in. I just had a quick trot around downtown to have a look at where Charm is opening on 2nd avenue across from Urban Standard, where I will be displaying at artwalk (2421 2nd Avenue), and a quick investigation of the giant bees nest is at the Recycling center (it's gone).

Hasta pronto.

This is not an abandoned house

I can't believe it's a been a month since I've posted. However, I am still riding and taking photos along the way. It's actually, unbelievably, been a glorious few weeks of weather for riding. Mostly highs in the 80s. Just the last few days have gotten back up into the 90s, and honestly, that's just not that bad. I've started a new schedule which might be why I've been slacking here (again). Usually my biking to work replaces my running or vice versa. For a while I would drive downtown and run then drive home, shower, and ride to work. That always seems really ridiculous. So, I signed up for a locker at the downtown YMCA for $11. Along with being able to store stuff there, they wash your running (or workout or whatever) clothes every day and put them in your locker. I usually throw in some undies and socks for good measure. It's a really good deal. Guaranteed clean running clothes (and undies) every day, I'm not driving back and forth to downtown, I'm getting a little extra riding in, my ride to Lucy's Coffee and Tea is only a mile from the Y and then a Mile from there to work, I get to turn my AC off at home a lot earlier and I'm showering at the Y so I figure I'm saving on hot water as well. It's really nice to putt putt the mile to Lucy's and then to work, arriving still fresh, rather than the 4 or so to Lucy's and then to work, which was just enough to leave me good and sweaty on a hot day.

Hasta la Proxima

Birmingham Police

Here's a quick commuting to work story from this morning. I was traveling down 22nd street from downtown Birmingham to Southside at about 7:45 this morning, on my way to Lucy's Coffee & Tea. For those unfamiliar, 22nd street is a three lane one way street that is generally very busy during rush hours. I stopped at a red light and a giant Cadillac pulled up behind me, right behind me. After a few seconds he started honking his horn. I turned to look at him and he started making hand motions saying he wanted to make a right on red. I gave him a hand motion back showing him that I was going straight, and turned back around. He honked a few more times and then tried to go around me. At that point a Birmingham Police car pulled up and gave a "wew-wew." The officer in the passenger side leaned out the window and yelled at the guy in the Caddy "Hey, he has as much right to the road as you do, and he does NOT have to make a right on red." At that point I faced forward again, the light changed, and I went on my way. I turned a few seconds later to give the officer a "Hey thanks" but he had turned off.

As a disclaimer I need to say that I am all about sharing the street with cars and getting out of their way when possible. I don't deliberately try to slow cars down or get too high and mighty about my place on the road. I drive a car too. This particular stretch of 22nd street is what I call a "shit or get off the pot" stretch of road. You either jump in traffic and stick with it, or you are relegated to the sidewalk or another street. If I were to get off to the side of the road to let this guy make his right on red, then when traffic starts moving 40 MPH, I'm stuck on the sidewalk or the side of the road waiting for the light again. In other words it would have inconvenienced me more to get out of his way then it did him to wait 30 seconds behind me for the light. Were it the other way around, I would have gladly gotten out of his way. Not to mention it looked like it was about to rain and I wanted to get to Lucy's.

Thank You to the Birmingham Police.

Cape Cod Rail Trail

Lucy and I spent last week on Cape Cod visiting my parents. We spent one day riding up the cape cod rail trail. We rented bikes from Orleans Cycle - very nice people. Our ride was from Orleans to Welfleet. The trail actually ends before Welfleet, but we continued on for 3 or 4 miles into Welfleet Center. As you can see from the picture of Lucy, the weather wasn't great. Three days before the 4th of July this parking lot should be jammed full. We were the only two people there so we swerved around the parking lot as much as possible. 'cause we could. On the way back we stopped at a great place called the Beachcomber. It's a bar / restaurant that sits, almost, right on the ocean. After a few beers we had some fun riding back. We wondered if people could tell who was returning from the Beachcomber by their riding style. The whole ride was about 25 miles round trip. Below are some pictures from Provincetown. It struck me a odd. Provincetown is a friendly town, with lots of bikes. and everywhere there are signs that say "no bikes." I don't know the history here, so I'll just leave it at that.