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.

el perrito de guardia

I pass this dog every day. I remember when he first appeared here a while back. I think they used to take him home at night, but now he is the full time guard dog. He has a little dog house and it looks like they take good care of him, but it must be some lonely nights by the railroad tracks. It was about 5:30 when I rolled up and decided to take his picture. As soon as I got up to the fence with my camera, a pickup rolled around the corner and pulled right up to me. A man got out and I explained that I ride past here twice a day and was just taking the dogs picture. He seemed to be cool with the idea, but said that people sometimes come by and throw rocks at the dog. How special. Apparently he didn't think I was one of these people. He gave the dog a few pats, explained with a laugh that it was the new guard dog, the dog returned a few licks, and he left. I left as well, figuring he probably was still watching what I was doing. I forgot to get the dogs name. I'll have to make a point of stopping and asking him. That way I can properly harass the dog by calling it's name as I ride past.

cut off at the pass

I was treated to a somewhat extended break on my ride in today. There is a spot where the trains do a jog across 1st avenue south and then turn and follow along 1st avenue. This train stopped during the jog in such a way as to block the only other way out down 34th street. The only other option was to turn around and ride back out toward 41st. Since I was within 3 blocks of work I decided to wait it out. Nice morning to sit around and wait for the train. I saw a lot of cars whipping u-turns and roaring back down 1st ave. I wondered if I was driving and decided to follow suit, if I would get to work any faster than waiting on the train and then heading on. Probably not. These situations are always interesting. In a car people make the assumption that there MUST be a faster way to deal with this. Stress out, u-turns, dangerous speeding. On a bike - well I'm late for work, fuck it, nothing I can do, enjoy the sun before it gets to hot, get to work a bit late, stay a bit late, miss rush hour on the way home. It all works out.

Gear reviews

Here's my first, possibly my last, gear review issue. These are some of the things I've collected since starting to commute on my bike.

Timbuk2 medium messenger bag:

What can I say. This bag rocks. I got it 50% off at REI. It doesn't move at all on my back when I'm riding. It's big for what they call a medium. Today was my biggest haul yet. 3 half gallons of soy milk, my thermos, tube etc, plus all of my work & personal stuff:

I crammed it all in there, no problem. The soy milk was actually nice on such a hot day. I could feel the cold from it on my back the whole way. So you can haul lots of crap, plus it's built solid. It has the feel of something that will last a lifetime. Waterproof too. I can't wait to try out the 2 six packs of bottles plus ice like they show on their website.

Next up, my Eleven81 trunk bag: This guy serves pretty well for trucking around a relatively small amount of stuff. It has an expandable top and straps on to your rack with strong Velcro ties. The biggest advantage to this bag is not having stuff on your back. But for a short ride commuter like me the cons win out. It is kind of a pain to take it off and put it on at every stop. So you either risk it being stolen or hassle with taking it off and putting it on when you stop for coffee, the library, the grocery store, etc.. It just adds up to a lot of on and off. It also REALLY bounces your stuff around. I never felt good about my camera or hard drives being in there. It also does NOT have that built to last a lifetime feel (it already has a stress tear after less then a year) and it's not waterproof.

next, my viewpoint cheap shit blinky light: pictured here after being smashed open at Jones Vally Urban Farm. I hadn't noticed until I got home. I went back the next day, found the pieces, got a new battery, and it was blinking away again. You have to give big points to things that get smashed to shit and still work. Anyway, 5 settings (of which I use one), comes with a seat post attachment, retail price $4.99.

And last but totally not least, my new Michelin 1.4" city tires:

These replaced the 1.95" tires. The front was a worn out knobby off road tire, the rear was a relatively new 1.95" city tire. These tires are great. They make a huge difference on my commute. Noticeably faster. They hold the road really well in turns. Surprisingly so. I was nervous about riding on wet pavement at first, but that was totally unwarranted. They are really thick skinned. A layer of "Protek" under the tread is supposed to greatly reduce flats. So far, two weeks, no flats. I have them pumped up to 90psi, so they are a little unforgiving on the rough spots, but I suppose that is to be expected. I payed full price for these - $25 each. I have since seen them for as low as $17.50 on amazon. Added bonus of a reflective sidewall stripe.

Woodlawn United Methodist Church

Terrible loss for Woodlawn today. I ride right by this church everyday. I'm not sure how old the church was, but it was old and beautiful. Just as tragic - it was an active church, and the loss of anything active and positive in Woodlawn is a bummer. My heart goes out to these folks. I wish I had taken a picture of the church before it burned. It makes me stop and think how many wonderful things we pass everyday, but never stop to appreciate them because we take for granted that they'll always be there.